Blondie - Heart Of Glass. Was it their finest moment?

It's an okay tune - just alright for the discos of the day, I suppose.

However, Debbie's shrill vocals on that one never quite did it for me. What's more, of Blondie's 'disco stuff' I much prefer Atomic and Rapture - they sound much fresher today than HoG. And ahead of all three are their harder-rocking cuts. Songs like 'In The Sun', 'Youth Nabbed As Sniper', 'One Way Or Another', 'Dreaming', that kind of music is what I really wanna hear from Blondie.

 

Always loved Heart of Glass, but fave at the moment is Union City Blue

Many Blondie songs very drum-centric (great stick-work from Clem Burke) which is another reason I love em !

 

Parallel Lines had the hits. Great tunes of course - including Heart of Glass - but I have a preference for the debut album and Plastic Letters.

 

Forgot about "Union city blue". Love that one

 

Yes, I'd say it was their finest moment. At their peak, Blondie were consummate musical magpies, who could adapt almost any musical style to their own idiom: disco ("Heart Of Glass"), electronic pop ("Call Me"), sixties garage ("X Offender"), girl group sounds ("In The Flesh"), new wave ("Hanging On The Telephone"), prog ("Atomic"), reggae ("The Tide Is High"), rap ("Rapture") and even modern classical music ("Europa").

 

I love “Heart of Glass” but it’s not my favourite Blondie track. Infact, Parallel Lines isn’t my favourite album. I much prefer “Eat To The Beat” and “The Hunter”, which I know is not a popular opinion.

 

Voted "I Love Heart Of Glass", as I do.

It may not be my favourite, but certainly massively better than OK!

 

Heart Of Glass is a great song, but I prefer a lot of others. Rip her to shreds, Call Me, Dreaming, Atomic, Rapture ...
With Blondie it is hard to pick a favourite, because for so many years they just wrote perfect songs. Heart Of Glass was a song that was in the right place at the right time and rode the wave of the disco remnant to shore

 

Plastic Letters is my favourite Blondie album, but that doesn't mean Parallel Lines and Heart Of Glass are not excellent and worthy of a nomination for their finest moment.

Blondie made / make great music over many years!

 

Disco was huge at this point with some great massive hits.
1979 was such a great year for pop music.

 

My first thought is Call Me. Or some others, too, before Heart Of Glass. Denis, Rip Her To Shreds, Dreaming, Hanging On The Telephone...

Anybody know if Debbie wrote the melody for Call Me? I gather the basic track demo was already recorded by Giorgio Moroder, and turned over to Harry to add words - but who came up with the great melody?

 

Yes, I saw a documentary about the band in that period, and from memory I think the song was originally slower with a kind of reggae/calypso feel, and it was more or less Mike Chapman who finely tuned it into the classic it is.

I love the song, but also agree they had finer moments, Eat to The Beat era is probably my favourite.

 

One of the best. On the way to the peak year 1982.

Had a close look at the chart- never knew the "theme from superman" was a single and don't think I've ever heard "radioactive" by Gene Simmons

 

I love "Heart of Glass", but I prefer "Rapture".

 

I like "One Way Or Another" much better. To me, it's not even close.

 

It's a great tune.
Yes.
Yes but you have to admire the marketing prowess and/or luck.

Blondie was/is one of the more versatile of the CB bands, and for the group to evolve from its new wave debut, to pop perfection on the sophomore album, to the majesty of the third with its variety, shows what a powerful unit they were at the time. Can't vote in the poll based on the choices, esp. since Blondie had so many better singles over the years more suited to their basic love of rocknroll.

 

It was the best year since 1973.

 

Picture This, Dreaming, Union City Blue, Presence Dear, Atomic, Rapture and Hanging On The Telephone are all as good if not better, but HOG is a good track. It made them famous so I suppose people are always going to say it's their best. It's their equivalent Don't You Want Me, only it's a much better recording.
+1 for Clem Burke as a drummer. Watching him drum Dreaming leaves you speechless.

 

Great song. Love Clem Burke’s drumming, especially the series of flourishes at the end of the song.

The year it came out you couldn’t turn on a pop radio station without hearing it.

 

Yep, Dreaming is their best, I concur. I remember the video getting heavy rotation and I was always mesmerized by them, particularly Clem Burke. They had the whole "New Wave" vibe down pat and it conveyed such a youthful carefree energy.

 

Thirded.

 

I love “Heart Of Glass,” but am hesitant to declare it their finest moment. Their run of singles between 1976-81 was nearly flawless.

 

Clem Burke is amazing on that track, doing his best tribute to Keith Moon by not just playing drums, but rather more like flying lead drums!!!

However, Debbie Harry remains the most mesmerizing part of any Blondie video for me, forever! (not matter how high the lead drums fly)

 

Its a fine song and a commercial smash but Union City Blue is where its at for me.

 

Love the song, but there are others that I love more. The first two albums in particular are gems from top to bottom, perfect pop music from NYC.
I agree with the others who mentioned "Union City Blue" and "Dreaming", those are fantastic songs.
You couldn't walk down the street in NYC without hearing "Heart Of Glass" at one point. It was blasting out of cars, playing in shops... inescapable.