0:00:02 > 0:00:05AUDIENCE CHANT: Blondie! Blondie! Blondie!
0:00:05 > 0:00:11Is there a really decent American pop music group since Blondie?
0:00:16 > 0:00:17I don't think so.
0:00:17 > 0:00:23This programme contains strong language
0:00:23 > 0:00:28I mean, to this day I think Debbie Harry is probably the most striking front woman ever.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35There've been a lot of Blondie look-alikes, and sound-alikes,
0:00:35 > 0:00:37but no-one will ever be Debbie.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46Even Madonna hasn't quite been able to be that effortlessly cool.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53The only thing wrong with Blondie is they didn't make enough money.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55You can make up for that now.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01# One way or another
0:01:01 > 0:01:03# I'm gonna find ya
0:01:03 > 0:01:05# I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha
0:01:05 > 0:01:07# One way or another
0:01:07 > 0:01:09# I'm gonna win ya
0:01:09 > 0:01:11# I'll getcha, I'll getcha
0:01:11 > 0:01:13# One day, maybe next week
0:01:13 > 0:01:15# I'm gonna see ya
0:01:15 > 0:01:17# I'll meetcha meetcha meetcha meetcha
0:01:17 > 0:01:19# One way or another
0:01:19 > 0:01:21# I'm gonna see ya
0:01:21 > 0:01:23# I'll meetcha, yeah... #
0:01:23 > 0:01:27They're the most successful pop group fronted by a woman, ever.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31Seven number one singles, over 30 million albums sold.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34A band that defies categorisation.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38Yet the tale of Blondie is as much about low-lights as highlights,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41with a powerful love story at its heart.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48Blondie formed in 1974 as the union of four people -
0:01:48 > 0:01:52guitarist Chris Stein, drummer Clem Burke,
0:01:52 > 0:01:53keyboard player Jimmy Destri,
0:01:53 > 0:01:58and the singer who made anything possible and everything unforgettable,
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Debbie Harry.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Theirs is a real New York story.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07The city has been the inspiration and backdrop to everything the band has done.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12And the story starts in the 1950s, just over the river, in Hawthorne, New Jersey -
0:02:12 > 0:02:15home to a newly adopted young Debbie.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19I grew up in suburbia.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23New Jersey, metropolitan New York.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25This relatively small town.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Debbie was adopted at birth.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31She didn't know who her mother was or who her father was.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34She did have a radically different look
0:02:34 > 0:02:38than the rest of the family. She looked like Marilyn Monroe.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41She told me that for quite a long time,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44she kept alive the notion that Marilyn Monroe
0:02:44 > 0:02:48could have been her mother. In the timing, it was possible.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52She wanted Marilyn to be her mother, because it would explain to her
0:02:52 > 0:02:54why she herself felt the way she did.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58I didn't really feel comfortable. I felt imprisoned.
0:02:58 > 0:03:04I think that I just really wanted to have a kind of interaction with other people,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08that was different than what was expected of me,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10or what was available in suburbia.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16So I was 12 or 13 years old,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19and I would...on a Saturday morning,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23for 80 cents I could get a round-trip ticket to New York City.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26I would get on a train and I would go into the city
0:03:26 > 0:03:28and I would walk round the West Village,
0:03:28 > 0:03:33which was old-time New York, with the little, small streets.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39And I would look at all the theatres and the clubs and the coffee shops,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43I would look at all the posters and see who's playing,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46and it was really exciting for me.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Seduced by the city at an early age,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54suburban Debbie became the classic restless teenager,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57inexorably drawn to the wild side of life.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03She was very hungry for attention and very hungry for love
0:04:03 > 0:04:05and hungry for contacts.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09- She used to spend weekends going to this place called- BLEEP- Mile...
0:04:09 > 0:04:12- Oh,- BLEEP- Mile?
0:04:12 > 0:04:15..which was basically where you went and walked up and down
0:04:15 > 0:04:18to have sex with people in the back of cars.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20I liked to experiment. You know?
0:04:20 > 0:04:24I think I really enjoyed the darker side, the underside of things,
0:04:24 > 0:04:28and...I didn't do a great deal of it, but it was very meaningful for me
0:04:28 > 0:04:31and I really did see...
0:04:31 > 0:04:33I wanted to see a real cross-section.
