BUYER’S GUIDE

Blondie

With their sharp songwriting and lyrical flair, they took the pop-rock artform to a new, and hugely successful, level.

Invariably linked with New York’s punk rock explosion of the late 70s, Blondie had the street smarts and rebellious attitude to coincide with rock’n’roll’s burgeoning nihilism just by being in the right place at the right time. But as a band originally influenced by a musical melting pot of early-60s doo-wop to garage rock, their intelligent lyrics and sharp songwriting made their music a class apart. They exploited punk briefly for their own ends, but their watchword was expansion of their sound, and they quickly evolved.

By the time Blondie were founded by guitarist Chris Stein and singer Deborah Harry in late 1974, they were already experienced musicians. In the late 60s, Harry was a backing singer in folk-rock outfit the Wind In The