Blondie's New York... and the Making of Parallel Lines [2014, Rock, Documentary, HDTV 720p]

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This programme contains some strong language

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They were just a ragtag New York punk band in a city that was

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falling apart at the seams -

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just one of many bands trying to break out from the niche punk scene

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into the pop mainstream.

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I think people thought we were trashy.

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I think people thought we were unmusical.

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No-one thought they were going anywhere.

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Against them they had the punk purists who wanted to keep

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the music anti-establishment, raw and aggressive.

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But Blondie would prove that they were more than a garage band

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with a pretty singer.

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# One way or another

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# I'm gonna lose ya

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# I'm gonna give you the slip. #

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In 1977, Chrysalis Records spotted the band and spent 1m

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buying out their contract and putting top pop hit maker

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Mike Chapman in charge of producing their new album, Parallel Lines.

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# Pretty baby You look so heavenly...

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The tough studio recording sessions coming up would turn Blondie

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from a Greenwich Village punk band into a world-class pop band.

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Their breakthrough album would sell 20 million copies,

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but Debbie Harry's sound, looks and unpredictable clothes sense

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would also have a lasting influence on New York's fashion industry,

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while the stories the band told in their songs

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would capture the spirit of New York City -

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a snapshot of a time and of a city that was changing for ever.

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New York in the '70s was a city going through tough times.

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The overriding problem was to save

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the city of New York from going into bankruptcy.

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It was pretty dangerous, it was

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pretty common to get mugged,

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especially over on the East Side.

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Er, it was pretty hard to find jobs.

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There were a lot of single occupancy hotels that you could

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sleep for 5 a night, and so transient people and, er...

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you know, a lot of drunks and things like that.

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The band thought of themselves as New Yorkers from an early age.

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Jimmy Destri was brought up in Brooklyn.

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Did you ever see those Discovery Channel shows with

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the deep ocean vents and there's all kinds of life living in impossible

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conditions? That's basically what downtown New York was.

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Guitarist Chris Stein also grew up in Brooklyn.

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There was the big "be in" in Central Park in the summer of '67

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that was very impressive and a great event.

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I remember as part of my... chemical history, you know.

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Fellow guitarist Frank Infante's early memories

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of the city are still vivid today.

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I remember going through the Holland Tunnel with my parents

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in the car, you know.

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And it always was that real Gothamy kind of vibe,

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gritty kind of tunnel, dirty, it was like, "Man, where are we going?"

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So we're going to hell here or something, you know. But it was cool.

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Drummer Clem Burke and vocalist Debbie Harry,

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both from New Jersey, discovered the West Village in their teens.

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DEBBIE HARRY: I think my favourite thing was to walk around

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the West Village and look at, you know,

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all the little crafts shops and, er, just sort of try to catch the vibe.

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It was a place we used to go to look at the hippies in, er,

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Greenwich Village.

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Kinda walk around and look for freaky-looking people, I guess.

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I guess it was the forbidden fruit in a way,

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full of naughty things.

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Even English newcomer bassist Nigel Harrison soon fell under

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the city's wayward spell.

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I love New York.

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I think if I left New York, I would decompose, I'd turn to dust.

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Since becoming an item in 1973

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Debbie and Chris had shared one ambition.

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Just to run away and be an artist of some sort.

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In the 1970s, many artists were coming to live in the city's

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abandoned factories and crowd the East Village sidewalks -

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musicians, film-makers, photographers and fashion designers.

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New clubs were offering some raw alternative sounds

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and films conceived and shot far from Hollywood,

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such as Saturday Night Fever, Taxi Driver, The French Connection,

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and Serpico, were telling true and often harsh New York stories.

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Indeed one of the first songs to be recorded had a feeling of menace

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and impending violence.

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It was based on Debbie's experience with a boyfriend

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who had stalked her.

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Track two - One Way Or Another.

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This was just a boyfriend, er, and just... I, you know,

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I sort of liked the way that that phrase kept coming up,

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you know, "One way or another, one way or another."

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Nigel played me the track in Japan.

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I used to make a lot... a lot of little demos.

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I had this fantastic little machine I bought in Japan.

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Just the thing that went...

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CHORD IS REPEATED

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Just two chords going back and forth with a little riff in it.

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HE PLAYS THE SAME CHORD

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I took that, you know, with the beat...beat thing,

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I had some crazy guitar on it.

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I said, "I like this!"

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Thanks to Jimmy, who I was sharing a room with on tour,

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he said, "We should make a song out of that. That's got to be a song."

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And it was thanks to Jimmy that I..

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I was too shy to sort of show it to anyone.

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He came in with it and we just started playing it live.

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It was a very automatic, band kind of thing.

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Debbie came up with a great lyric.

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You know, because it was a catch phrase - "one way or another" -

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it's such a catch phrase.

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The phrasing just fit right, so I just...

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And it just sort of happened in a flash, you know.

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It was just one of those things that came together really easily.

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One of the things that made it is the guitarist is playing

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but the keyboard is doing a seventh. It's going...

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And it just gives it that edge, you know.

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Yeah, that's one of my favourites.

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Frank did a great job on that.

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So this is Frankie playing Nigel's riff.

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GUITAR PLAYS

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And Chris with the...the harmonics.

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And you can hear... those are Chris's lines...

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..a little outta whack.

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It has this odd country hillbilly thing going on underneath it all.

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TRACK PLAYS

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It also reminds me of some kind of a polka.

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Yeah.

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# I'm gonna meet ya

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# I'll meet ya

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# I will drive past your house. #

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The best part of this was when Debbie spat out those words,

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and to see her out there with the sort of facial contortions and...

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HE SNARLS

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I mean, she really went for this track.

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# One way or another I'm gonna find ya

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# I'm gonna get ya, get ya, get ya

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# One way or another I'm gonna win ya

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# I'll get ya! I'll get ya! #

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I mean, that really tells you all about her personality,

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you know. It's like, "I'll get ya, I'll get ya!"

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One minute she's this sort of frantic...

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and the next minute she.. you can't even talk to her.

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What's really amazing is how many people actually relate to this song.

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They point, they go like that.

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The lyrics are unusual and people often get them wrong,

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as Debbie and Chris discovered in an unlikely place!

