#parallel lines blondi

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Top 100 Best Album's of All Time

60. PARALLEL LINES

Blondie

1978

Parallel Lines is the third studio album by American rock band Blondie, released on September 8, 1978, by Chrysalis Records.

#parallellines#parallellinesblondie#blondie

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debbieeee

[girlreviews]

Review #146: Parallel Lines, Blondie

Man oh man oh man. I love Blondie so much. I found this record in the Windsor Oxfam. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but I remember what boyfriend was with me so that puts me between 15 and 18. Yeah, same guy. I actually don’t remember if he ended up getting his hands on this record or not. I think I still have it. Will rifle through my collection later to check.

Blondie was in the “being cool” wilderness for some absolutely crazy reason at that point, and nobody really gave a shit about them anymore. When I was 17 or 18 they were playing the Reading Hexagon which is honestly still just such an unbelievable insult I’m still annoyed about it. I’ll circle back to that.

Parallel Lines epitomizes the complete and total coolness and badassery of Debbie Harry. I have never wanted to be someone more than I wanted to be her. So much confidence. Such incredible cheekbones. Such commitment to art. No apologies. The voice of an angel one moment and snarling whimsical warnings, like, hey you, don’t fuck with me, the next. Always standing in front of all of those completely non-descript nobody dudes. Yeah they’re playing the music, but who cares, who are they? It’s all her. She is Blondie.

Can I pick a favorite? It opens with Hanging on the Telephone, in which she is really threatening to rip the phone clean off the wall. It might be that one. But we’ve also got the classic One Way Or Another, which needs no comment, and one of my actual favorites of all time, Heart of Glass which never fails to fuck me up, but like, it’s a god damn disco track? Like sure, yeah, let’s boogie away our heart break. And I did. And I have. And I will. And these are all SINGLES. We aren’t even discussing the actual album tracks yet. Just listen to it. Honorable mention goes to Sunday Girl, which I always really loved. It’s cute and it’s kind of sweet in a very teenage girl kind of way that worked for me since I was in fact, a teenage girl. Also, not on the official album release, but there was a version of that track where the latter half was sung entirely in French and I always really dug it.

Okay so circling back to the Hexagon. This is a weird story and I’m still not sure how I feel about it, to this day. As I said, Blondie were playing a show at the Hexagon. I was absolutely obsessed with them, and Debbie Harry. I was also 17 or 18 and spent every penny I had on going to shows, but those pennies were pretty limited. I worked as a waitress at the pub that was two doors down from my house. It was full of characters. One such character was a regular, he was in his late 40s, was very wealthy, didn’t drive, was single, and spent literally every bit of his spare time in that pub. Think on that. He paid a lot of attention to the various young women that worked there. Was he creepy? No not exactly. But did it make you uncomfortable? Yes it did. Because you never knew when he might make it weird. Everyone liked him well enough. One day out of the blue this guy presented me with five tickets to the Blondie show. I didn’t know what in the hell to say or whether to accept them. Or what it meant. Whether there were expectations attached to them. Whether it was okay to take them. I was uncomfortable. I was 17.

Here’s what happened. My Mom, who sort of knew him too, since he was always there, decided it was fine, because she wanted to go. But for it to be okay, she decided he also had to come. So we went, he came, and a few friends too. The thing is though, she never knew him like I did. I saw him every day. I saw him with the other girls that worked at the pub. I saw him drunk off his ass. I don’t know that I ever would have taken the tickets. Or if I did, I’m not sure I ever would have invited him. I feel a bit queasy about it to this day. I think in the end something really off-base happened one night between him and someone on staff and he got barred. That was usually the way it went with regulars who were there that often.

The other thing to note is that Blondie ended because Debbie Harry was with Chris Stein, who was literally dying of some rare autoimmune disease throughout their last tour. There were other factors at play, but essentially, they broke up because he was too sick and she stayed at his side and became his full-time carer. When he was well, he left her. They are, remarkably, still close friends to this day and still perform together. Just never forget that men are dogs, and that Blondie is and always will be Debbie Harry. I love her. To this day she looks better than I do in a mini skirt and I love that for her.

ETA: I checked and in fact, I do not still have Parallel Lines in my record collection, but I am quite confident it got lost when I moved back to the US. Also, I’m not 100% certain that show was at the Reading Hexagon. I just know it was a shitty venue not worthy of Blondie. This was 18 years ago. You get the idea.

[sowhatifiliveinasmalltowninjapan]

Blondie (1978)

[mudwerks]

(via Will Anything Happen - Blondie (1978)

[archivist-crow]

Blondie - Parallel Lines (1978)

Forty-six years ago today, on September 23, 1978, Parallel Lines, the third studio album by Blondie, was released. An instant critical and commercial success, the album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart in February 1979 and proved to be the band's commercial breakthrough in the US, where it reached number 6 on the Billboard chart in April 1979. Spawning an impressive six singles—including two number one hits: “Heart of Glass” and “Sunday Girl”—the album is among the greatest albums of all time with Spin magazine calling it “the perfect pop-rock record”.

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Blondie cover shoot for Parallel Lines.

Photo: Edo Bertoglio

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[mauricedelafalaise]

Blondie - “Parallel Lines”

Released: September 8, 1978

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... listen to music ...

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Debbie Harry from 'Blondie' and Nina Persson from 'The Cardigans' for Melody Maker magazine, May 22 1999

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ARE THESE NOT GIVING

TELL ME THIS ISNT A STEP IN THE RIGHT PR DIRECTION… (you can’t)

BURNING DOWN THE LOVER HOUSE,

POISON IVY + DAISY DRESS 👗

BUTTERFLY JEANS

A FULL RAINBOW OF OUTFITS FIRST CONCERT BACK AFTER THE “break up”

DON’T BLAME ME FOR WHAT YOU MADE ME DO

THE INCLUSIVITY OF THIS TOUR

THE GLASS CLOSETS

(If there’s not a picture there’s a link to a tiktok)

[sowhatifiliveinasmalltowninjapan]

Blondie

Parallel Lines (1978)

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Heart of Glass-Blondie

Parallel Lines, 1978

[guerrilla-operator]

Blondie // Hanging On The Telephone (The Nerves cover)

It's good to hear your voice, you know it's been so long If I don't get your calls, then everything goes wrong I want to tell you something you've known all along Don't leave me hanging on the telephone

[archivist-crow]

Blondie - “Heart of Glass” (1979)

Forty-five years ago today, on January 3rd, 1979, “Heart of Glass,” the third single from Parallel Lines, the third studio album by Blondie, was released. Written by Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein, “Heart of Glass” was a runaway hit on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world. A top five hit in several countries, including topping the charts in both the UK and the US, with its pronounced Euro disco vibe, the track was one of the early entries in the emerging electronic dance scene. While the band was accused of selling out by some fans for the track at the time, it is now generally considered one of the band’s finest moments and was voted one of the best songs of all time by both Rolling Stone and Billboard.