0:04:33 > 0:04:41I wasn't content to be a white, middle-class, you know, girl
0:04:41 > 0:04:44growing up and doing what was expected of her.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46# ..in the whole wide world
0:04:46 > 0:04:49# See you baby with another girl... #
0:04:49 > 0:04:52But it certainly was...pretty nice.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Unable to resist the Big Apple, Debbie moved across the water.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03She waited on tables, she even worked as a bunny girl,
0:05:03 > 0:05:08and found her voice as backing singer in hippie folk group Wind In The Willows.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12# Uncle used to love me but she died
0:05:12 > 0:05:15# A chicken ain't a chicken Till he's licken good and fried
0:05:15 > 0:05:18# Keep on the sunny side
0:05:18 > 0:05:22# My uncle used to love me but she died... #
0:05:22 > 0:05:24Not surprisingly, the Willows soon wilted,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28but it was while singing in her next group, all-girl trio the Stilettos,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30that she had a date with destiny
0:05:30 > 0:05:33and the man who would change her life.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36# One fine day
0:05:36 > 0:05:38# You'll look at me... #
0:05:38 > 0:05:41Tell us how you met. How you both remember it.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44- Well, I went to...- We met in a bar.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47I went to the first Stilettos show.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52He was very prominent in the audience to me, for some reason.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56And yet, I really... I couldn't really see his face,
0:05:56 > 0:06:01but there was something about his...his presence there, that I was very relaxed about.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03The fact that they became friends first
0:06:03 > 0:06:06deepened the possibilities of the relationship for her
0:06:06 > 0:06:10because here for the first time was a guy who seemed interesting,
0:06:10 > 0:06:14a decent writer, intelligent guy, who wasn't just trying to get in bed with her.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19I don't know how long it was, a few months, before they got involved. A long time.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30# One fine day
0:06:30 > 0:06:33# You're gonna want me for your girl. #
0:06:33 > 0:06:38I probably saw in her what a lot of people saw later on. That was it. But I got there first.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41Chris and Debbie had found love,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45and together they found the downtown club that would change their lives.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49CBGB's, birthplace of the burgeoning US punk scene.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52# Hey! Ho! Let's go!
0:06:52 > 0:06:54# Hey! Ho! Let's go! #
0:06:54 > 0:07:00Well, here we are. I feel like such an old person,
0:07:00 > 0:07:02coming in here like this. It's awful.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05It was humid. It was smelly.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07# The kids are losing their minds
0:07:07 > 0:07:09# The Blitzkrieg bop... #
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Get a good shot of these walls and we'll go into the wallpaper business.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17Because I think we could really sell this.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22Beer, dog shit, Chanel Number 5 aroma.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24# Hey! Ho! Let's go
0:07:24 > 0:07:26# Shoot 'em in the back now... #
0:07:26 > 0:07:31Hilly, the owner, had a half a dozen dogs
0:07:31 > 0:07:33and he never walked them.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35He just took them to the check room.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38# ..going through a tight wind
0:07:38 > 0:07:40# The kids are losing their minds The Blitzkrieg Bop... #
0:07:40 > 0:07:43The toilets is the place you definitely didn't want to go.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46# Hey! Ho! Let's go! #
0:07:46 > 0:07:49They probably hadn't been cleaned since 1917.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52# Hey! Ho! Let's go! #
0:07:52 > 0:07:57My former wife, I guess, opened the door,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59and there they were -
0:07:59 > 0:08:03Chris and Debbie having sex.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07They just decided they were going to do it and they did.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09So tell us about the famous myth.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12What? That we were screwing in the toilet? It's not true.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14- It was the alley, back here.- Yeah.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17OK? Happy now?
0:08:18 > 0:08:22I think CB's was the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26I really do. Because it was an oasis.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28When you want to be a pop star all your life,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31and here's a venue that's going to let you do that,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34let you go up and play your songs, it's Mecca!
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Nobody came here except for people that who were in the bands
0:08:38 > 0:08:40or had something to do with the bands, et cetera.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43The audience was the other bands, basically.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47If you threw a guitar pick in any direction, you were bound to hit
0:08:47 > 0:08:50a Talking Head, or a Ramone, or a Heartbreaker,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54or somebody in Television or Suicide, or Chris or Debbie.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57This was home for a lot of people.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00# Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est? #
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Everybody in the fucking audience for the first few years was involved with the band somehow.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08# Run, run, run, run Run, run, run away... #
0:09:08 > 0:09:12The one thing I hated about the scene was the snobbery
0:09:12 > 0:09:14of a lot of the people who hung out there.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18Everybody was in a band or a critic, so nobody would applaud or go crazy.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23You could put on a great show, and hear the crickets afterwards.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28It was like the beatnik cafes, where everybody snapped their fingers after a performance.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32Chris and Debbie were CBGB regulars,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35so it seemed only natural that they should have a band of their own.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39But in a world of leather-clad Ramones and Talking Head geeks,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42they needed something to help them stand out from the crowd.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46# I wanna be a platinum blonde Ooh!
0:09:46 > 0:09:49# Just like all the sexy stars... #
0:09:49 > 0:09:52When I first met her she had very short, dark hair.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Then she came home one day with her hair dyed, like, blonde,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58like Twiggy's haircut.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02My understanding about where the name Blondie came from
0:10:02 > 0:10:06was that this was what all the truck drivers used to yell at Debbie,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09they'd whistle and say "Hey, Blondie!"
0:10:09 > 0:10:11and that subsequently became the group.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14# ..be a platinum blonde Be a platinum blonde... #
0:10:14 > 0:10:18I went into CBGB's and I saw Debbie Harry sing,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21and I thought, "Wow, this girl is fabulous."
0:10:21 > 0:10:23Debbie was like, "oh, my God."
0:10:23 > 0:10:25I had a lovely girlfriend already,
0:10:25 > 0:10:29but, I mean...she was stunning.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32# See ya later... #
0:10:32 > 0:10:35But in a way, she was so beautiful that it would be provocative,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38and the intellectual types didn't like Blondie.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Blondie was looked down on back then, as I remember.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44# All these men seem nice at first
0:10:44 > 0:10:48# After a while they get bad Then worse... #
0:10:49 > 0:10:52When we played at CBGB's the first 18 months,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55we weren't the most confident of bands.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58We weren't very good. We were pretty bad.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Chris would forget what the thing in his hands was.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08He would sort of look at the guitar like, "What's this?"