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We were in..

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We were in a Hard Rock Cafe in South America somewhere

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and they had a really good forgery of Debbie's lyrics for this.

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Yes, that was in Santa Dominco.

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And we knew it was a forgery because it didn't say "rat food",

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it said something else food.

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Yeah.

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And, you know, that... The phrase "rat food" is in here somewhere.

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# I walk down the mall... #

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I think she wrote these words on the spot.

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These weren't written yet she said.

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# Check out some specials and rat food. #

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"Check out some specials and rat food," you know. She's got the...

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Even today Debbie is not sure

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she gave her performance quite enough menace.

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Not menacing enough.

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# I'm gonna get ya, get ya, get ya... #

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I should be clamped in irons for this.

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# I'm gonna meet ya, meet ya, meet ya

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# One day, maybe next week I'm gonna meet ya. #

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All right, that's enough.

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The band had first come together three years earlier at CBGBs,

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a run-down venue on The Bowery, which became

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the headquarters of the New York punk and new wave scene.

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Up-and-comers Blondie had some tough competition.

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Other CBGB regulars included Talking Heads,

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The Ramones, The Patti Smith Group,

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Johnnie Thunders, and Television.

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The interesting thing about going to CBGBs -

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and I don't think that an 18-19-year-old will have any

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sort of parallel to it now, and I think the only parallel would be

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the people who went to The Cavern Club in the late '50s, early '60s.

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You didn't go to see the Beatles, you went to The Cavern Club.

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We were not the, er, you know, the darlings of the scene, you know,

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we were sort of the struggling out... you know, outer edges of it.

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I think people thought we were trashy.

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I think people thought we were unmusical.

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# That's how the little girl lies

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# He's telling his little girl lies... #

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I think people thought the band was a novelty.

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Everyone liked them as people a lot but, you know,

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no-one thought they were going anywhere.

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And especially the competition, which was Television or the Ramones.

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We were informed by the music that we were surrounded by, by our peers.

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We were changing and doing different things, and our sound was changing.

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With the success of Saturday Night Fever came an enthusiasm for disco

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and Blondie was the first punk band to incorporate it into their sound.

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It was a move that punk purists would regard as treason,

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but it would increase the band's chances of hitting the big time.

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They'd been playing at CBGBs for a while,

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and I just heard this sound,

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and it just sounded bigger than any of the bands that had played there.

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And Debbie was just one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen.

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But it was now becoming clear that Blondie was much more than

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a pretty girl with an unformed band behind her.

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They were a great band, they could really play.

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And let's not lose that in the discussion of her image and

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the scene and the punks and all that, this band could play their ass off.

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And one night they were doing just that

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when they were spotted by Terry Ellis of Chrysalis Records.

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He saw Debbie's star quality at once and immediately spent

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1m buying the band out of their existing record deal.

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To make sure his investment paid off, he put pop record producer

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Mike Chapman in charge.

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Mike had a string of hits to his name

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but he couldn't have been less punk.

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How could he turn Blondie into a hit making team?

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# Wanted something more

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# I know

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# You wouldn't go... #

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Knowing that this was basically a New York underground sort of

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punk influence band,

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I thought, well, it's going to be a little tough.

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But when I heard the songs, I realised that, er, that they

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were songwriters.

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Since 1971, Mike had had an impressive 20 hit singles

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in the charts.

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I told them, I said,

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"You know, these songs are... are absolutely amazing."

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And they said, "Oh, do you think so?"

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I said, "Yeah, I know so. So shall we give it a try?"

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"Yeah, OK. Let's give it a try."

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He was good-humoured and, you know,

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he had all these funny sort of Australian sayings like,

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"Gosh, she bangs like a shit house door in a cyclone."

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And, you know, it's like working with Billy the Kid or something.

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- Yeah. Or a pirate or something.
- He was funny

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and cute, you know. He was wily and a good spirit, you know.

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Mike would go on to record three other albums with the band,

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although during the Parallel Lines sessions his technique of building

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a hit bar-by-bar would be at odds with the band's usual technique.

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On their previous two albums they had recorded a song a few times

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and then chosen the best take.

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Later, tempers would fray,

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but at the outset it was all sweetness and light.

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Blondie's New York, track one, Hanging On The Telephone.

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Of the 12 tracks on the album,

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Mike agreed with the band that they

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would write nine of them, but there would be three covers, too.

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The first track was written by West Coast musician Jack Lee.

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Hustler Jack just couldn't believe his luck.

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We met Jack. Jack was gone, out of his mind.

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He was staying at the Y, you know, and he was pushing his songs

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to people, and he would come in and show us the song.

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And he would be so enthusiastic, and we'd have to go "Jack,

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00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:36,840
"calm down, we're going to do the song."

247
00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,480
I can still hear Clem's unsteady foot here.

248
00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,200
Now Clem would kill me if he...

249
00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,000
well, he will kill me when he hears it.

250
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:46,880
- But I can hear his...
- DRUM PLAYS

251
00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:49,960
If you listen to his kick-drum, he's not...

252
00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:52,600
- DRUMMING SPEEDS UP
- ..like there - he's not right on.

253
00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:55,480
- Let's hear the bass in there now.
- BASS PLAYS

254
00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,440
This was Nigel's thing, was...

255
00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:02,000
just his pedalling these bass notes.

256
00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:03,320
BASS PLAYS

257
00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,000
And it's all a little out of sync.

258
00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,120
It's not perfect.

259
00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:14,040
Now that was the secret, I think, to, er, to...

260
00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:16,560
to the, um...

261
00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:20,160
keeping the element of Blondie in the record,

262
00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,360
then you put in some guitar...

263
00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:25,720
GUITAR PLAYS

264
00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:26,880
..and...

265
00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:33,560
..suddenly it starts to pull it together.

266
00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:38,440
To me, the genius of Chapman is that this sounds so spontaneous,

267
00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:42,520
and it wasn't at all. After doing it for an hour and playing

268
00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:44,320
the same parts for two hours,

269
00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,920
it didn't feel very free-flowing at all.

270
00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,480
It was very mechanical and rigid feeling.

271
00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:53,120
And now when I hear it, it sounds so spontaneous and effortless,

272
00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:56,560
- which is great, that's the way Mike was a
- BLEEP
- genius.

