Blondie is a remarkable band responsible for several groundbreaking hits in the late 70s and throughout the first half of the 80s.In many ways,lead singer Deborah Harry was a major influence on Madonna.Previous Blondie hits were mostly in the punk-rock vein,and they even went disco in 1979 with the percolating "Heart Of Glass'.But in late 1980,they released the downright funky "Rapture" and it was unlike anything else they had ever done.This is an important track because it features Deborah rapping,at a time when rap was still new and there weren't really ANY female rappers yet...lol...yes,the rap is corny and insubstantial at best,but let's give her an A for effort.The entire song is brilliant,a fun,playful dance number that captivated the clubs in the early 80s.


"Rapture"

(written by C.Stein/D.Harry)

Toe to toe
Dancing very slow
barely breathing
almost comatose
People hypnotized
and they're stepping lightly
hang each night in Rapture

Back to back
sacrailiac
spineless movement
and a wild attack

Face to face
sadly solitude
and it's finger popping
twenty-four hour shopping in Rapture


Fab Five Freddy told me everybody's high
DJ's spinnin' are savin' my mind
Flash is fast,Flash is cool
Francois sez fas,Flashe' no do
and you don't stop,sure shot
go out to the parking lot
And you get in your car and you drive real far
and you drive all night and then you see a light
and it comes right down and lands on the ground
and out comes a man from Mars
and you try to run but he's got a gun
and he shoots you dead and he eats your head
and then you're in the man from Mars
you go out at night,eatin' cars
you eat Cadillacs,Lincolns too
Mercurys and Subarus
and you don't stop,you keep eating cars
then,when there's no more cars
you go out at night and eat up bars where the people meet
face to face,dance cheek to cheek
one to one,man to man
dance toe to toe
don't move too slow,cause the man from Mars
is through with cars,he's eatin' bars
yeah,wall to wall,door to door,hall to hall
he's gonna eat them all
Rapture,be pure
take a tour,through the sewer
don't strain your brain,paint a train'
you'll be singing in the rain
I said don't stop,do punk rock


Well,now you see what you wanna be
just have your party on TV
cause the man from Mars won't eat up bars when the TV's on
and now he's gone back up to space
where he won't have a hassle with the human race
and you hip-hop,and you don't stop
just blast off,sure shot
cause the man from Mars stopped eatin' cars and eatin' bars
and now he only eats guitars
Get up!

this has be the corniest record, but it was Hot in all its cheesy pseudofunk actually the 1st record that gave Props 2 baby hip-hop. Props to Debbie Harry

Finess,doesn't this song remind you of your early 80s New York club-hopping days,hanging out at Danceteria?

DavidEye said:

Danceteria was a rathole.. lol i was at the Funhouse Mostly

TheRealFiness said:

hmmm,I always assumed Danceteria was a happenin' joint...lol...

Did you ever go to Plato's Retreat?

DavidEye said:

lol tha fuckin Bath House?... oh fuuuuuck... i may have been a wild ass child but not that fuckin crazy

TheRealFiness said:

In the Spike Lee film 'Summer of Sam',it's 1977 and the main characters can't get into Studio 54,so they go to Plato's Retreat instead.From what I saw,it looked like a wild place...lol...

DavidEye said:

plato's was basically a sex club, iv'e' done some wild stuff, but plato's was just 2 out there for me, and granted i was still a kid u know?..lol i was jailbait

TheRealFiness said:

but that didn't stop you from having wild times at Studio 54!


I know this is wildly off-topic,but how did you get through the "summer of sam" (summer of 1977 when that crazed killer was out there)? I should pose this question to EvilWhitemale and any other New Yorkers on this site.
[This message was edited Thu Feb 26 4:39:15 2004 by DavidEye]

DavidEye said:

we were all worried ya know?.. i mean thiswas the year of the big blackout too, so we were even more worried about it,women were dyin' thier hair, wearin wigs all kinds of things.but berkowitz even said it was random. who knows, but it was spooky as hell.but all n all a great summer

TheRealFiness said:

what did you think of the movie? Was it an accurate portrayal?

DavidEye said:

Most definately..it was accurate

Thanks for posting the words. I never what the hell she was saying.

TheOrgerFormerlyKnownAs said:

we should do a thread where we all try to come up with our raps...lol...

DavidEye said:

Danceteria was my joint! Did you guys ever hang out on the roof? Wow! Those were the days. I got turned onto this place because I used to work in the Village with lots of cool folk.

Anyway, I loved Blondie! I was in HS when "Heart of Glass" came out. Loved it SO much! And as corny as "Rapture" is that was my song too!

Okay, here's another one of my favorite coincidences. One day random thoughts about the group just POPPED into my head. After work that evening I decided to go down to the Village. Just as I'm walking past Electric Lady recording studio, who do I see going through the doors? Yep, saw Debbie first, then each band member followed. I almost back peddled to say "Hi!" and tell them they were just on my mind, but I figured they'd think I was some kind of freak.

Blondie

Hey Deb and Finess...did you guys ever hang out at Danceteria circa 1982/83,when a young,unknown singer named MADONNA used to go there?

(now you know why i brought that place up in the first place...lol...)

DavidEye said:

she was a clubhopper like all of us, then she used to be all over John ( jellybean) hes the one that acutally got her demo played when she walked in with the open reel. and she finally got on stage and did her thing.

TheRealFiness said:

sounds like the storyline to Mariah's movie "Glitter"

DavidEye said:

I think I was hangin' out there around 83, or 84. Didn't see her. BUT!!! I remember there was this picture of her in the Village Voice. It was around the time of "Everybody." She was wearing one of those antique tweed overcoats that were really popular during the time; she had on pajamas underneath. I cut out the picture and saved it because I just KNEW she was going to be big!

I made her a star!

DavidEye said:

My mom has that 45...I love Blondie.