25th Mar 2004
Blondie
Just heard Blondie on Letterman. Debbie Harry barely resembles herself of old (or, rather, young). She is now just some ordinary looking middle-aged woman (lost weight since the last time I saw her a few years ago). And the song sounded like some forgotten also-ran tune from one of their mid-career albums. Do they even have a new album out? (Oh, I see on their site, it’s a new single (”the dancefloor stomper ‘Good Boys’,” yeah, right), in advance of their upcoming album, “The Curse Of Blondie.”)
All I can say is, why bother? What happened to her jazz career? That seemed more likely to be interesting and a chance to age with grace. The Rolling Stones they’re not.
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Hey, Hey!
You are waaaaay off base here Bruner. I recently purchased Blondie Live. It was on sale at FYE and amazon, too, I checked. It’s about $5 and also called Live in New York. So get a good deal on a great album.
Granted, it was recorded in 1999 but it had almost all of the best hits and some excellent new songs from No Exit. Their ‘99 new album.
I don’t know if the last five years have dimmed the flame, but Blondie Live rocked the shack in the major league Blondie way.
As I played it for my daughter, she was singing along in no time. She loves Blondie! And, why not? Catchy tunes. Solid rock and roll. Punk attitude. And, genre-bending flexibility.
Do yourself a favor and pick up Blondie Live. Why bother, indeed!
Well. For a start you need an “is” in between “she” and “now”.
Are you quite sure you want to do this, Rick? And thanks for the URL tip for yesterday’s post, btw…..
No, I’m not sure I really want to do this. I am quite sure by now this is a terrible mistake. But, in for a penny, in for a pound. It should either make me a more careful writer at last or I’ll just have to quit blogging. Meanwhile, I’ve never had such activity in my comments fields before, so that’s a silver lining.
My, Eurotrash is anal, isn’t she. Of course, that is to be expected with a poop fetish.
Heh. I’m not that anal, or I would have done something about this house of horrors:
(Oh, I see on their site, it’s a new single (”the dancefloor stomper ‘Good Boys’,” yeah, right), in advance of their upcoming album, “The Curse Of Blondie.”)
That’s one of the most grammatically frightening things I’ve ever read.
Convoluted perhaps, but where’s the error, pray tell?
If you think that’s bad, you should see how I’m hacking the code on this site, server-side include inside server-side include. But, like the sentence above, it’s charm, while perhaps inelegant, is that it works.
I tell stories the same way. I like tangents.
Oh, I see on their site, it’s a new single (”the dancefloor stomper ‘Good Boys’,” yeah, right), in advance of their upcoming album, “The Curse Of Blondie.”
Thats a runon if I’ve ever seen one. Theres like, ten friggin commas in there.
again with the remarks on weight (norah jones was chunky a while ago on these pages). what’s up with that rick?
as far as aging with grace (yeah, like the rolling stones??? not!) i’d rather see exene tear it up than debbie harry; heck, i’d rather see lots of other cool women rockers tear it up before debbie harry. it’s like abba for the warhol crowd.
can’t wait for the new juliana hatfield and pj harvey records. yay.
Sonic Death Monkey writes: “Thats a runon if I’ve ever seen one. Theres like, ten friggin commas in there.”
Well, perhaps you’ve never seen a run-on sentence then, because that’s not one of them. A run-on sentence is not measure by the number of commas (which, in this case was five, not “like, ten”) but whether or not the sentence features two (or more) independent clauses lacking appropriate punctuation (such as our friend the comma) or conjunctions to grammatically glue them together. (See details here.) My sentence has several dependent clauses but only one independent clause. So it’s NOT a friggin’ run-on sentence. (Meanwhile, if you’re going to become such a 10th-grade-educated stickler, you might want to introduce yourself to apostrophes, as your own sentence above lacks three of them, not to mention a hyphen.)
Long sentences are not bad grammar (read Faulkner or Joyce, for Christ sake). They are simply a stylistic choice. If you don’t like them, read other blogs.
Erika, please don’t start PC-policing my blog. I’ll continue to feel free to make fun of any characteristics about celebrities as I see fit: signs of age, fluctuations in weight, deteriorating looks, bad hair, criminal behavior, sexual deviations, they’re all on the table. As for the Rolling Stones, my intended point wasn’t that they’re pretty and thin (heroin will do that) but that they’ve continued to produce good, relevant music through the ’90s. I bought then ‘94 album Voodoo Lounge and thought it was really good, and I saw the accompanying concert in Budapest, where they kicked ass. But Blondie, I just don’t see them having the same staying power. I totally agree about Exene. I was always a much bigger fan of X than Blondie, and I still have the LPs to prove it!
Bruner,
Usualy when we feel compeled to discredit another it arises from something we dislike in ourselves. I would say that you don’t like the idea of growing old and that the idea of seeing a woman over fifty trying to be sexy disrupts you because you either don’t like the idea of sleeping with someone that old, or you fear what it will be like for your future lover looking at your fifty year old body. Blondie was mearly a trigger for you’re fear of mortality and aging, and I find you to be quite obvious. I’m sure you feel like a hardend intellectual having this meaningful website, were you can prove your right about everything, my advise to you is to quit worrying about how smart and culturaly hip you are and take a good look in the mirror, just what do you see?
Gee, thanks, Kevin. A stirring-soul message. I fear death and am sad that I’m no longer a virile teenager. Wow! What a fucking great insight!
I don’t believe I actually made any value judgment about her looks or whether or not she was sexy. I just said she barely resembled her earlier celebrity self and that she looks now like some ordinary woman her age. I didn’t suggest one way or the other whether she looked better then or now, just that she was barely recognizable.
My intended point was more about their art, namely that they’re not contributing much musically by reuniting. They were a mediocre band in their day, but at least they part of their “New Wave” era. Now, they are just kind of embarrassing, trying to make a buck cashing in on nostalgia for their earlier reputation. They have ceased to innovate.
As the button says, Kevin, you’ve obviously mistaken me for someone who gives a shit. I have particularly little respect for someone who comes to my site and tells me how to live my life while hiding behind anonymity. Pussy. Please take your armchair psychological bullshit elsewhere.
This just in: saw a homely, sulky 13-year-old tourist girl with her parents in the subway today wearing a trucker cap with a Rolling Stone’s lips logo on it. Can you imagine a burgeoning hipster kid with a Blondie trucker hat?
I was just kidding Bruner, relax your such a spaz monster!
…and a duchbag
I love BLONDIE she rocks the grannies! jooooking..about the last bit. BLONDIE RULES!!!! where is the ‘ good boys ‘ ringer t