The best Blondie song since the 1970s, according to Debbie Harry
A lot of classic acts fall into a familiar curse. Fans seem to want them to be frozen in time. They want the hits from the 1970s, ‘80s, or ‘90s, and then they want them to shut up. It’s often the case that a band’s newer music can’t get a look in, stuck in the shadows of their earlier releases. However, in the eyes of Debbie Harry, some of Blondie’s best work came in the 2010s.
Whether people were paying attention or not – or whether they just wanted to keep listening to ‘Heart of Glass’ or ‘Call Me’ on repeat – Blondie kept pushing forward. That’s how you know musicians are true artists: Debbie Harry and her band never stopped evolving. They didn’t rest on their laurels or vanish into the ether, relying solely on royalties from decades-old hits—they kept going, kept working, kept touring.
They kept writing, too. Since their launch in the 1970s, they’ve been consistent. Even if there were gaps, like the eight years between The Curse of Blondie in 2008 and Panic of Girls in 2011, they always came back with more new material, and that new material was often very different.
To consistently compare the group to their younger selves is exhausting. As the years have gone on and the band has changed, so have their influences, their inspirations, and the styles they’ve tapped into. Especially on their most recent albums, elements of post-punk and even electro have come in as their passion was proved by their interest in still trying new things.
In Harry’s eyes, that birthed some of the band’s all-time best work that sits in the tracks of the bestsellers. When asked by The Guardian for her own favourite Blondie songs, of course, she said the inevitable ones, telling them, “Obviously ‘Heart of Glass’ or ‘Rapture’”. But a newer one stands out, too.
She picked ‘Mother’, a 2011 track. It’s a weird one, sounding like a video game soundtrack at the peak of the band’s interest in electronic details. But at the centre, Harry’s instantly recognisable vocals sound more powerful than ever. Despite being much older than the girl the world first heard her as, her voice here sounds bigger than ever as she tears through this super catchy track.
Not only is the sound of the track proof of Harry’s enduring power, but the experience of making it was proof of that fact to Harry herself as she found the experience completely effortless. “The lyrics fell into place beautifully and said exactly what I wanted to say, about children of the night who go to clubs and have this dark alternative universe away from their daily life,” she said, proving that her lyrical sharpness hasn’t dulled at all.
Too often overlooked to just revisit the old hits, let this be your prompt to go give some time to Blondie’s newer work, with ‘Mother’ being the place to start before moving onto the high energy of Pollinator, the band’s most recent offering.
