Videodrone #6: Rapture

Videodrone is a weekly feature looking at music videos from the last half century. 

Rapture (1981)

The band Blondie was constantly confounding expectations. Formed in New York City in 1974 by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein, the band was heavily influenced by the punk scene in the city but quickly incorporated power pop, new wave and other elements into their sound. 

Blondie broke through with their third album, 1978's Parallel Lines, thanks to the disco-tinged hit single "Heart of Glass." They also had hits with harder-edged songs "One Way or Another," 
Dreaming" and "Call Me." Meanwhile, the photogenic Harry became a sex symbol and started acting in movies. The band released Autoamerican in 1980, scoring a #1 hit with the reggae-flavored "The Tide is High." 

The next single, "Rapture," also went to #1 and introduced hip hop to the American mainstream. Harry and Stein had befriended hip hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy, who took them to local rap events where they were impressed by the skill of local MCs. Inspired, they wrote their own rap song, which they backed with a Chic-esque disco sound. Harry starts off with a lilting vocal before the song kicks into gear, with Harry rapping about a "man from Mars" who arrives in NYC.

The video for "Rapture" debuted on Solid Gold on January 31, 1981 and later became the first rap video ever shown on MTV, which launched in August of that year. 

Set in the East Village, the video features Harry singing and rapping while surrounded by choreographer William Barnes in a white suit and top hat, playing the Man from Mars. There's a lot going on, with cameos from Fab 5 Freddy, artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Lee Quinones, Uncle Sam, a Native American, a child ballet dancer and a goat. Grandmaster Flash was supposed to be in the video but when he didn't show, Basquiat, who was hanging out on the set, was recruited to play the DJ.

Directed by Keith "Keef" Macmillan, the video moved beyond the "band miming on a soundstage" to unveil a scene that non-New Yorkers were unfamiliar with. Despite the popularity of "Rapture," MTV remained resistant to rap music until Run-DMC broke through in 1985 with "Rock Box."

But the song's success enabled the rap scene to move beyond the Bronx into other parts of NYC and eventually, the rest of the world. 

Day After Day #90: One Way or Another

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.