Класс! Видел кто-нибудь вчера по СТС «Истории в деталях» рассказ про Дэбби? Попала на него совершенно неожиданно и даже показалось сначала, что мне это просто приснилось :) Хотя запись, наверно, годичной давности – всё равно очень порадовала: видео ряд на 5+, в инфо, конечно, несколько напортачили, но в целом рассказ был, как мне показалось вполне корректен.
The curse of Blondie
April 9, 2004
Can you be a bad girl at 58?
Debbie Harry can.
On her latest album with Blondie, the iconic bombshell of the 70s and 80s exudes every ounce of her youthful sexuality.
"I'm holding on to my babehood," the singer told the New York Daily News with a laugh. "Somebody's got to do it."
Now that Tina Turner and Cher have retired, Harry may be alone in trying. Yet, in an era when the baby-boom generation keeps redefining what it means to age, Harry's erotic obstinacy could be the new cutting edge.
On the new record, cheekily titled The Curse of Blondie, Harry marries her current vitality to her sensual legacy. During Background Melody, she refers to Blondie's old records as the soundtrack to many fans' sex lives, potentially resulting in a generation of love children.
"Baby, when they made you, I was the background melody," sings Harry with a wink.
"You have no idea how many people come up to me and say that their mothers played Blondie when they were in the womb or that our records were playing when they were conceived," the singer explains.
Those kids would now be old enough to have families of their own. This year, Blondie celebrates its 30th anniversary, though the group had what Harry calls "quite a break in there" - 15 years to be exact.
During its initial phase - 1974 to 1982 - Blondie made history by becoming the first act to have a No 1 rap hit (1981's Rapture), the first CBGB act to become a worldwide success and one of the first acts to mix punk and disco (in the classic Heart of Glass).
Along the way, Harry created the template Madonna later followed, as a Marilyn Monroe-styled rock babe and multimedia star.
The band broke up for the usual Behind the Music reasons: bad record deals, power struggles and lawsuits. But after letting all that go, Harry, guitarist Chris Stein, drummer Clem Burke and keyboardist Jimmy Destri reunited in 97. Two years later, they released a terrific comeback album, No Exit.
They had to deal with a lawsuit brought by two members excluded from the revival - Frank Infante and Nigel Harrison. But in its second phase, the group once again has become a strong worldwide touring attraction. Its retro-70s song Maria was a hit overseas in 1999.
The new album covers every aspect of Blondie's sprawling sound. It contains pop-rockers, a great disco single (Good Boys), jazz songs, reggae and a strong rap. The last ditty, Shakedown, lets Harry vent her New Jersey pride (she grew up in Hawthorne) in colourfully rude ways.
In the song's lyrics, Harry says she has learned to love solitude. But she's scarcely a loner.
"I have a pretty good social life. I'm always meeting people on the road," Harry explains. "So I don't have a lot of time to myself."
Harry has never married, though she and Stein were a couple for many years.
"I date," Harry says, "but I don't have a one and only. I would love to be in love. If this (interview) is some inducement to the public, I'm taking applications."
She has no children, but is interested in adopting.
"I think I have a lot to offer and I could really help some kids out," she says. "There may be a time when I actually do."
Which leads to the inevitable question, what does Harry think of her creative offspring - pinups like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera? She says she likes them, but recognises the significant difference between how such women see themselves (and how they function in the culture) and how her own generation viewed itself.
"Now it's a showbiz thing," she says. "(In the past) it was in the nature of rock 'n' roll to be an outsider - it was counterculture. Now, it's about being a mainstream pop singer."
When Harry sees stunts like the Janet Jackson Super Bowl pop-out, she's unimpressed. "I did much worse things," she says with a laugh. "I flashed everyone I could - friends, fans, family. It seemed quite normal. More is made out of it now."
She worries about the state of an industry in which such PR moves have become the norm.
"In today's world, it seems like there isn't enough one can do to capture people's attention," she says. "That I (would) have to resort to major histrionics to get people to listen to Blondie - that's sort of frightening to me. I don't feel like slashing my wrists at this point (to get attention)."
On the contrary, Harry says she feels more content than ever. And she doesn't see age, or other people's expectations, as any barrier to her continued creative growth. "There's room for a lot of stuff out there," she says. "I'm just trying to make room for myself."
BLONDIE'S FINEST MOMENTS
1. Heart of Glass: The cut that made disco cool for punks.
2. One Way or Another: Blondie's most swaggering rock track.
3. Rapture: The first rap song to hit No. 1, and one of the few by a white act that won't make you blush.
4. Call Me: A classic Giorgio Moroder dance number, with Harry offering an erotic call to arms.
5. Sunday Girl Mod London's Georgy Girl relocated to St Marks Place.
6. In the Flesh: A doo-wop ballad for a later generation.
7. (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear: A perfect melody matched to an ironically arch lyric.
8. Dreaming: Harry at her most rapturous.
9. Rip Her to Shreds: Harry at her most attitudinising.
10. X-Offender: Harry and Blondie at their most fantastically trashy.
Здесь очень интересные фото с ранних концертов
http://www.newwavephotos.com/Blondie.htm