0:11:10 > 0:11:15I mean, we sound so good now - we must have always sounded like crap in those days.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18We weren't always playing the same song at the same time.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21# ..but I shouldn't let you reach me... #
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Debbie would forget the lyrics.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28# Ah-ah-ah-ah... #
0:11:28 > 0:11:29Blondie was sort of a joke band.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34And there were repeatedly remarks that Blondie made it on Debbie's panties.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37That if Debbie fell over on stage, someone said "Look at her panties."
0:11:37 > 0:11:40That would be more interesting than the songs.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43# I said a girl should know better I do... #
0:11:43 > 0:11:46We weren't taken seriously initially because...
0:11:46 > 0:11:49One factor was because we had a girl singer.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53And...you know, it was very much a boy's club.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56There was really only Patti Smith, and Debbie.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Patti Smith was kind of like the goddess at the time.
0:12:01 > 0:12:07# Jesus died for somebody's sins But not mine... #
0:12:07 > 0:12:11Debbie was a fan of Patti's. We all were. Patti was remarkable.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16Patti went to Debbie and said, "There's not room enough for both of us here," you know,
0:12:16 > 0:12:22"and you're no good, you don't have any talent, you can't really sing. Why don't you leave?"
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Patti wouldn't even want Debbie on the same bill.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30It was the first crisis for the fledgling band,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33as Blondie suddenly found bookings hard to come by.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37They responded by setting up camp spitting distance from the club,
0:12:37 > 0:12:42on the Bowery, a god-forsaken street in a bankrupt town.
0:12:42 > 0:12:47It's a long time since anyone has said the streets of New York are paved with gold.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50The fact is, New York City is bankrupt,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53and if the streets are lined with anything it's pot holes,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56so many of them there's a Pot Holes Department at City Hall.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00New York was broke. I remember the headline. "Gerry Ford tells New York City 'Drop Dead'"
0:13:00 > 0:13:05In Soho when I came here there was not one restaurant. There was no lights at night.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10- We used to have to walk by dead bodies lying on the street.- True.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13So you could rent 1,000 square feet
0:13:13 > 0:13:18- for 70 dollars a month. - Here's the place.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22- In an artist-in-residence loft area. - KNOCK ON DOOR
0:13:24 > 0:13:26Where they lived was extraordinary.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28It doesn't smell like piss any more!
0:13:28 > 0:13:31We had three floors, four floors, and we all chipped in.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34It was haunted.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39Chris and Debbie swore they saw two little children in sweatshop-era clothes holding hands.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42So then there was no heat throughout the night.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45New York winters can be extremely cold.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49This floor here never used to have any heat.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53So the coldest days of the year, you know, rehearsing with gloves on,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55with little finger holes cut out.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58# He don't hang around
0:13:58 > 0:14:01# With the gang no more
0:14:01 > 0:14:05# He don't do the wild things that he did before... #
0:14:05 > 0:14:08If you looked up at the ceiling, there were certain areas
0:14:08 > 0:14:11where the ceiling was just gone, and there were rafters,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14and our landlord, he'd come home at night and pee in bottles
0:14:14 > 0:14:18because he wouldn't want to disturb us by using the bathroom.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21And we'd come into rehearsal and wouldn't want to play too loud
0:14:21 > 0:14:23to, like, knock the piss over.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27It was actually the crucible of Blondie, very much, that loft.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31And we had built a tiny little stage sort of thing,
0:14:31 > 0:14:33maybe a few inches off the ground,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35and set the amps up there.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37So we could sort of learn the songs
0:14:37 > 0:14:41and also practise performing and how you're going to do it.
0:14:41 > 0:14:42We were rehearsing every day.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Not only did we learn material, but we developed an identity.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51That identity was refined in the Loft,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54thanks to Chris's eye for a photo and the perfect muse.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59Chris was always photographically inclined and cinematically inclined.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01He had the greatest subject in the world - Debbie.
0:15:01 > 0:15:07He definitely knew that shots of Debbie were going to make it to the cover of certain magazines.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10The pictures we did of Debbie in the zebra outfit were over here.
0:15:10 > 0:15:16I remember I used to set up a site with just white paper.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19Somehow this came together, this image.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21I sent it to Creem magazine,
0:15:21 > 0:15:26and they put it in as the Creem Dreem even though most people hadn't heard the music yet.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31I was publishing a magazine called Punk,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35and shortly after we published this poster,
0:15:35 > 0:15:40Chris said "Thanks to this poster, we got signed to Private Stock Records."
0:15:40 > 0:15:45Punk Playmate of the Month got Blondie their first record deal
0:15:45 > 0:15:49and the first single was released in the summer of '76.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51Gary Valentine, our original bass player,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55wrote this song called X Offender which was just a three-chord thing.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59And Gary used to hop at that speed.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06And Debbie came up with the lyric. It was like...