273
00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:00,080
Mike would walk around in circles, and sometimes he'd have

274
00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,880
a stopwatch and then he'd say, "Why is that ending so long?

275
00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:04,040
"Why is the intro so long?

276
00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:06,360
"Why does it take so long for the vocals to come in?"

277
00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,800
# I heard your mother now she's going out the door

278
00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:13,000
# Did she go to work or just go to the store?

279
00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,840
# All those things she said I told you to ignore... #

280
00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:19,520
And when the vocals did come in, it was Debbie's aggressive

281
00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:23,560
and unladylike delivery that made people wake up and listen.

282
00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,640
You have to really drive for some kind of forceful

283
00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:31,320
emotional content, you know.

284
00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:33,120
Because you can just actually

285
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,120
just sing technically

286
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:37,880
and just be a technical singer and it would be fine.

287
00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:40,760
But he was always saying, "Oh, you've got to put something in it.

288
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,800
- "Put something in it."
- Emotional content. Bruce Lee.

289
00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:45,280
Emotional content.

290
00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:47,480
Thank you, Bruce.

291
00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,320
VOCAL TRACK: # If I don't get your calls, then everything goes wrong

292
00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:53,640
# I want to tell you something you've known all along

293
00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:57,480
# Don't leave me hanging on the telephone... #

294
00:15:57,480 --> 00:15:59,200
That's the emotional part.

295
00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:05,040
Mike wasn't happy with the way the end of the song sounded

296
00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:07,480
and added his own voice.

297
00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:11,560
- SINGS ALONG TO TRACK
- # Oh, woh woh. #

298
00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:17,400
So, and they're all looking at me going, "Are you sure, Mike?"

299
00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:18,960
And I said, "It'll work."

300
00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:21,480
# Woh, hang up and run to me

301
00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:25,000
# Oh, woh woh woh, run to me. #

302
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,360
The song needed to come to a climax...

303
00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:31,120
# Oh, woh woh! #

304
00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,480
..and suddenly it was like, "That's it."

305
00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,480
Mike was beginning to get the band working to his methodical style,

306
00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:40,720
but he still had a way to go.

307
00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,600
He was very hands-on in arrangements.

308
00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:49,640
He was a guitar player. He helped with the total creative process.

309
00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,480
He wasn't just in the control room ordering pizza.

310
00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:55,520
Mike would be completely do it over and over and over

311
00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:57,360
until it gets exactly right,

312
00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:59,920
so we'd be like, "Man, wasn't that good enough?"

313
00:16:59,920 --> 00:17:02,280
It was more based on our musicianship and Mike took

314
00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:05,280
it to a whole other level of meticulousness, where we were

315
00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:10,120
doing stuff over and over again to make it really precise and perfect.

316
00:17:10,120 --> 00:17:12,960
In Blondie, everyone's so stubborn, everyone's headstrong

317
00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:14,800
and stubborn, no-one takes orders.

318
00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:18,320
And it was the first time we... anyone ever remotely had the nerve

319
00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:20,080
to question anything we'd done.

320
00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:23,040
Not that we were right, but we were convinced we were right.

321
00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:25,840
Here he is coming in and telling us, you know,

322
00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:27,120
"You have to go to school.

323
00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:31,080
"You really have to go to school, you know."

324
00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,960
And I'm glad he did. I'm really glad he did.

325
00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:36,320
I learnt so much.

326
00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:38,600
Blondie, it seems, were at a point where

327
00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:43,240
they had to either give up or they had to go all the way for this

328
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:47,320
sort of pop perfection that they'd always really aspired to.

329
00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:50,680
And again, every band in that little world,

330
00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:54,000
regardless of what they'll say, wanted a big hit.

331
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:56,840
We all dreamed of it.

332
00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:00,360
The band was living and rehearsing in a loft on the Bowery

333
00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:02,680
in a derelict district of the city

334
00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,560
and Debbie and Chris had now been together as a couple

335
00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:07,640
for over four years.

336
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,960
So this was their loft.

337
00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:14,560
Debbie, Chris, Jimmy, I think Gary Valentine lived in the building.

338
00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:16,920
You know, it probably wasn't palatial,

339
00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:21,360
but I think the fact of living in a communal setting was probably

340
00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:23,240
very helpful to a band, you know,

341
00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,200
coming together and making music together.

342
00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,880
And they were making New York music.

343
00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:32,440
The New York grime ingredient, er...

344
00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:36,120
There was enough of that in each of the tracks through the playing.

345
00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:41,400
I think Clem and, er, and Frankie and certainly Chris

346
00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,320
with his guitar parts,

347
00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:47,520
added New York into those tracks,

348
00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:50,280
and Debbie sounds like Debbie, you know,

349
00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:53,160
she doesn't sound like any other singer,

350
00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:55,680
which was such a blessing because, you know,

351
00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,480
how often do you get to record a singer

352
00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:01,320
who is instantly identifiable?

353
00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,800
Er, and she represented, er, New York.

354
00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:08,760
And a New York which was then often a dangerous place to be.

355
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:11,960
Crime was escalating, not in the Village, in the whole city,

356
00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:14,440
not just especially the Village.

357
00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:18,720
It was, er, escalating and people were afraid.

358
00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,880
It looked like Dresden after the bombing or something like that.

359
00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:25,040
I guess, in retrospect, it's very romantic to people now, too,

360
00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:28,280
and there is a kind of freedom involved with living

361
00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,920
on the fringes of this decaying society, too.

362
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,360
There was kind of no future in New York in the '70s -

363
00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:38,280
a lot of stores were closed up, there were lots of empty store fronts.

364
00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:41,360
You could see lines of people

365
00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:45,400
lined up to buy their, er...

366
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,600
..drug of choice.

367
00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:51,320
There was a lot of street crime.

368
00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,920
We were frequently getting held up and stuff, you know.

369
00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:57,560
Yeah. I got held up several times.

370
00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:02,000
1970s New York could be violent, but that didn't deter the celebrity pack

371
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,760
from exploring the mean streets of the City -

372
00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,640
people such as Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger,

373
00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:09,640
Tom Waits and Allen Ginsberg,

374
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:11,920
who went in search of the thrill of danger

375
00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,080
and other like-minded revellers.

