Chris Stein’s favourite Blondie song
For decades, Blondie have been an immovable force in the music industry and offered a constant stream of hits. With that in mind, as a fan, it can be impossible to pick a favourite from their canon, let alone as one of the creators of the new wave oeuvre. But one track holds a sacred place in guitarist Chris Stein’s heart which he singled out as his favourite.
For Debbie Harry, this is an impossible question. Like many stars before her, the singer has always been adamant that she can’t answer the tricky query because there are far too many to choose from. “I don’t really have a favourite, for the reason that I’m sort of moody. I’m not in the same state of mind every single minute of every single day. I have a lot of changes in my life, and that’s part of the spirit of the music for me,” she told Vulture. “Some days, I appreciate one song more than another, and I’m really pleased to be playing that song. Other times, I just want to get it over with.”
However, for Stein, one of the band’s chief songwriters and principal guitarist, one song instantly came to mind, and although it was a challenging task, he successfully named a favourite. In the same interview as Harry, the guitarist named ‘The Tide Is High’ as the stand-out track in Blondie’s repertoire. That being said, Stein did also admit coming to a decision was “virtually impossible”.
Interestingly, despite ‘The Tide Is High’ being Stein’s favourite Blondie creation, the track isn’t originally by the New Yorkers. Initially, it was recorded by the Jamaican band, The Paragons, who were fronted by John Holt, who had penned the song. However, it was nothing more than an underground hit in Jamaica and the UK, until Blondie got their hands on the song over a decade later, turning into a huge success.
‘The Tide Is High’ was selected as the lead single from 1980’s Autoamerican and topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Unlike most covers, the song wasn’t previously embedded into popular consciousness, and upon its release, the majority of the listening public assumed it was a Blondie original. Rather than completely transform the song, they kept a taste of Jamaica alive in their version of ‘The Tide Is High’ and proved they could successfully turn their hand to almost any sound. On the same album, they integrated hip-hop into their sonic arsenal on ‘Rapture’.
Stein explained why he selected ‘The Tide Is High’ as his favourite Blondie song: “All of our songs are part of a larger movement, so it’s virtually impossible to choose. All I can say is the only song I knew for sure was going to be a hit before we recorded it was ‘The Tide Is High.’ The original was so fantastic. I knew what our position was at the time: If we had the ear of the public and if we did a successful version of this thing, it would be successful.” However, he also said: “I should single out that we’re proud of ‘Rapture’ and the legacy and context of that song.”
Watch the official video for ‘The Tide Is High’ below.