0:16:06 > 0:16:08# You read me my rights
0:16:08 > 0:16:12# And then you said "Let's go" and nothing more... #
0:16:12 > 0:16:16To know why they wanted me to leave the band, look at that video,
0:16:16 > 0:16:18and I'm just jumping all over the place.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23They were afraid I was going to decapitate Debbie - I'd jump around and swing the bass.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29X Offender was backed with a B-side called In The Flesh,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32and the record went out, and when it went to Australia,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35In The Flesh became a number one record, much to our surprise,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38because the DJ played the wrong side.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43So the B-side of our record was a song called In The Flesh, which was a ballad.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47It kicks off with the most cliched of drum riffs,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49just using the three drums.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52# Darling, darling darling
0:16:52 > 0:16:56# I can't wait to see you
0:16:56 > 0:16:59# Your picture ain't enough... #
0:16:59 > 0:17:02Molly Meldrum on the show Countdown,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05when he introduced the song he introduced it as X Offender,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08and played the In The Flesh video.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13# Darling, darling, darling... #
0:17:13 > 0:17:16And it went to number one in Australia.
0:17:16 > 0:17:21# ..hear you Remembering your love... #
0:17:21 > 0:17:26His mistake got us national recognition in that small but large country.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30We went there, we got our first gold record award,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33our first number one, and our first real tour.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46# You know he can't be tested
0:17:46 > 0:17:48# He can't be read or found
0:17:48 > 0:17:51# Urban grey takes breath away
0:17:51 > 0:17:53# He wants to push his pedal To the ground... #
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Our biggest exposure to an audience, on stage or anywhere,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01was when we were plucked right out of CBGB's and taken on tour with Iggy Pop.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06I invited Blondie on my first solo tour,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09for the Idiot record, with David Bowie on piano.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13He listened to the first record and thought "This'll be a cute act."
0:18:13 > 0:18:15But Debbie really stole the crowd.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20She'd wear little go-go boots and kick her knees up a lot,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23and shake her ponytail, that kind of thing.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Her confidence was improved. I mean, she was growing daily.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35An American ponytailed girl as seen through the lens of Roger Vadim, or something.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38It's kind of like Barbarella on speed, something like that.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45There were Iggy fans there, but Debbie did make an indent.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47A band will feed off an audience,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50and they'll get better because the audience appreciates them,
0:18:50 > 0:18:54and they'll put on a great show as a result.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58You never saw that in the mid-'70s in New York City.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02When you leave your home spot, where everyone knows you,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05you're more easily able to be the person you've made up,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07because no-one's going to say, "Bullshit."
0:19:07 > 0:19:10So the first time Blondie got outside New York
0:19:10 > 0:19:13and had an audience who liked them, they went nuts!
0:19:13 > 0:19:17# Baby, baby, I can try with you... #
0:19:17 > 0:19:21Bowie and I both tried to hit on Debbie backstage.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25We couldn't get anywhere, but she was always very smooth about that.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27It was always sort of,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30"Maybe another time, when Chris isn't around."
0:19:30 > 0:19:32Very cool about it.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43But there was nothing cool about the reception they got in the next country they visited,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46as the Brits fell for Debbie and the band in a big way.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49We happened to have been in England at the same time.
0:19:49 > 0:19:55We saw that the press went crazy over Blondie and Debbie Harry.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59And it was like, "Wow!" She became an instant sensation.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Blondie blossomed in a very British way.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07They had an English bass player, Nigel Harrison,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09along with guitarist Frankie Infante,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12and major UK label Chrysalis snapped them up
0:20:12 > 0:20:15and primed them for their first British single.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20The next song that really catapulted us to success in the UK was Denis Denis.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22Denis Denis was a great old song.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27I remember we got a compilation record of oldies or whatever it was.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30And a guy named Neil Levenson wrote this song called Denise
0:20:30 > 0:20:33that Randy and the Rainbows recorded in the '50s.
0:20:33 > 0:20:34# Denise, doo-be-doo
0:20:34 > 0:20:38# I'm in love with you Denise, doo-be-doo
0:20:38 > 0:20:41# I'm in love with you... #
0:20:41 > 0:20:45Actually, the beginning just kind of has the floor tom...
0:20:47 > 0:20:49# Oh Denis doo-be-do
0:20:49 > 0:20:53# I'm in love with you Denis, doo-be-doo
0:20:53 > 0:20:56# I'm in love with you Denis, doo-be-doo
0:20:56 > 0:20:58# I'm in love with you... #
0:20:58 > 0:21:02We put footsteps behind it, and made it really loud.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04You know, footsteps with the drum kit.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10# Oh Denis doo-be-doo... #
0:21:10 > 0:21:14Walking, like that. And Clem was like, out of time.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19Don't tell him I said that. We were walking, and Clem was clapping on the off.
0:21:19 > 0:21:25So guess what? The feet and the handclaps are out of time with the drums.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29It'll forever be out of synch, and it'll forever a be hit record, so...
0:21:29 > 0:21:34- Sometimes the mistakes are the best part of a record. - # I'm in love with you... #
0:21:36 > 0:21:38# Denis Denis
0:21:38 > 0:21:39# Oh with your eyes so blue
0:21:39 > 0:21:41# Denis Denis
0:21:41 > 0:21:43# I've got a crush on you
0:21:43 > 0:21:44# Denis Denis
0:21:44 > 0:21:48# I'm so in love with you Oh-oh
0:21:50 > 0:21:52# When we walk
0:21:52 > 0:21:53# It always feels so nice... #
0:21:53 > 0:21:55We did Denis Denis on Top Of The Pops -
0:21:55 > 0:21:57you could just see it change overnight.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01We were doing the regular gigs, and there was a fan base and stuff,
0:22:01 > 0:22:03but for me growing up in England
0:22:03 > 0:22:05knowing the power of Top Of The Pops...