376
00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:15,960
I am the night life.

377
00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:19,320
It all started with one discotheque, then more and more and more.

378
00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,360
I live everywhere. I live within you.

379
00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:25,440
People have more energy to have a good time.

380
00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:29,120
I come to the discos to absorb an energy -

381
00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:32,480
to...emit a positive energy

382
00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:36,560
that is happening in New York and the world.

383
00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,240
Andy Warhol was not decadent.

384
00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:41,880
Was it a racy time?

385
00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:43,840
Depends on what you mean by racy time.

386
00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:45,240
It was a fun time.

387
00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:49,560
I thought Allen Ginsberg and Warhol

388
00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:55,920
and all the others who gave Greenwich Village a wonderful

389
00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,840
ambience and name, so to speak,

390
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,160
so that people were drawn here.

391
00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:03,880
I happened to live in the Village.

392
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,320
You would see the most famous artists,

393
00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:10,280
the most famous New York musicians and the best fashion designers

394
00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:14,440
all hanging around with other assorted characters.

395
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,360
So things were more unified.

396
00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:20,520
Now it's very industry, you know -

397
00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,800
music industry, fashion industry,

398
00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:27,000
but...then it was a more creative community.

399
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,880
But it was a creative community that found it hard to accept a band

400
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:36,200
fronted by a woman, and a woman who also wrote explicit lyrics.

401
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:38,080
I think it annoyed me

402
00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:41,080
when I was...when I was growing up

403
00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:43,320
that, you know, that I was expected

404
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:47,960
to, you know, raise a family and be the woman, be the wife.

405
00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:52,360
And it didn't particularly appeal to me,

406
00:21:52,360 --> 00:21:56,400
and that I might not be particularly good at it.

407
00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:59,280
All they talk about is her looks and how she's ageing

408
00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:01,160
and how beautiful she was, but the fact is

409
00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,400
she's an incredible lyricist, and it's very rare that people go

410
00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,200
out of their way to even talk about the lyrics and it's insane.

411
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:09,480
Oh, the first album was Look Good In Blue.

412
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,280
"I could give you some head and shoulders to lie on," you know.

413
00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:17,080
It's like, she never shied away from saying anything risque.

414
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:18,960
She was going to follow you downtown.

415
00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:22,280
If she doesn't hang around you, bad things are going to happen.

416
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:24,000
Or you'll rip her to shreds, like,

417
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,760
if you're jealous you're going to rip the other girl to shreds.

418
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:28,720
That's quite a statement, you know.

419
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,160
It's not like, "Oh, I feel so bad." It's like, "I'm going to get you!"

420
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,200
And, yeah, she was very aggressive.

421
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:38,480
# Stand tough for the beast of America! #

422
00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:42,320
Even nearly 40 years later, a younger generation of performers

423
00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:46,440
feel that Debbie broke down doors by being candid about her feelings.

424
00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:50,160
Aja Volkman sings with LA band Nico Vega.

425
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:54,040
That predatorial thing is totally inspiring, you know,

426
00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:57,720
for a woman to be able to go out and get what she wants

427
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:01,560
and not be afraid of her sexuality and her beauty, and not be

428
00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,560
intimidated by it and, also, not to feel like she's threatening people.

429
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:07,600
Debbie and Chris were newly in love

430
00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,800
so there was probably a lot of sexy thoughts going around.

431
00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:15,800
You know it was cool to be raunchy in punk rock.

432
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:17,040
Everybody liked that.

433
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:20,560
I think that's what men love about women, you know, is that they

434
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:24,880
can create life and they're, you know, seductive and beautiful,

435
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:30,280
and it's like, you know, our species is...it's designed that way.

436
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,840
You know, women are supposed to attract you

437
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:35,880
and pull you in and make you want to stay.

438
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,760
Debbie got a lot of flack for her overt sexuality, which is...

439
00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:41,360
Ridiculous.

440
00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:44,840
..ridiculous, because she was so tame by modern standards.

441
00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:48,960
That sexuality was very evident on Picture This.

442
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,000
Track three - Picture This.

443
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,920
When Debbie showed me the lyrics, I thought, "Whoa!"

444
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:16,880
This was something she'd obviously lived through, you know,

445
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:20,000
that she was singing about an event in her life,

446
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,680
and I guess she was watching Chris shower.

447
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:26,040
I wouldn't have wanted to watch Chris shower but, er,

448
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:27,800
obviously Debbie enjoyed it.

449
00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:30,760
# Picture this, a day in December

450
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:35,000
# Picture this, freezing cold weather

451
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,480
# You got clouds on your lids and you'd be on the skids

452
00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:40,760
# If it weren't for your job at the garage

453
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:42,440
# If you could only oh-oh... #

454
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,240
You could come in with a song and just go, you know,

455
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:46,840
here's Picture This...

456
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,120
..which are the chords, but if you come in,

457
00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:55,240
if you put this on those chords...

458
00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:58,440
HEAVY REVERB

459
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:05,320
..it sounds different.

460
00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,480
It was Mike's experience as a guitarist that helped him

461
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,960
get the very best out of the band's guitarists Frank and Chris,

462
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:13,280
however long it took!

463
00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:15,840
As we built on this thing,

464
00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:19,640
the sensitivity of the song came into focus,

465
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:21,960
and then we add some guitars to it.

466
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:31,280
God! That must have taken so damn long to do.

467
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:34,360
I mean, it sounds very precise and refined.

468
00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:37,600
And, you know, I just play a lot more casually than that.

469
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:40,520
But I do like the guitar break.

470
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:54,040
And this beautiful solo like a waterfall effect here.

471
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,520
# All I want is 20-20 vision

472
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:11,200
# A total portrait with no omissions

473
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:15,640
# All I want is a vision of you... #

474
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:18,160
And then she's back to it.

475
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,360
# If you can picture this

476
00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:22,800
# A day in December

477
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,920
# Picture this, freezing cold weather

478
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:27,880
# You've got clouds on your lids... #

479
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:32,760
The lyric to this day, to me, is elusive and beautiful,

480
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:37,960
and it's such an important part of the Parallel Lines experience,

481
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:41,040
and it all came from this,

482
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:45,880
this amazing girl who could, you know,

483
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:47,800
sell ice to the Eskimos.

