“So screwed up”: the one person Blondie thought ruined their career
Every single artist that becomes famous has to make sure to watch their back. It might seem like a dream come true to see their name in lights and play to millions of people around the world, but when anyone gets that famous, there are normally everyone from producers to suits to the deranged fan that will try to cut them down at every opportunity. And while Blondie seemed to be locked in during every chapter of their career, they weren’t immune to some of the biggest traps in the music industry.
But, really, Blondie was already a little bit more pop-focused than everyone else in New York at the time. Debbie Harry was already one of the greatest frontwomen in rock when they were playing CBGBs, and while many people were more than happy to listen to their brand of new wave music, they were never afraid to make something as mainstream as ‘Heart of Glass’, even if it meant pissing off a few fans along the way.
As soon as the band got big, there were going to be problems. Chris Stein and Harry had been the two focal points of the group half the time, and while Clem Burke would do everything he could to keep the spirit of the band alive, there were always going to be the odd members who didn’t think they got their due credit when working with the band.
Take their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for instance. There had been discussions that some of the original members wouldn’t be playing, but their idea of holding the rest of the band hostage and asking them to play while giving their induction speeches would never be a good look for either side. Before the band itself fell out, though, big business already had them by the throat.
“I wish I’d had the time back.”
Debbie Harry
Outside of putting Harry as the main attraction in the group, their managers ended up giving them no breaks during most of their prime years. She had already been told that she had to turn down Blade Runner because her higher-ups wanted her to focus on a new album, and when looking back on that phase of her career, Harry remembers wishing she had time to take a step back now and again.
It’s awfully nice when your group is in-demand, but Harry said she would have traded that in for not having to have someone cracking the whip on the band every time they took some time to breathe, saying, “Blondie’s thing was so screwed up in that we were always under pressure from either management or the record labels, who wanted to know why the new album was taking an extra month to record. I wish I’d had the time back then to have a family life, but it didn’t seem the right environment to bring children into and then, well, time ran out.”
While Blondie remained in demand for years, Harry’s story is all too familiar, considering what other artists had to go through. They were never in the same ballpark style-wise, but looking at what Van Halen was doing at the same time, even Eddie said that the managers wouldn’t let up when it came time to rush them back into the studio to make sure they had lightning strike twice in the same place.
But like all business-minded record executives, Blondie’s higher-ups missed the first rule that goes into making great music. It has to come from the heart before anything else, and if you start shoving your artists into the studio and telling them to get the ball rolling, the chances of them walking out with a classic are incredibly slim.