0:22:05 > 0:22:07We were playing a gig in Dunstable.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09People had seen Top Of The Pops and gone up to the gig,
0:22:09 > 0:22:11and it was just mania.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15DRUMS DROWN MUSIC
0:22:15 > 0:22:18There was a great moment in Dunstable,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21where this gang of skinheads...
0:22:21 > 0:22:25sort of Dawn Of The Dead marched up on stage,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29and started just stomping around. There was a big fracas in the crowd.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31I remember dragging her off into the wings.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33I grew up in Brooklyn,
0:22:33 > 0:22:38and there was some situations where Debbie would go, "Jimmy! Get me out of here!"
0:22:38 > 0:22:41and I'd just whisk her out, because people were all over her.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46On the back of Denis, Blondie scored another three hits in 1978.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50Wherever they went, there were men bearing gifts.
0:22:50 > 0:22:55Can I just ask you to tell us who is Swapshop's favourite pop star?
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Congratulations with your number one record in Holland!
0:22:58 > 0:23:00I picked some flowers in my garden.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04Debbie Harry from Blondie. AUDIENCE CHEER
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Debbie Harry, of the pop group Blondie, arrives to an autograph session.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15That was the dream sequence. It was just mania.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17Was it High Street Kensington?
0:23:17 > 0:23:19It was like Buckingham Palace.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21One more wave... It was just nuts.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25- Do you want to see Debbie again? - CROWD: Yes!
0:23:25 > 0:23:27We've gotta go in now.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29She opened the window and they were all, "Aaaaah!"
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Closed the window, open it - "Aaaaaah!"
0:23:32 > 0:23:36- One more time? - CROWD CHEERS
0:23:40 > 0:23:44It was a taste of what the Beatles went through. Just a taste.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49When we were leaving, they pulled up this bus. In such a rush, all the security on Debbie.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52And I, like an idiot, stopped to sign an autograph,
0:23:52 > 0:23:54and of course the bus doors closed.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58- And I remember Debbie going, "Nigel! Nigel!"- Nigel!
0:23:58 > 0:24:01I had to chase down the street after the bus.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05- Let's go.- See you, guys.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07All right!
0:24:12 > 0:24:16# Coming into contact with... #
0:24:16 > 0:24:19That was kind of knowing that you'd arrived when that was going on.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23Cos it wasn't fake. It wasn't a couple of hundred people, it was thousands of people.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25# ..with our theosophies... #
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Blondie and Debbie just seemed to fit England like a glove,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32from the first moment they went there, more than any other band.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40I mean, to this day I think Debbie Harry
0:24:40 > 0:24:44is probably THE most striking front woman ever.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48# All I want is a room with a view
0:24:48 > 0:24:52# A sight worth seeing A vision of you
0:24:52 > 0:24:54# All I want
0:24:54 > 0:24:57# Is a room with a view
0:24:57 > 0:25:00# Oh-oh-ooooooh... #
0:25:00 > 0:25:04When you think of Blondie at the time, the over-riding image
0:25:04 > 0:25:06is obviously the hair, the blondeness.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08It was often back-lit, so you'd have this
0:25:08 > 0:25:11quite ethereal glow behind the head.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14I walked around with a flashlight taped to my back.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Once that glow dimmed or she moved into the light,
0:25:17 > 0:25:21you suddenly see that the hair wasn't that perfectly blonde.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25There was the blonde, glamour side of her and then black bits at the back.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27I think that was very canny, very deliberate -
0:25:27 > 0:25:30"I may be this blonde goddess but I'm also something else."
0:25:30 > 0:25:33# ..a picture of you... #
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Because she was doing her hair herself,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38she could only do what she could see.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42I couldn't reach it or see it to do it properly.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45And when you stand in a mirror and look at the back of your head
0:25:45 > 0:25:48and try to go like that, everything is opposite.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50Her hair was...
0:25:50 > 0:25:54non-conventional, while still looking...
0:25:54 > 0:25:57She kinda looked like a Barbie doll, but it was so fucked-up looking
0:25:57 > 0:26:01that it had a sort of edge to it and a grime to it
0:26:01 > 0:26:03that made her cool.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06- How does it feel to be living with a sex symbol?- I couldn't be happier.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09It's great.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11As an ego-boost for a man, it's fantastic.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16Just about every teenage male of my generation had a picture of her on their wall.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19The high boots, the short skirt, the little flash of thigh...
0:26:19 > 0:26:22Usually colour-coordinated with the top.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25But what was interesting was that girls loved her too.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I think teenage girls found her very empowering.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30Great singer. Looks fantastic.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35She's funny and she's smart, and her lyrics have a lot of attitude.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38I didn't want to take the position of being a victim,
0:26:38 > 0:26:42or being pushed around, or being under the gun or whatever it was.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45And I said, "Do you know? It's gotta change."
0:26:45 > 0:26:49In Picture This she sings about wanting to watch the boyfriend shower...
