My copy has a sticker: "this reissue from the most successful band of the punk/new wave movement". Well, yes, I Know But I Don't Know has a bit of a Stooges strut to it… But the hits on the album? (And there are lots of them.) They're pop music, plain and simple, aren't they? Not that there's anything wrong with pop. However, as I was entering puberty in 1978 I saw things differently — pop was for little sister — and when Heart of Glass and Sunday Girl were holding down the top spot, they seemed like Abba's heirs apparent… But once more I find I'm repeating myself.
Even then I knew these were incredibly catchy songs. I couldn't have imagined how long their appeal would last — lying dormant in my case for a quarter of a century until I got this CD for a fiver from Fopp.
The estimable Johnny Barran (himself no stranger to the blonde hair dye) is on the Surrey cricket commentary for this game today, telling stories of his part in Blondie's performance to the well-heeled burghers of South West London last night, referring to Blondie throughout as "she". Apparently she played songs from across her back catalogue.
The songs and even the band may be evergreen, but as for puberty and this discussion, I look through the photos in the CD booklet and can't help feeling that Debbie Harry wasn't that pretty even then.
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