484
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:56,360
But now the band had to concentrate more on selling their new sound

485
00:26:56,360 --> 00:27:00,120
to a world audience who thought of them, if at all,

486
00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:02,400
as a punk band with attitude.

487
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:04,840
But their then-manager had other ideas,

488
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:07,480
as they discovered at a photo session.

489
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:12,400
We had the concept of being in front of these black and white stripes.

490
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:15,240
Nobody wanted to smile. It was punk rock.

491
00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:17,600
And then our erstwhile manager said,

492
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,280
"Why don't you all take a picture smiling?"

493
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:22,880
So everybody took one shot smiling,

494
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:27,520
and then he, you know, unbeknownst to us, used those on the cover.

495
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,680
I just hated that posed album cover.

496
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,560
It looked like it was designed by management

497
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:37,600
and put together by marketing, and it was just awful.

498
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:41,080
I don't think you'll ever hear a boy complain about that album cover,

499
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:43,640
except maybe the boys who were on the album cover.

500
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,520
But part of it was that it presented the personality of the band

501
00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:49,280
in such an appealing way,

502
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:51,760
because they're wearing their matching suits,

503
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:55,320
it's very Beatlesque, and the idea of Debbie Harry in the middle of it

504
00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:58,520
preening, as if to say, "Yeah, look what I've got,

505
00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:00,320
"look at my harem around me."

506
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:03,000
That was an image that pretty much everybody loved.

507
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,200
It's an eye-catching record, it's a classic cover

508
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,120
that could be an Andy Warhol piece of art by itself.

509
00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:11,840
It could be a Campbell soup can,

510
00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:14,480
but it's Parallel Lines.

511
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,640
As a result of her artistic and unpredictable

512
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:20,680
but always confident and individual style,

513
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,760
Debbie was now fast becoming a fashion icon.

514
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:26,600
Debbie's wearing a tiger dress which she actually made herself.

515
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:30,240
I think it's some kind of seat-cover fabric that she found cheaply,

516
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,200
and she made a dress out of it, which was very dramatic.

517
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,080
Debbie just came walking across the street from me, towards me,

518
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:38,880
and I took a couple of pictures and she looks absolutely stunning.

519
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:42,040
A lot of people really think it's one of their favourite pictures.

520
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:45,840
because she just looks so good and she's kinda got this wet T-shirt on,

521
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:47,760
you know, which is very sexy.

522
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,680
Photographer Roberta Bayley was also at Coney Island that day

523
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:55,880
shooting with Debbie for one of the film-like cartoons the band made

524
00:28:55,880 --> 00:29:00,480
for PUNK Magazine, telling fantasy stories of life in New York City.

525
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,360
That day, Debbie was cast as Beach Bunny

526
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:05,440
in Mutant Monster Beach Party!

527
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,280
She's sort of wearing these really ripped-off cut-off jeans,

528
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,360
and I think a one-shoulder tank top.

529
00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,320
She had an idea of the character and the look.

530
00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:19,080
Debbie's punk style continues to inspire fashion designers

531
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:20,800
nearly 40 years later.

532
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:25,120
I think it's this bad-ass attitude to everything.

533
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:28,120
Everybody wants to make a statement,

534
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:32,000
and I think it's an amazing feeling when you know that

535
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:38,120
you are limitless, so that's what is so attractive in the punk movement.

536
00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:40,920
I think punks were incredibly brave heroic individuals,

537
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:43,640
who didn't really care what people thought about them.

538
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,640
It was highlighting the idea of creativity, highlighting the idea

539
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:52,960
of individuality, and also was very critical of the status quo,

540
00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:57,520
so it was both a political and an aesthetic movement.

541
00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:01,160
So many designers have been using it, reusing it all the time,

542
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:04,960
recycling punk in their collections.

543
00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:12,000
I hope my dresses are talking for themselves about punk.

544
00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:17,000
The track Pretty Baby reflects Debbie's interest in the movies,

545
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:21,120
though it is not about her but about another rising superstar of the day.

546
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,480
Track Five - Pretty Baby

547
00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,120
MUSIC: "Pretty Baby" by Blondie

548
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,280
# Eyes that tell me

549
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,120
# Incense and peppermints

550
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,640
# Your looks are larger than life... #

551
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:49,840
That song was written for Brooke Shields.

552
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:53,600
I think Debbie wrote that inspired by Brooke and her beauty

553
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:57,320
and, you know, the fact that she was a girl coming of age

554
00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:00,000
and stardom, you know, and all of that.

555
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:04,240
Pretty Baby was child star Brooke Shield's break-out performance.

556
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:06,560
To date, she has made nearly 40 films.

557
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,600
We met her when she was, what, 12 or something...13?

558
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,680
- Yeah, she was a baby...
- She was very sweet.

559
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:14,880
..but she had this complete, you know,

560
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:18,560
she was portrayed as having the sexuality, you know.

561
00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:23,080
Well, she's in practically every shot of the film.

562
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:24,840
That song is just so pop to me.

563
00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,200
It's just that feel, it's...it's that...

564
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:29,840
HE PLAYS "PRETTY BABY" BASS LINE

565
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:33,680
All that stuff, you know.

566
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:35,440
It's very ABBA.

567
00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:37,240
# Pretty baby... #

568
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:41,440
I just thought what an amazing melody.

569
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:43,920
An absolutely breathtaking melody.

570
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:45,800
I remember I put that bass line in.

571
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,200
HE HUMS "PRETTY BABY" BASS LINE

572
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,440
# I fell in love with you

573
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:54,800
# Pretty baby

574
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:58,360
# I fell in love with you

575
00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:01,160
# Hey, oh, oh, oh. #

576
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:09,840
It's just so pop, I get goose bumps, I get chills.

577
00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:11,320
I do.

578
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,760
Pretty Baby was an out-and-out pop song.

579
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:18,160
With Mike's help, the band had broken away from their punk roots

580
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,240
and, in doing so, alienated many of their fans.

581
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:25,440
But was the new album going to find a new audience?