0:26:49 > 0:26:52# I will give you my finest hour
0:26:52 > 0:26:56# The one I spent Watching you shower... #
0:26:56 > 0:27:00I think at that time the idea of a woman actually looking at a man was quite a new idea.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03Women were there to be looked at. Men looked at women.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07# All I want is a photo in my wallet... #
0:27:07 > 0:27:11But here she was, claiming the right to look back at the other man
0:27:11 > 0:27:12and making him the object.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15# ..is a picture of you... #
0:27:15 > 0:27:19It was a more matured sense of her own identity and confidence in herself.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22She wasn't writing little love ballads or anything like that.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26She was, you know, basically writing from life experiences.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29Debbie wasn't exactly, you know, 21 years old.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33She was in her thirties when Blondie became successful.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36Even though, of course, she looked exquisite
0:27:36 > 0:27:40and I don't think the people buying the records thought too much about her age,
0:27:40 > 0:27:45but if she'd been plucked up at 19, things probably would have gone a completely different way.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49# ..try to do what you used to do Yeah! #
0:27:49 > 0:27:54But things were about to go a different way for the 33-year-old and her band.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58In spite of a run of hits, Blondie still hadn't had a number one.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02Moreover, none of their first run of singles even charted in the States.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04The record company brought in Mike Chapman,
0:28:04 > 0:28:07a producer of pure pop and international number ones,
0:28:07 > 0:28:09to polish the Blondie sound.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Terry Ellis at Chrysalis Records came to me.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15He said, "I want to make them
0:28:15 > 0:28:19"into a multi-platinum worldwide success."
0:28:19 > 0:28:22And I thought, "Oh, God."
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Great music, awesome music, with a wonderful sense of humour,
0:28:26 > 0:28:31and...and some very interesting elements,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34but...it was all over the place, musically.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37CACOPHONOUS GUITAR
0:28:41 > 0:28:45Clem had this attitude that he was Keith Moon,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49and just wanted to play every drum all of the time.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55My first challenge was to rein in Clem.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58I don't really have that much recollection of that.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02"I don't want you to play straight, I want you to play in time."
0:29:02 > 0:29:05- To be honest...- "Can you do the same thing, IN TIME?"
0:29:05 > 0:29:10Maybe I blackened it out of my memory bank as an unpleasant experience.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12It was a real challenge to convince them
0:29:12 > 0:29:14that this...
0:29:14 > 0:29:18OUT-OF-SYNCH GUITAR AND DRUMS
0:29:24 > 0:29:28..to convince them that that was out of tune and out of time.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31I like the old rough stuff. To me, that's great.
0:29:31 > 0:29:35You know what I mean? I almost prefer that on a certain level.
0:29:35 > 0:29:40I like the old stuff. The Blondie demos, to me, is like the essence of Blondie.
0:29:40 > 0:29:45None of us were musicians. Musicians read music and play the same thing over and over again.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48My first intention was to clean the bloody band up.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52Chapman saw the potential in Heart Of Glass,
0:29:52 > 0:29:56but thought he could only make it a hit by painstaking construction,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59- recording it note by note. - Right, then.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02So we had the little... almost metronome thing...
0:30:04 > 0:30:07..and then Clem would do the kick drum.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11Took three hours to put down the bass drum, I remember that,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13because every little thing had to be in synch.
0:30:13 > 0:30:18And then I think the following day it was the snare drum and the hi-hat.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20Then eventually the breaks.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22Then came the guitars.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24The guitar that goes bub-a-bub-a-bub-a
0:30:24 > 0:30:27was done with a tape-loop echo, so that took hours.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30And the vocals. So everything was built up in Heart Of Glass.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34It was our first experience of building up a track.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37# Once I had a love And it was a gas
0:30:37 > 0:30:41# Soon turned out Had a heart of glass
0:30:42 > 0:30:46# Seemed like the real thing Only to find
0:30:46 > 0:30:49# Mucho mistrust Love's gone behind... #
0:30:49 > 0:30:53Then suddenly it got picked up by the dance clubs, I guess,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56and it became a disco hit and rocketed to number one!
0:30:56 > 0:31:00We were in Italy when we found out it was number one in America.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03And we felt so fucking vindicated and so cool!
0:31:03 > 0:31:05We were dancing around and popping champagne.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09# Seemed like the real thing But I was so blind
0:31:09 > 0:31:12# Mucho mistrust Love's gone behind... #
0:31:12 > 0:31:16At the time, that New York crowd was looking at them going, "Disco?"
0:31:16 > 0:31:18It was a bit disco-y for me.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21# In between What I find is pleasing And I'm feeling fine... #
0:31:21 > 0:31:25Disco and punk were opposite ends of the spectrum.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28I was pretty upset when they brought it out as a disco single.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30It put me out of business!
0:31:30 > 0:31:32There was a lot of anger towards disco
0:31:32 > 0:31:35among the more articulate people on the punk scene.
0:31:35 > 0:31:41There were stupid things like Burn A Disco Record Night at Cleveland Stadium,
0:31:41 > 0:31:45and, you know, where a riot broke out.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49I know, for instance, our friends the Ramones were disappointed in us.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53And probably a bit jealous of our success as well.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56How do you feel about Blondie and these people
0:31:56 > 0:31:58that have, in a sense, commercially eclipsed you?
0:31:58 > 0:32:00They took that way, to do that.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03Play disco music, things like that, to make it.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05We do what we believe in, we have our integrity.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09I remember being at a party for one of the gold records they got,
0:32:09 > 0:32:13and there were three of the Ramones outside and they couldn't get in.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16Well, you know, it put them in a different world.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18It put them in a different league from us.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22We'd come up together, and the Ramones were the headliners.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25You know... And all of a sudden,
0:32:25 > 0:32:27there was an instant change.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31There was a certain kind of camaraderie that lasted up until...
