“Banged and Hooted”: The song that reminds Debbie Harry of her youth
In the 1960s, the crossover between folk and rock might have seemed like something of a contradiction. With folk’s roots in more hippie-leaning, freedom-chanting discourse and rock’s more steadfast commitment to energetic uproar, the two seemed as harmonious as chalk and cheese. However, it was a match made in heaven for someone like Debbie Harry.
Despite the ostensibly paradoxical nature of the two, their convergence meant many positive things for an industry that long needed rock’s aggression to be balanced by folk’s rationalisation, with the delicate, confessional style of folkish songs being complemented perfectly by rock’s ability to add an intriguing layer of headiness to anything it touched.
Beyond that, however, it also impacted the industry’s infrastructure. The emergence of folk-rock meant that the two suddenly existed in the same place, with free-spirited music lovers from both the laidback facets of the folk movement and the more anachronistic sections of rock, resulting in a whirlwind of well-crafted character, and free-ticketed venues that invited those from all over to unite in the intricate embers of raw and honest performances.
According to Harry, this environment epitomised her “hippie past”, dredging up memories of her youth whenever she allowed her mind to wander. “The period where folk was crossing over into rock was really great,” she told The Guardian. “There were a lot of free concerts then, happenings and be-ins, with these hippy bands with masses of people in them, banging on something, droning away.”
The most interesting aspect wasn’t just the music; it was also the ways it made anyone present feel a part of something fleeting, almost like it could never have been recreated. “A lot of those bands didn’t exist properly, of course – they just got together and strummed and banged and hooted – it was off the wall,” Harry said. “But at moments, it did coalesce and become very interesting. Marc Bolan was very important to me at that time, but Donovan’s Mellow Yellow really reminds me of back then. I felt like I was swirling around in it all and everything was happening around me.”
One such song that brought her back to it all was ‘Mellow Yellow’, the darkly sensual track by Donovan that showcased the artist turning more heavily towards the US countercultural movement, embracing hippie ideology and taking influence from the likes of Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead. Not only this, but it blended elements of rock, rock, jazz, and psychedelia in a way that infused enigma, intrigue, and the glaring reality that anything was possible in music.
Folk and rock haven’t always been distinctive entities—their sensibilities have always paralleled each other in one way or another—but during this time, a rich and unique environment had risen from the merging of their core elements. Growing up in this scene meant that Harry was later able to take some of the diverse appeal of both and apply it to Blondie’s fusion of rock, disco, new wave, and punk. One of the main things the folk-rock movement demonstrated was how versatility could appeal to an even broader audience. Blondie did that by being as eclectic as possible without losing vital accessibility.
Harry also reflected this in her on-stage presence by being someone who simultaneously held traditional femininity while occupying centre stage as the frontwoman of the scene’s hottest new act. The capsules of energy Blondie created, with music fans from all realms of genres, superseded the standards set previously by folk-rock spaces, proving that anyone could be anything at any time and still connect with others through the conduit of music. Harry may have experienced this as a young, aspiring musician, but what she helped gift to the industry was far more explosive than she likely could have ever imagined.