582
00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:29,040
Parallel Lines was the most foolish album anybody ever made.

583
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:31,280
You're trying to build your sound,

584
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:33,280
you're trying to build an image for yourself.

585
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:35,080
This band is this sound.

586
00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:37,280
And what do you do for your breakthrough album?

587
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:40,520
You just disperse it and do a little jazz and a little reggae

588
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:42,360
and a little disco.

589
00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:44,240
"You added disco to it?"

590
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,840
Even though we were very diverse, there were certain threads

591
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:53,240
that connected people up, you know, and so Nigel was there with his,

592
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:58,520
you know, Brit pop sensibilities that Clem was very attuned to.

593
00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:03,240
I'm an English guy who grew up on the greatest bands in the world.

594
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:05,040
Right after the Beatles came,

595
00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,680
the next day, I got a guitar and a Beatle wig.

596
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:12,080
Frankie was, er...loved The Stones, I loved the Stones.

597
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:17,040
In high school, in particular, I would like to really chill out

598
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:21,800
with jazz, and so I listened to a lot of jazz.

599
00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:24,280
It's funny that to those of us in the rest of the country,

600
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:26,600
Parallel Lines seemed like such a New York record,

601
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:29,760
because there were so many different kinds of pop music in it,

602
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,840
and that all these songs could thrive together on one album

603
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:35,760
was really innovative and really mind-blowing.

604
00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:41,000
One of the most unashamedly pop songs on the album was Sunday Girl.

605
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,920
Its peaches-and-cream lyrics and Romantic inspiration would

606
00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:49,480
have been seen as an act of pure treason by the CBGB's punk faithful.

607
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:53,320
Track Nine - Sunday Girl.

608
00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:58,240
HE PLAYS "SUNDAY GIRL" RIFF

609
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,880
The Phil Spector Be My Baby Hal Blaine riff

610
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:06,560
is the beginning of Sunday Girl, which is like...

611
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,080
HE PLAYS "SUNDAY GIRL" DRUM PATTERN

612
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:18,320
MUSIC: "Sunday Girl" by Blondie

613
00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:30,080
I remember Chris wrote the lyric and I was really impressed

614
00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:31,520
when I read it, you know,

615
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:35,720
and Chris, "Hey, the handwriting, what do you think of this?"

616
00:34:35,720 --> 00:34:39,400
I said, "Jesus, 'cold as ice cream and still as sweet',

617
00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,320
"that's beautiful."

618
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:43,800
Chris and his then-girlfriend Debbie maintain

619
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:46,640
the song is about their pet cat.

620
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,640
It was about the cat, whose name was Sunday Man,

621
00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:53,600
and he ran away when we were on tour, and it was very tragic.

622
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:55,560
- And...
- Yeah.

623
00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:57,640
He was a nice cat.

624
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:01,160
He was a great character. He was, you know, a funny little...

625
00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:03,600
a funny little man.

626
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:07,080
But keyboardist Jimmy Destri says it's really a love song

627
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:09,080
and not about a cat at all.

628
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,240
It's not about the cat. It's not about the cat.

629
00:35:12,240 --> 00:35:15,920
That's a cool, you know, brush-off by them saying...

630
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:20,280
Chris wrote it to Debbie, of course, you know, yeah.

631
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:22,280
It was really a beautiful song.

632
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:27,280
# When I saw you again in the summertime

633
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,640
# If your love was as sweet as mine

634
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,840
# I could be Sunday's girl... #

635
00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,840
Overall, the band was now accepting Producer Mike Chapman's

636
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:43,520
working methods, but when it came to the song 11:59,

637
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:46,560
guitarist Nigel Harrison had had enough.

638
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:48,960
Track seven - 11:59.

639
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:54,120
MUSIC: "11:59" by Blondie

640
00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:58,840
Mike was suddenly, "Don't go up here, stay down there.

641
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:01,080
"Clem, don't do this, watch it on that part."

642
00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:03,440
There was all these instructions coming at us.

643
00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:05,360
And that to me was like an act of war,

644
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:07,680
because it's like, "This guy is nuts,"

645
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,520
cos by this time it's, like, take 22.

646
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:14,720
- And I had my meltdown and I said, "Are you
- BLEEP
- crazy?"

647
00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:17,440
I just... I just...I lost it.

648
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:20,520
But the rebellious Nigel was about to be won over.

649
00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:24,840
I do remember the turning point was when Mike sat us down

650
00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:29,680
and said, "Look, what we're doing here is we're making records.

651
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:33,720
"We're making records. We're not documenting a live performance."

652
00:36:33,720 --> 00:36:37,800
11:59 was written by the band's keyboardist Jimmy Destri.

653
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:40,840
One of Jimmy's best songs too.

654
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:43,920
Jimmy had a particular style of writing.

655
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,560
A lyric about alienation, I guess, you know.

656
00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:51,080
Looking back on my, you know, little alienated bits of life, you know.

657
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:11,480
It's about late-night club life and the sort of, you know,

658
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:14,560
isolation, being in the crowd and being isolated

659
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:16,600
and, you know, posing and all that,

660
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:20,120
very, you know, very New Yorkish.

661
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:22,040
# Today could be the end of me

662
00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:24,200
# It's 11:59

663
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:27,560
# And I want to stay alive. #

664
00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:30,520
I can even smell the air in New York at the time, you know,

665
00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:33,880
taste the food we were eating and the drugs we were doing.

666
00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:36,000
By 1978, disco was on the rise

667
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:40,560
with the Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever dominating the charts

668
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:45,200
and the New York underground scene was shifting from punk to new wave -

669
00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:46,720
"punk lite".

670
00:37:46,720 --> 00:37:48,400
This is how New York sounded.

671
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:51,480
You're frustrated because you've got to take the subway,

672
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,800
it's crowded, it's dirty, it's dangerous,

673
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:56,840
so that's got to come through your pen and your guitar,

674
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:59,240
and that's what you hear in all this music.

675
00:37:59,240 --> 00:38:03,200
Everybody in Blondie was a real New York character.

676
00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:05,880
Chris was somebody that you could imagine

677
00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:09,200
being in Tin Pan Alley in 1939, you know.

678
00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:12,680
And the same with Debbie, she was like

679
00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:15,560
a broad-cracking wise.

