Mostly I’ve read that they were punk but their music sounds very New Wave to me-- the synths, the breathy, sorta whiny vocals-- New Wavy.
Also I’m wondering what how you guys define both punk and New Wave. In my case I go by the intanglible “sounds like”. Not a good definition.
Too intricate and too much melody and too many hooks for punk. I think they played CBGB’S and the like just because they were in the neighborhood.
The difference between punk and new wave is the production values, so Blondie is definitely new wave.
When Blondie got started, there really wasn’t a New Wave category. They were considered a punk band back then, they just happened to be one of the few Punk bands that I liked (because they weren’t actually a punk band)
CBGBs had a lot of New Wave bands before the phrase was coined. Talking Heads is another example I can think of. I don’t remember them be called a punk band though. I think I remember the expression College rock being used.
Punk used to include groups like Blondie, but hard core Punk fans did not consider Blondie and the Talking Heads to be Punk and Blondie and the Talking Heads fans did not consider themselves punkers. At least, I sure as hell did not.
Jim
Definitely more New Wave than Punk. But, as previously noted, Blondie was playing before the record companies invented the “New Wave” category.
One of my favorite bands from those days.
IMO, New Wave.
Another vote for New Wave. They didn’t have the stripped-down punk sound. Punk was basically guitar, bass, drums and hard rock vocals. New Wave was a more melodic version with synthesizers a big part of the sound. No true Scottish Punk band used synthesizers.
Our last punk discussion at the SDMB had some people putting Talking Heads down as punk, which is sort of…interesting. I’m a huge David Byrne fan but he’s completely New Wave and not remotely punk. Blondie is New Wave and disco, I’ve never heard their supposedly punk stuff but I haven’t gone out of my way.
I define punk as DK, Black Flag, Bad Brains (I can skip the rasta groove stuff) and so on. That’s a pretty 70s-early 80s list and obviously hearts Iggy & the Stooges, and I listen to new stuff, but that’s the tree and root of what I’d consider punk. I admit I don’t get into UK punk very much unless it’s oi but that’s my own personal defect and not a commentary on musical quality. Punk is hard, fast, powerful and anti-establishment, though not necessarily all in the same song. DIY low production and a minimalist attitudes make for good punk.
The existence of a synthesizer automatically disqualifies any sort of punk classification, no exceptions. Even having one in the room is a bad idea.
New Wave is…I dunno, I really only listen to Talking Heads from that category so I have to pass.
New Wave. Too synth-y for punk.
I think Blondie got lumped into the “punk” category because the most prominent members, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, were in a punk band called The Stilettos before they formed Blondie. So, since their roots were punk, everyone called the new group “punk” as well. I’d have to dig out my old copy of Making Tracks to give you more background.
When I think of Blondie I definately think very early New Wave. I think the synths do it.
That late 70’s sound similar to the likes of Gary Newman, Devo, and even the early B-52s.
I’d consider early B-52s (Planet Claire, Rock Lobster) closer to punk than Blondie ever was (The Tide is High? Dreaming?)
I bust out laughing the first time I heard Blondie described as “punk”, so my vote is also for New Wave.
If I put Wendy O Williams at one end of a line, and Madonna* at the other, who does Blondie sit closer to?
*not that anyone considered Madonna New Wave, but *if * New Wave = commercilaized Punk, and Madonna = pure 80’s commercialization, Madonna = New Wave.
The late 70s is when I was the most interested I ever was in music, and my faves were pretty much the punk/New Wave spectrum. While a few groups could pretty clearly be characterized as punk, I and my buddies thought New Wave was pretty undefinable and meaningless.
What kinda music came out on Stiff records? Was Ian Drury a punk? How bout Elvis? The Pretenders? I thought Elvis was quite a punk, tho his music wasn’t. So we thought you could distinguish between artists and attitudes, and their music.
Hell, Nick Lowe acknowledged that he was playing Pure Pop for Now People!
Well, since Wendy would probably be a bit ripe by now, I’d get as far away from her as I could.
Punk was an attitude that the performers had about themselves. New Wave (and Alternative) was a label thought up by the record industry to distinguish some artists from punk bands and arena rockers.
Yeah - while you could probably get some agreement listing artists who were punks, or specific songs that were punk, I’d be interested in hearing someone explain any common thread that connected all of the bands that were called new wave - other than what they weren’t.
Sure: New Wave was melodic pop with a hard edge influenced by punk. Synthesizers were part of it, but not required. It was pretty much a UK phenomenon, with a couple of US bands (Talking Heads, Television) taking part.
The New Wave was actually a pretty exciting time in music, but, alas, it faded out.
Or maybe they were disco (Heart of Glass) or rap (Rapture).
It depends on how you define Punk:
if you define Punk as the “music, art and social movement that started in the early 70’s in New York (with influences from other cities like Detroit and Cleveland, and then moved to London, etc.) that got its name from Punk magazine” - then HELL YEAH Blondie is punk!! Back then punk was NOT a music style - it was a mindset. Bands like Suicide, Blondie, Television, The Ramones, Talking Heads, The Dictators, The Dead Boys, etc. all sounded very different - and that was the point. They were friends hanging out in a cool scene, bringing different styles of music to the big Punk mixing pot. In this context, saying Blondie isn’t punk would be like saying Ben Franklin isn’t a Founding Father because he never became President.
if you define Punk the way it is viewed now - strictly as a music style defined by simple, powerful songs, hard n’ fast guitars, a snotty delivery and a predictable wardrobe, well, then no Blondie isn’t punk. When they got signed, they worked with top producers, who used better production approaches vs. say the Ramones who produced their first album for a few hundred bucks in a few days. Blondie’s smoother production, using a strictly music definition, is more New Wave.
“New Wave” as a phrase, came in to favor as a way of saying “punk-ish, but without any of that pesky danger that freaks out parents and record companies.” I suspect that Blondie saw what the Ramones were going through in the fallout from the Sex Pistols (“punk” became an ostracized idea at the time, and since the Ramones were clearly labeled punk, they got written off. Johnny Ramone indicated that he felt their career took a massive hit when the London punks scared everyone. I have no doubt that Blondie saw this and chose a less controversial path - not knowing that “punk” would be defined in a very specific way that might not include them down the road…)
My $.02…oh, and Biggirl, I have said this on a few threads: if you are the least bit interested in Punk or just excellent music writing, I can’t recommend Please Kill Me: An Uncensored Oral History of Punk by McNeil (the guy who coined the term Punk) and McCain strongly enough. Great read.
I vote for new wave/disco. “Heart of Glass” is the first Blondie song I ever heard, so maybe that is coloring my POV.