Band lore states that their name came from both a flippant reference to Adolf Hitler's dog Blondie as well as vocalist Harry's bright blond hair. Previously having been a Playboy Bunny, Harry fronted the early version of the band. initially known as "Angel and the Snakes". They built up underground fame in NYC. Blondie released their first album, 'Blondie', in 1976. The album was mildly successful and spawned the Australian hit single "In The Flesh". Gary Valentine left the band later that year, and they continued briefly as a foursome, recording 'Plastic Letters' and gaining more airplay with their track "Denis". Still in touch with their punk roots, having played in clubs such as CBGBs and hung out with rock artists such as the Ramones, the band broke out into other, more diverse influences such as older dance and pop music, particularly interested in Phil Spector's 'wall of sound' technique.
Valentine was replaced by Los Angeles-based musician Frank Infante (guitar, bass guitar) in 1977. Infante had already played guitar on one track on 'Plastic Letters'. The band went out playing live with Infante and Stein swopping between playing guitar and bass guitar throughout each concert. The band also added British born but LA-based Nigel Harrison (bass guitar), making Blondie a six piece group for the first time. Harrison was a former member of the glam rock band Silverhead.
In 1978, they released the album that would make them international stars, titled 'Parallel Lines'. The album spawned several hit singles, including the number one hit "Heart Of Glass", "Sunday Girl", "Hanging On The Telephone" (a cover of the famous power pop track by The Nerves), and "One Way Or Another". The success of the heavily disco influenced "Heart of Glass", a song sometimes censored for its use of strong language for the time and considered by the band as tongue-in-cheek, proved controversial among many fans of the band's punk background, but it managed to break them through at a massive level.
They released three more albums (1979's Eat To The Beat, 1980's Autoamerican (containing the number one singles "The Tide Is High" and "Rapture") and 1982's The Hunter) as well as a number one single "Call Me", from the score of the 1980 film "American Gigolo".
In 1980, Harrison contributed several unused Blondie songs to ex-Silverhead singer Michael Des Barres solo album I'm Only Human. In 1981, Harry released a solo album Koo Koo, Destri released a solo album Heart On A Wall. Burke recorded and played live with the Eurythmics, and Stein started a record label named Animal Records.
In 1982, health problems for Stein, declining sales and inter-band tension caused the band to split. Harry kept a low profile for a few years while she nursed (now former) boyfriend Stein through a serious illness, but then continued a solo career as an actress/singer.
Reformation plans begun in 1997 with a line-up that included Harry, Stein, Destri, Burke, Valentine, and Harrison. Infante was not invited to the reunion. Valentine and Harrison were eventually (and unceremoniously, they claim) replaced by Paul Carbonara (guitar) and Leigh Foxx (bass).
The band released No Exit in 1998, which did quite well in both US and UK charts and contained the number one hit single "Maria".
The album did not include any song contributions from Valentine or Harrison, despite them recording early sessions for the album and Valentine being assured by Stein that they would use his already recorded song "Amor Fati". Harrison and Infante later filed an unsuccessful lawsuit claiming breach of contract for not including them in the reunion.
The Curse Of Blondie was released in 2003 and, while not matching its predecessor in sales, was critically acclaimed and spawned the global dance hit "Good Boys".
Destri retired from touring in 2004. Kevin Patrick (keyboards), Destri's former keyboard tech and assistant, replaced him soon followed by Matt Katz-Bohen in 2008.
The band's 2006 induction ceremony into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was the scene of an awkward moment between Infante and Harry, during which he asked that the former members be allowed to play along with fellow inductees Harry, Stein and Burke during the band's set, since it was the original band that was being inducted. Harry replied "Can't you see my band is up there?" prompting Infante to counter "I thought it was Blondie that was being inducted."
In 2006, the band toured as the opening act for The New Cars on the "Road Rage Tour." Although Harry was more than 60 years old, the band still managed incendiary versions of their old hits, while playing with enough fire to remind the audience of their punk roots.
In 2007, the band embarked on a tour of Europe, to coincide with the DVD release of the first ever music video album "Eat To The Beat".
Harry has since resumed her solo career, releasing 2007's Necessary Evil.
On June 5, 2008, Blondie commenced a world tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Parallel Lines with a concert at Ram's Head Live in Baltimore, Maryland. The tour covered some Eastern and Midwestern US cities throughout the month of June. In July, the tour took the band overseas to Israel, the UK, Russia, Europe and Scandinavia, wrapping up on August 2, 2008 at Rockefeller in Oslo, Norway.
Clem Burke and Paul Carbonara both recently told interviewers that the band is working on another record, which would be their first new album since the release of The Curse of Blondie in 2003. Carbonara described it as "a real Blondie record.
Blondie undertook a North American tour of mid-sized venues with Pat Benatar and The Donnas in the summer of 2009. Following the tour, in October, the band began recording sessions for their ninth studio album with producer Jeff Saltzman in Woodstock, New York. In December 2009, the band released the song "We Three Kings" to coincide with the Christmas holiday.
The new album, to be titled Panic of Girls, which was being mixed at the time, was said to follow in 2010. Chris Stein stated that Dutch artist Chris Berens will provide the cover art. In April 2010, it was announced that guitarist Paul Carbonara had amicably left Blondie to pursue other projects and was replaced by Tommy Kessler. Panic of Girls is tentatively set to be released in 2010/2011.
