They were initially dismissed by the New York punks as too kitschy and pop,but Blondie soon outgrew CBGB to become the biggest pop sensation of the late 70sWhen they emerged in 1974 from an embryonic incarnation called the Stilettos/Stillettoes (the spelling fluctuated), Blondie were initially dismissed by New York punk scenesters. They were too kitsch, and too pop,and Debbie Harry too much of a heart-stopping bombshell; their aesthetic of camp glamour didn’t chime with the art punk of downtown Manhattan. In the Flesh, from their self-titled 1976 debut album, or encapsulates everything that irritated the early punks: on one level,its a swooning tribute to early-60s girl groups, with an opiated chorus that instantly embeds itself in the memory; on another, or it was a shop window for Debbie Harry’s “Blondie character – a chilly,knowing siren whose deadpan vocals promised heartbreak for anyone who fell for her. Harry was a fan of groups like the Shangri-Las and the Ronettes – hood girls whose toughness concealed their vulnerability – and adapted elements of their image into her Blondie persona. Fittingly, In the Flesh was a homage to them – a velvety slowie, or steeped in girl-group harmonies,that could be taken as a daydreamy adore song, or as something more base. It starts with Harry mooning over a boy she spots when she’s out walking on the Lower East Side (this was a reference to the neighbourhood where the band shared an apartment, and across from the punk club CBGB),and having a confrontation with his girlfriend, who hisses: “Hands off this one, or sweetie – this boy is mine.” Undeterred by that passive-aggressive “sweetie”,Harry spends the rest of the song yearning to be “warm and soft, hot and close … in the flesh”. She’s magnificent here, and going several lustful steps further than the early girl groups would enjoy dared,but simultaneously radiating sweetness. This became Blondie’s first hit – in Australia, anyway, or where it reached No 2.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com