0:32:31 > 0:32:35the reality of getting record deals and making money
0:32:35 > 0:32:38entered upon the scene.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41Blondie were moving up in the world.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45Chris and Debbie moved out of the loft into a penthouse in a swanky neighbourhood.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49But the band found themselves under pressure from manager Peter Leeds
0:32:49 > 0:32:51to make even bigger changes.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54- Do you want to go into any of this? - Who, Leeds?- Yeah.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56Do I have to?
0:32:56 > 0:32:59Peter was getting a little too forceful with everybody.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04We weren't his children, you know? We were his clients.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08I think that I had trouble...
0:33:08 > 0:33:11in terms of the...
0:33:11 > 0:33:15the artists, particularly Debbie and Chris,
0:33:15 > 0:33:19understanding the game plan. The big picture.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22# ..find ya I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha
0:33:22 > 0:33:24# One way or another
0:33:24 > 0:33:26# I'm gonna win ya
0:33:26 > 0:33:28# I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha... #
0:33:28 > 0:33:33He was very focused on me, and tried to convince me to drop the band.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35That I was the only thing that was important,
0:33:35 > 0:33:38they were unimportant, could be replaced,
0:33:38 > 0:33:41none of them were worth anything and I should break up with Chris.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45# I will drive past your house
0:33:45 > 0:33:48# And if
0:33:48 > 0:33:51# The lights are all down... #
0:33:51 > 0:33:56Peter would leave little notes - "You're worthless, you're not needed," if you disagreed with him.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59I got along with him, but I didn't like that.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02He told everybody in the band they were replaceable.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06And the best thing about it was that when he chose to do this,
0:34:06 > 0:34:08we had just left Japan.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12So we're all sitting there on this plane, one here and one there,
0:34:12 > 0:34:14we'd had a chance to spread out.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18And he came round to every single person and told them on that flight,
0:34:18 > 0:34:20while we were in the air, captive,
0:34:20 > 0:34:22that we were all replaceable.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26That we all could be replaced!
0:34:27 > 0:34:32My regret, in this case which you're speaking of...
0:34:32 > 0:34:35No, we can't talk about this! I don't want to talk about...
0:34:35 > 0:34:39telling Chris Stein I'd throw his ass out like I did Gary Valentine.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42That's not a good thing to say at this point.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46Bells really started to ring with the photo shoot for the album Parallel Lines.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49# I'm in the phone booth It's the one across the hall
0:34:49 > 0:34:53# If you don't answer I'll just ring it off the wall
0:34:53 > 0:34:56# I know he's there But I just had to call... #
0:34:56 > 0:35:00When you're doing a group photo with six different people,
0:35:00 > 0:35:04it's very hard to get a group shot where everybody likes themselves.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07# I heard your mother now she's going out the door
0:35:07 > 0:35:10# Did she go to work or just go to the store?
0:35:10 > 0:35:13# All those things she said I told you to ignore... #
0:35:13 > 0:35:17So each band member had their picture taken separately.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21Then everybody got to go through and pick the images that they liked.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24When the album comes out Chris Stein goes crazy.
0:35:24 > 0:35:29# Don't leave me hanging on the telephone
0:35:29 > 0:35:35# Don't leave me hanging on the telephone... #
0:35:35 > 0:35:38What Peter Leeds did...he ignored what the band had picked
0:35:38 > 0:35:40and chose the pictures he wanted.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43Leeds decided everybody should be grinning on the cover of Parallel Lines.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47Debbie frowning and all of us smiling...
0:35:47 > 0:35:51# Hanging on the telephone... #
0:35:51 > 0:35:56I don't ever remember hearing the issue of the band smiling, Debbie not, whatever.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58Little things like that, they seem small,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01but if you feel like you're not in control of your image,
0:36:01 > 0:36:03it's not a good thing.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06# Oh, oh, oh Run to me... #
0:36:12 > 0:36:15We got rid of Peter - it cost us a lot of money.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18As we had negotiations with Leeds,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21Heart Of Glass was going up the charts every week,
0:36:21 > 0:36:26and at the same time the song would go up he would raise his price.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28What did you get, Peter?
0:36:28 > 0:36:32Now you know that I'm not going to discuss that.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37- OK.- I'm very pleased to say...
0:36:37 > 0:36:41that one of the terms of the contract was...
0:36:41 > 0:36:45that the commission would be, in effect, in perpetuity.
0:36:45 > 0:36:51Peter did a good job of bringing us to a major record company
0:36:51 > 0:36:53and we had to pay a price for that.
0:36:53 > 0:37:00I continue to make a nice amount of money which I have no apologies for.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02He didn't do good business for us.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04He did good business for himself.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Peter Leeds walked away with nearly a quarter of the band's takings,
0:37:11 > 0:37:13just as they hit the big time.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17Not that the hits dried up, they kept coming and they felt bigger.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21MUSIC PLAYS: Union City by Blondie
0:37:31 > 0:37:34The video we did of Union City was pretty epic.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37It was done on the waterfront in New Jersey
0:37:37 > 0:37:40with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43there was even a helicopter shot came in on the band.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47The video was inspired by the anthemic quality of the song.