In June 2010, Blondie began the first leg of a world tour named "Endangered Species Tour", which covered the United Kingdom and Ireland, supported by UK band Little Fish. The set lists featured both classics and new material from the forthcoming Panic of Girls. After a break in July the tour will resume in August and cover the United States and Canada over a course of six weeks. Blondie is then set to take the "Endangered Species Tour" to Australia and New Zealand in November and December. It was revealed that the bands album will be released on the Australian Sony label in November 2010, and elsewhere in January 2011.
Songfacts reports that Mother, the first single from Panic of Girls received its global premiere on BBC Radio on March 17th, 2011 and was made available for purchase on May 23, 2011.
In May 2017 a new album was released named Pollinator with the single "Long Time" which saw the daylight in March.
In 2021, the band released a short film along with a soundtrack EP titled Vivir en la Habana. They also released an alternate version of their song Rapture titled “Yuletide Throwdown” which featured Fab 5 Freddy.
In 2022, Blondie released a Sunday Girl EP consisting of an unreleased demo and live version
of the song as well as the previously released french version of the track in honor of Record Store Day. The band went on a UK tour with support from Johnny Marr followed by a US tour with support from The Damned titled “Against The Odds Tour”, which Chris Stein did not attend due to health problems. They also announced the release of their first archival project and box set, titled Against The Odds: 1974 - 1982, which took six years to compile, began recording their twelfth studio album and remastered their music videos in HD.
FADE AWAY
Blondie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Wrapped like candy in a blue blue neon glow
Fade away and radiate
Fade away and radiate
Ooh baby watchful lines vibrate soft in brainwave time
Silver pictures move so slow
Golden tubes faintly glow
Hidden voices mock your words
Fade away and radiate
Fade away and radiate
The beams become my dream
My dream is on the screen
The beams become my dream
My dream is on the screen
Dusty frames that still arrive die in 1955
Fade away and radiate
Fade away and radiate
The beams become my dream
My dream is on the screen
Fade away and radiate
Fade away and radiate
Fade away and radiate
Fade away and radiate
The lyrics to Blondie's song "Fade Away" are enigmatic and full of intricate imagery that is open to interpretation. The song seems to describe the surreal experience of watching TV late at night, wrapped in the neon glow of the screen. The lyrics suggest a sense of disassociation from reality, as the singer loses themselves in the dreamlike images that flicker across the screen.
The first verse describes the experience of being "wrapped like candy in a blue blue neon glow," suggesting a sense of seduction and hypnotism. The second verse talks about "watchful lines" vibrating in "brainwave time," which could refer to the lines on the TV screen and the effect they have on the viewer's brainwaves. The lines become blurred and merge, creating a sense of distortion and disorientation.
The chorus is the most memorable part of the song, with its catchy repetition of "Fade away and radiate." This could be interpreted as a reference to the way the images on the screen come and go, or it could hint at a larger sense of fading away from reality and transcending into a dreamlike state. The final verse mentions "dusty frames that still arrive" and "die in 1955," which could be a nod to the era of old movies and TV shows that were often played late at night.
Overall, "Fade Away" is a haunting and surreal song that captures the feeling of being lost in a hypnotic trance, watching the world fade away into a blur of light and sound.
Line by Line Meaning
Ooh baby I hear you spend night time
The singer hears that the person they are addressing spends their nights doing something.
Wrapped like candy in a blue blue neon glow
The person being addressed is surrounded by a bright blue light, making them look attractive and desirable like candy.
Fade away and radiate
The bright blue light makes the person start to disappear while still radiating its glow.
Ooh baby watchful lines vibrate soft in brainwave time
The artist notices that the person being addressed is paying close attention to something, as their brainwaves vibrate softly with a frequency that matches the rhythm of their thoughts.
Silver pictures move so slow
The artist observes that pictures made of silver move very slowly, perhaps like old films.
Golden tubes faintly glow
Tubes made of gold emit a dim light, possibly indicating the presence of radiation or electricity.
Electric faces seem to merge
The shapes and contours of faces seem to blend together, perhaps indicating the singer's perceptions are distorted.
Hidden voices mock your words
Voices that aren't apparent are making fun of the person being addressed, either in their head or in a scenario the artist is describing.
The beams become my dream
The bright blue light becomes the artist's dream, whatever their own desires or aspirations may be.
My dream is on the screen
The artist's dream is on the screen, which might suggest that the person being addressed is watching something that represents or embodies their dream.
Dusty frames that still arrive die in 1955
Old-fashioned frames of a certain style frequently arrive in the present, but they are associated with a time period (1955) that no longer exists and have lost their relevance.
Fade away and radiate
The bright blue light again fades away and disappears while still emitting its glow.
The beams become my dream
The same line as before, suggesting that the singer's dream is closely linked to or entirely dependent on the presence of the blue light.
My dream is on the screen
Again, the singer's dream is manifested on the screen that the person being addressed is apparently watching.
Fade away and radiate
The bright blue light disappears again, but this time the singer adds nothing new to their description.
Fade away and radiate
The song ends with the same line being repeated, which can be interpreted in several ways - perhaps the repetition is symbolic of the cyclical nature of life or the inevitability of loss and decay.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: CHRIS STEIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Kc
on Accidents Never Happen
Judging from the cultural framework at the time i read it as lies being exposed for the middle income layers of the society who ere led to believe that if they follow certain codes they will be happy and prosperous but so many fail so accidents nver happen is a mockery