Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
One Way or Another (1978)
The late '70s were a challenging time for rock bands. There was plenty of exciting stuff going on, but for bands looking to sell records, there were decisions to be made. Specifically, do we jump on this disco bandwagon? Big artists like Rod Stewart, KISS, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones and even the Grateful Dead all made discofied songs with mixed results. They didn't alienate their fanbases, but they also quickly pivoted back to what worked for them previously.
One less established band that really broke through by co-opting disco was Blondie. Formed in 1974, the New York-based band led by Debbie Harry released two albums that were categorized more as new wave than anything else, although they played CBGB and Max's Kansas City regularly and toured with Television, David Bowie and Iggy Pop. They were still considered to be an underground act when they released their third album Parallel Lines in 1978.
Working with producer Mike Chapman, the album embraced pop sounds, but it wasn't until "Heart of Glass" was released as a single that the album took off. It was eminently danceable with that disco bass thump, but also an electronic synth sound inspired by Kraftwerk. Add to that the extremely photogenic Harry (who many people just assumed was named "Blondie") and you had a huge hit. It was all over the radio in early '79, but it was also distinctive because of the snarky lyrics ("Once I had a love and it was a gas/Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass"). The song went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and on plenty of charts in other countries as well.
But the album wasn't totally pop fluff. Songs like "Will Anything Happen," "Hanging on the Telephone" and "I Know But I Don't Know" all reflected the scene Blondie came out of, as did the album's fourth single, "One Way or Another." It was a rocker inspired by Harry's experience with a stalker in the early '70s, although she turned the lyrics around to make herself the stalker.
Powered by a jagged guitar riff, the song careens along as Harry sings about her stalkee.
"One way or another, I'm gonna find ya/I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha/One way or another, I'm gonna see ya/I'm gonna meet ya, meet ya, meet ya/One day, maybe next week/I'm gonna meet ya, I'm gonna meet ya, I'll meet ya/I will drive past your house/And if the lights are all down/I'll see who's around."
The actual incident occurred in 1973 when one of Harry's ex-boyfriends stalked her after they broke up. He called and stalked her so much she had to move out of New Jersey. She got the last laugh as she turned the incident into a hit song that featured her singing with tongue-in-cheek bravado.
"I'll walk down the mall, stand over by the wall/Where I can see it all, find out who you call/Lead you to the supermarket checkout/Some specials and rat food, get lost in the crowd."
The song reached #24 on the Billboard Hot 100, but was a bigger hit in Canada, where it got to #7 on the singles chart there. Parallel Lines ended up going to #6 on the Billboard 200 chart and #1 in the U.K. Check out the video below of them playing the song on The Midnight Special, as confused disco dancers try to figure out how to boogie to the punk rock.
Blondie had a good run for a few years after that, with the albums Eat to the Beat and Autoamerican performing well, as did the single "Call Me" from the movie American Gigolo. The band's 1982 album The Hunter didn't do as well and the group split up later that year. Harry began a solo career with moderate success. Blondie reunited in 1997 and have released five albums since, continuing to tour periodically.
But for a few years there in the late '70s/early '80s, Blondie was on top of the world.
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