680
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:18,400
So, yeah, they were like real New York characters.

681
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:21,200
And these New York characters were about to deal

682
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:25,400
a game-changing blow to the punk-versus-disco battle.

683
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:28,280
It was called Heart Of Glass.

684
00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:33,040
We played him everything we'd got, and then he said, "Anything more?"

685
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:36,680
And then, you know, I think Chris said, "Well, we have this old song,

686
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:40,040
"you know, that we don't use because we've never been able

687
00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:42,840
"to really finish it the way we wanted it to be,"

688
00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:44,640
and that was Heart Of Glass.

689
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:48,720
Bob Gruen had heard Blondie perform the fledgling hit at CBGBs

690
00:38:48,720 --> 00:38:50,120
the previous year.

691
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,200
And I remember clearly having a feeling,

692
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:55,360
this is bigger than this club, this is going to go out into theatres,

693
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:56,840
it's going to go around the world.

694
00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,360
And I never had that feeling for anybody else down there.

695
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:04,400
MUSIC: "Once I Had A Love (The Disco Song)" by Blondie

696
00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:08,520
It was now up to Mike to make this half-formed song into a hit,

697
00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:12,160
and he and Clem Burke were already thinking "disco".

698
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:16,240
Track Ten - Heart Of Glass.

699
00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:19,920
# Once I had a love and it was a gas

700
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,960
# Soon turned out had a heart of glass

701
00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:28,280
# Seemed like the real thing only to find

702
00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:29,600
# Mucho mistrust

703
00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:31,120
# Love's gone behind... #

704
00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:35,880
The way the song was recorded was a click track,

705
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:40,360
just a little beat from a little tiny Rowland rhythm box.

706
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:43,080
We thought we were kind of doing a sort of take off

707
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:46,880
on Kraftwerk, dance music, experimenting.

708
00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:49,520
Heart Of Glass was a nightmare to record,

709
00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:52,640
because it was an idea beyond the technology at the time.

710
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:58,040
My influence, once again, I think is felt on that record with

711
00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:01,480
my sort of homage to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

712
00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:11,080
I started playing the disco dance beat from Night Fever,

713
00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:13,200
the Bee Gees record, which I loved.

714
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:16,600
To help Clem lay down the drum tracks, Mike brought in

715
00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:20,640
a piece of then cutting-edge technology - a drum machine.

716
00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:24,720
So I brought this thing in once we had decided

717
00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:29,480
that we were going to disco this song up a little.

718
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:33,440
They got the click track going and they did Clem -

719
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:36,200
it was like a Meccano set, they put bits and pieces in it,

720
00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:37,840
so Clem did the bass drum.

721
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:41,280
The kick drum and the drum machine together.

722
00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:49,280
All the way through the track. then the snare drum, then the hi-hat.

723
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:51,240
Then we built the whole thing up.

724
00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:54,560
Then we did the tom breaks, the tom-toms,

725
00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:56,920
all the different tom breaks.

726
00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,320
And then we added the cymbals.

727
00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:02,240
And it literally took days.

728
00:41:02,240 --> 00:41:04,480
Put the bass.

729
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:08,640
And this is where I had a major run-in with Nigel.

730
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:12,240
He wasn't playing...stiff enough.

731
00:41:12,240 --> 00:41:14,200
He wasn't like...

732
00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,640
That was the disco link. The octave thing.

733
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:20,480
And he said, "I have to play that?"

734
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:22,920
And I said, "Well, you don't have to, but it would be nice,

735
00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:24,600
"if you don't mind!"

736
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:27,840
So after our run-in, he agreed to do it.

737
00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:31,080
And suddenly the whole thing was starting to feel good,

738
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:34,000
so then we added some guitars.

739
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:36,640
35 years later, Debbie and Chris

740
00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:41,200
are reunited with the original multi-track recording.

741
00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:51,160
That's the Space. This is probably... I know what that is.

742
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:55,480
All those weird sounds are the Roland space echo or chorus echo.

743
00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:58,720
I can't remember. It's an old box. They are still out there!

744
00:41:58,720 --> 00:42:04,320
All those jungle noises were Chris doing his "waaah" with his e-bow,

745
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,200
I guess, and then...

746
00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:09,320
HE PLAYS "HEART OF GLASS" GUITAR RIFF

747
00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:17,080
Now that was the hook in the song.

748
00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:20,680
Frank was insanely good on that song.

749
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:24,520
Once they had the drums and guitars in place, Jimmy and Mike

750
00:42:24,520 --> 00:42:28,440
then had to make sure the keyboard tracks fit precisely too.

751
00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:30,680
We didn't have Midi in those days.

752
00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:35,520
So all of these keyboard parts, we had to do these in sections.

753
00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:39,800
Mike and I had to do on the one - one, two, three, four.

754
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:42,040
KEYBOARD PART PLAYS

755
00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:47,400
Through the whole song.

756
00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:51,240
We were all fighting, constantly.

757
00:42:51,240 --> 00:42:55,040
But I said, "No, keep going, guys, cos we're getting there,

758
00:42:55,040 --> 00:42:56,360
"we're getting there."

759
00:42:56,360 --> 00:43:00,560
So finally, we had all the track pieces in place.

760
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:03,280
And we had this wonderful, let's hear it now

761
00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:05,280
with the drums in there...

762
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:08,800
DRUM TRACK JOINS MUSIC

763
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:13,600
Suddenly, the guitar gave it the swing.

764
00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:16,160
The drums were sort of...

765
00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:20,520
There was a little bit of Keith Moon in there for Clem,

766
00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:24,760
and then all we needed was Debbie to come in and sing.

767
00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:26,600
And when Debbie put her voice on it,

768
00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:29,480
she sang it in that little sweet singsong voice,

769
00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:32,040
and the whole thing just... came together.

770
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:36,040
# Once I had a love and it was a gas... #

771
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:40,000
I didn't realise that Debbie was actually going to sing this

772
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:42,040
in this head voice, this..

773
00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:47,680
And there she is out there, like lullabying to us,

774
00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:51,680
and I thought, "Wow, that's so cool." Cos up till then,

775
00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:55,600
she'd probably been going, "Once I had a love," in full voice.

