THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

402-Blondie-Heart of Glass.

1979-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 1.58. A lot of the Debbie Harry fan base were not pleased at the bands change in musical style, but I bet they left her posters on their walls.

Debbie Harry was born Angela Trimble on July 1st, 1945, in Miami, Florida, United States. At the age of three months she was adopted by Catherine and Richard Harry, and renamed Deborah Ann Harry. She began her musical career as a backing singer in the ‘Folk Rock’ band ‘The Wind in the Willows’ in the late 1960’s. In 1974 she joined the ‘Stilettoes,’ which was where she first met Chris Stein, who became her boyfriend, and the two would go on to form the band ‘Blondie.’ The band took their name from comments made by truck drivers who catcalled ‘Hey Blondie’ to Harry as they drove past her. In total there have been 13 members of Blondie come and go throughout the years, but the six who recorded ‘Heart of Glass’, and it’s parent Album ‘Parallel Lines’ were Debbie Harry, (vocals) Chris Stein, (guitar) Clem Burke, (drums) Jimmy Destri, (keyboards) Nigel Harrison, (bass) and Frank Infante, (guitar.) Blondie were active between 1974-1982, and then reformed in 1997, and at the time of writing they remain active.

As well as being the most recognisable member of Blondie, Debbie Harry has also had careers as a solo artist, and as an actress running concurrently. She has appeared in 49 films between 1975-2019, including high profile roles in ‘Union City,’ (1980) and ‘Hairspray’ (1988.) Debbie Harry has released five solo studio Albums between 1981-2007, with the final three as ‘Deborah Harry,’ she has also released 26 singles as the lead artist between 1981-2023, and has appeared on a further five singles as a featured artist, there are also four official compilation Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, none of her solo singles have charted within the top 40, while in the UK, four of her solo singles have made the top 40, with ‘French Kissin” from 1986 peaking the highest at Number 8.

The discography of Blondie, who have sold in excess of 40 million records worldwide, includes 11 studio Albums released between 1976-2017, and 38 singles released within the same time period, there are also three extended plays, (EP’s) three box sets, three remix Albums, 14 official compilation Albums, and four live Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, Blondie have had eight top 40 hits, with four of those singles, including ‘Heart of Glass’ reaching Number 1. In the UK they have had 20 top 40 hit singles, with six of those tracks making Number 1, the first five all between 1979-1981, and the last one ‘Maria,’ in 1999.

‘Heart of Glass’ was the third single released from ‘Parallel Lines,’ the third studio Album from Blondie, from September 1979, the song was co-written by Debbie Harry, and Chris Stein, with the production being by Mike Chapman. In 1978 the successful music producer Mike Chapman (see also best songs 860-773 and 686) who had already had a string of hits with acts including The Sweet, (see also best songs 860) Suzi Quatro, (see also best songs 686) and Mud, (see also best songs 773) was drafted in to produce what would become Blondie’s third studio Album ‘Parallel Lines.’ He wanted to know if there were any demo’s from the past that had not been used. Debbie Harry, and Chris Stein played him a song that they had written back in 1974 called ‘Once I Had A Love,’ the song had a slow funky sound, with a disco beat, for this reason the band referred to it as ‘The Disco Song.’ Chapman convinced them to record the track in a ‘Disco’ style, and ‘Heart of Glass’ was born, thus projecting the band Blondie in to the mainstream, and making them household names. Up until this point Blondie had been a ‘Rock,’ and ‘New Wave’ outfit, respected among their peers, but many of their early fan base chose to disown them, citing that they had sold out.

‘Heart of Glass’ was one of the first songs to combine ‘Rock Music’ with ‘Disco Music,’ leading to other artists recording danceable songs, and ‘Dance/Rock’ was born. With sales in excess of 1.3 million ‘Heart of Glass’ is one of the 100 best selling songs in the UK, it was the ninth best selling single of the 1970’s in that country. The song was inducted into the ‘Grammy Hall of Fame’ as a recording of ‘qualitative or historical significance’ in 2015. Debbie Harry herself stated that ‘Heart of Glass’ was, along with ‘Rapture,’ the song she was proudest of having written.

‘Once I had a love and it was a gas, soon turned out to be a pain in the ass. Seemed like the real thing only to find, mucho mistrust love’s gone behind.’