The artist Debbie Harry called the “magnetic force” of New York City
When you’re as pivotal a figure of the New York new wave scene as Debbie Harry, you’re bound to come across a character or two.
Harry shared the same space as many we now regard as the ultimate revolutionaries, Talking Heads and Television included. And while they each had their own unique approach to genre-blending and innovative stylistic and performance choices, Blondie morphed through several distinctive iterations while remaining a defining force of each.
For instance, in the beginning, they were most notably associated with punk. It made sense; their sound was raw, punchy, and at times, aggressive. Their frontwoman adhered to its ethos by being the exact opposite of what was expected, leaning into femininity while adopting a bold and courageous aura on stage. She wasn’t for anyone’s gaze but her own, even as people continued to attempt to box her into whatever category fit her best.
Musically, however, they shifted from punk rock pretty quickly. Especially as the disco scene started to take flight, Blondie became the ultimate master of transcending genres, in ways that people hadn’t even known was possible. For instance, in tracks like ‘Rapture’, Harry mimicked all the creative rap garble she’d encountered in New York’s rave clubs, recapturing the essence of playful vernacular with a song that also became the first number one with a rap segment.
As one of the most forward-thinking visionaries in history, Harry knew how to move with the zeitgeist while also doing the unexpected. It’s a delicate tightrope to balance, but one she did through some of the more turbulent years for music, especially during the years when rock bands were fighting against the disco explosion like it was a plague that would end all creativity.
Suffice it to say that Harry was inspired by the best, not just in music but in other worlds, too. She first met Andy Warhol as a waitress at a Kansas City nightclub called Max’s. After, he’d often invite Harry and Chris Stein to dinner before inviting them up to his gatherings at The Factory. In Harry’s eyes, the creative hub of New York orbited Warhol, and everyone in his presence was simply mesmerised.
One of their most famous crossovers was Warhol’s picture for Interview magazine, when he took a selection of shots before asking Harry which she liked best. She’d trusted his judgement so much that she urged him to choose for her, and he did. One of Harry’s biggest regrets is that she was unable to get closer to him, mainly because they didn’t have enough time, and he was, as she put it, “a tough nut to crack”.
Discussing her feelings towards Warhol with Dan Rather, Harry once said, “When he passed, the social scene in [downtown] Manhattan was lost. […] He was just this force of evergy, he was there, he was positive, he was visible. He was a tremendous magnetic force.”
She went on, “He did something very nice in my portrait that he didn’t do in anybody else’s. In the centre of the eye, he always did a little white mark. He made mine heart shaped, and I never noticed it until recently. And I looked and none of the others had that.”
Clearly, then, Warhol was just as captivated by Harry’s magnetism as she was by his. While they were never quite as close as they might’ve liked, there was always a steady undercurrent of mutual respect – something Harry carried with her throughout her life, and something Warhol quietly acknowledged in his own way, like slipping a small heart into the centre of her eyes.