776
00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:03,680
I said, "Oh, that's great, this is beautiful, it's so dreamlike."

777
00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:07,920
# Seemed like the real thing but I was so blind... #

778
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:11,520
Heart Of Glass was, at the time, there was dance music around

779
00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:15,880
and disco music. Even though we did that song as a, you know,

780
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,960
it was a tongue-in-cheek version, it wasn't really supposed to be

781
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:22,760
straight-ahead disco for real. It was like fake disco,

782
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:26,120
and that sort of seemed like it had possibilities.

783
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:30,640
But the pure punk fans clearly didn't get the tongue-in-cheek subtleties.

784
00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:33,480
Right after Parallel Lines was released,

785
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:37,280
and before it really blew up, we played this, like, farewell gig

786
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:40,200
at CGBGs, because we knew we couldn't come back.

787
00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:43,720
There were lines around the block. And I was walking up to the stage,

788
00:44:43,720 --> 00:44:48,560
because that's what you had to do at CBGBs, and this guy comes up to me,

789
00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:51,760
grabs me, he goes, "Your disco album sucks!"

790
00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:55,200
And I was like, I guess it's going to be a hit,

791
00:44:55,200 --> 00:45:00,000
because we've finally broken out of the little world.

792
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:05,320
I don't think any of us had any idea of how big it was going to be.

793
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:09,160
# Once I had a love and it was a gas

794
00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:11,040
# Soon turned out

795
00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:13,080
# Big pain in the ass

796
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:15,760
The album was released in 1978

797
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:19,680
and has to date sold around 20 million copies.

798
00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:22,920
Heart Of Glass was number one in 16 countries

799
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:27,640
and became one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

800
00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:31,840
The band is still touring today and has recorded seven more albums

801
00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:33,880
since Parallel Lines.

802
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:37,160
Except for drummer Clem Burke, they all still live

803
00:45:37,160 --> 00:45:40,600
in New York City, and still feel that city's energy.

804
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:42,720
Just walking around, you know, I like it.

805
00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:44,920
It's still here, the energy is still here.

806
00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:47,880
I mean, you know, the money thing is...

807
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:49,960
It's a bit of a drag, you know.

808
00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:53,600
New York City went from "don't go there" to "you can't afford it,"

809
00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:54,920
like that, in a heartbeat.

810
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:57,680
I think it was the early '80s when I realised that corporations

811
00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:00,320
were moving in. They were seeing something that, you know,

812
00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:01,880
they could make money from.

813
00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:05,200
There's still bits and pieces that some people just think are grimy

814
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:07,520
and I see as beauty, as a masterpiece.

815
00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:09,040
The streets are not the same.

816
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:12,520
The streets are not full of colourful characters,

817
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:15,800
you know, like it's pretty... It could be anywhere.

818
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:19,120
One place where music can still be heard is oddly enough

819
00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:22,720
the original CBGBs on the Bowery, which was turned

820
00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:27,120
into a fashion outlet by the entrepreneur John Varvatos in 2008.

821
00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:28,600
There's a history here,

822
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:32,040
and there was a history with this space that talked to people.

823
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:34,320
And it was a very important part of people's life.

824
00:46:34,320 --> 00:46:36,520
I'm not trying to recreate that by any means,

825
00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:39,920
I'm just trying to preserve it to some degree and keep that

826
00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:43,640
energy alive that's been here on the Bowery for many, many years.

827
00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:48,680
John keeps the music alive with regular concerts at the shop.

828
00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:53,320
Vintage Trouble is one of the bands that have played for him.

829
00:46:53,320 --> 00:46:56,480
There something about the space and something about the history

830
00:46:56,480 --> 00:46:59,480
and something about those walls that speaks to them.

831
00:46:59,480 --> 00:47:01,320
And I can't put my hand on it

832
00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:04,440
and I can't get my arms around it, but I feel it every time.

833
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:06,960
I have goose bumps every time we do a show here.

834
00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:09,640
Much of the Bowery neighbourhood has been redeveloped,

835
00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:12,080
and its spirit and passion tamed,

836
00:47:12,080 --> 00:47:16,120
but Parallel Lines remains to tell the story of a band held together

837
00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:20,000
by their love affair with the music and the city that inspired it.

838
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:22,840
# One way or another

839
00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:24,440
# I'm gonna find you

840
00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:26,920
# I'm gonna get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya... #

841
00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:29,080
It does sum up the time, but it's not just that.

842
00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:31,760
It's that people like the music, they like the sentiment,

843
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:32,880
they like what it says.

844
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:36,040
They had really smart lyrics, in the same way that,

845
00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:40,800
you know, the Great American Songbook writers did.

846
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:44,200
Cole Porter and Gershwin, you know.

847
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:48,640
I guess, you know, we tried to make it about real experience,

848
00:47:48,640 --> 00:47:54,080
incorporating my little world, my own personal experiences.

849
00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:57,560
The best thing is when I hear from kids who say,

850
00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:01,280
you know, it helped me get through my teenage years, you know.

851
00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:04,240
I was having such a hard time and I used to listen to the music,

852
00:48:04,240 --> 00:48:05,920
and that's very moving, you know.

853
00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:08,560
As a record producer, you've got to say, well,

854
00:48:08,560 --> 00:48:12,080
thank God I had something to do with this,

855
00:48:12,080 --> 00:48:16,000
because opportunities like that don't come along every day.

856
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:20,000
"Man doth not live on bread alone,"

857
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:23,840
and that's a reference to the arts.

858
00:48:23,840 --> 00:48:25,960
It stimulates you.

859
00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:29,320
It enhances your creativity.

860
00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:36,640
I mean, without the arts, we might as well go back to the caves.

861
00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:39,960
# I'm in the phone booth, it's the one across the hall

862
00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:43,280
# If you don't answer I'll just ring it off the wall

863
00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:46,960
# I know he's there, but I just had to call

864
00:48:46,960 --> 00:48:51,680
# Don't leave me hanging on the telephone

865
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:58,560
# Don't leave me hanging on the telephone

866
00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:03,440
# I heard your mother now, she's going out the door

867
00:49:03,440 --> 00:49:06,120
# Did she go to work or just go to the store... #