Friday, March 2, 2012

From the Record Collection (7 of 8) Blondie "Eat to the Beat"




Today, we profile the punk band Blondie's fourth studio album "Eat to the Beat" (1979) which I found for a mere four bucks at a flea market in Greensboro, NC. The record had huge expectations as it followed the band's breakthrough smash "Parallel Lines" (1978), an album that included Blondie's arguably most-famous song "Heart of Glass."

"Eat to the Beat" had three singles of its own, including "Dreaming," "Union City Blue" and (my personal favorite Blondie tune) "Atomic," which was covered by the band Sleeper for the soundtrack of "Trainspotting." Subsequently, it has also been covered by Party Animals.

The video for "Atomic," featured the famous fashion model Gia Carangi, who died from AIDS at age 26. That troubled icon who was also a heroin addict was played by Angelina Jolie in the HBO film "Gia" (1998).

The fact that Blondie's lead singer Debroah Harry, who was also a regular at Studio 54 in New York and who has acted in many films, had blonde hair created mass confusion as many thought Blondie and Harry were one in the same. In order to clarify this, the band came up with a "Blondie is a group" campaign.

Harry founded the band with her lover Chris Stein, a guitarist.

A fourth single "Slow Motion" was meant to be released but the band was a victim of its own success as "Call Me," the theme from the Richard Gere movie "American Gigolo" recorded by Blondie became a number-one smash hit.

Harry was recently interview by the NPR-show "Sound Opinions."

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