0:37:49 > 0:37:55# Oh-ho, oh-ho What are we gonna do?
0:37:56 > 0:38:03# Union, Union, Union City blue... #
0:38:03 > 0:38:06The sound of that record was enormous.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09It was the sound of a successful band, it was the sound of a big band
0:38:09 > 0:38:12that were striding the world stage.
0:38:16 > 0:38:22Blondie were at the top of their game. Chris and Debbie started writing hits for Hollywood
0:38:22 > 0:38:27as Call Me became the number one theme to the film American Gigolo.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30# Colour me your colour, baby... #
0:38:30 > 0:38:34Debbie sat for Andy Warhol and became a true blonde icon...
0:38:34 > 0:38:37and Chris became a chat show host
0:38:37 > 0:38:42in the strictly bohemian world of New York cable TV.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52TV Party was basically an underground Tonight Show.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Hi, and welcome to TV Party.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59I was the host and Chris Stein was the co-host.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03We would have some people come on and talk...
0:39:03 > 0:39:07- The way I lead my life is I just try not to be a- BLEEP- to anybody.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11Sometimes we would show clips from the underground movies of the time.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13Are you ready to take my picture?
0:39:13 > 0:39:17- Why do you want these pictures anyhow? - To put in the windows and bars
0:39:17 > 0:39:19and one for my boyfriend.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24Chris' favourite part of the show was always the phone calls.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27People could call in and talk to us live on air.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31CALLER: I was wondering, do you guys all have poles stuck up your ass?
0:39:31 > 0:39:34LAUGHTER
0:39:34 > 0:39:39No, just Czechs, we have Russians and Czechs stuck up our ass.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42'You could actually curse people out on our show.'
0:39:42 > 0:39:47These people would think, "I'm going to... your mother sucks cocks..."
0:39:47 > 0:39:49CALLER: Was there a particular moment
0:39:49 > 0:39:53when you realised you were a totally moronic asshole?
0:39:53 > 0:39:55- Hello.- CALLER: You're all fags.
0:39:55 > 0:40:00They may have been superstars, but it was in this chaotic world
0:40:00 > 0:40:03with just a few hundred viewers that Chris and Debbie,
0:40:03 > 0:40:07aided by violinist Walter Steding and the TV Party Orchestra,
0:40:07 > 0:40:10debuted their next single, The Tide Is High.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15FUZZY SOUND # The tide is high but I'm holding on
0:40:15 > 0:40:19# I'm gonna be your number one
0:40:19 > 0:40:21# I'm not the kind of girl... #
0:40:21 > 0:40:24Debbie and the boys, they did Tide Is High
0:40:24 > 0:40:28and it was the first time they ever played it outside their bedrooms.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32# It's not the things you do that hurt me bad, oh-oh... #
0:40:32 > 0:40:38I wish I could have strangled Walter and dragged him off the stage as he was so out of tune in that.
0:40:38 > 0:40:45# ..Who gives up just like that Oh, no... #
0:40:45 > 0:40:49POLISHED VERSION: # The tide is high but I'm holding on
0:40:49 > 0:40:55# I'm gonna be your number one... #
0:40:55 > 0:41:01The bohemianism of Blondie isn't apparent on first listen.
0:41:01 > 0:41:06VIOLIN SCRAPES # It's not the things you do that hurt bad, oh-ho... #
0:41:06 > 0:41:09'The surface is very much the popular,'
0:41:09 > 0:41:12but really they were kind of beatniks.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17In this veritable melting pot of talent, Chris and Debbie met another key collaborator -
0:41:17 > 0:41:21- Fab 5 Freddy.- We have Freddy - the token black.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24'I met Chris and Debbie working on TV Party.'
0:41:24 > 0:41:29At the first show we all met and became good friends.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36I was one of those guys that painted on New York City subway trains,
0:41:36 > 0:41:40as well as the walls and anywhere else I felt that my name,
0:41:40 > 0:41:43my signature needed to be - I put it there.
0:41:43 > 0:41:49I was into the beginnings of what we now know as hip-hop,
0:41:49 > 0:41:53which was still going on just in the streets of New York.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57Blondie, they were one of the first ones to pick up on the rap scene.
0:41:57 > 0:42:02Freddy took us up to this event in the Bronx.
0:42:02 > 0:42:10There was a big gymnasium and they would use this place to give rap concerts...
0:42:10 > 0:42:14- We were the only white people and... - We watched a show...
0:42:14 > 0:42:17# Just move your hands in the air... #
0:42:17 > 0:42:21All the things I had explained to Chris was going on in this scene.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25How these guys were taking these records and doing the scratching thing.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27There's rapping and attitude.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30They kind of got it all, it put some seeds in their heads.
0:42:30 > 0:42:35Chris was a big fan of all types of music, especially black music.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38One of the biggest groups at the time was a group called Chic.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45Chic's Good Times was the hot record that every DJ wanted to scratch.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47# Good, good, good, good times... #
0:42:54 > 0:42:59As we did on Heart Of Glass when we did our own take on disco,
0:42:59 > 0:43:03I guess this was the logical thing to get into
0:43:03 > 0:43:07was to do our take on the Chic thing.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15MUSIC PLAYS: Rapture by Blondie
0:43:20 > 0:43:27# Toe to toe Dancing very close
0:43:27 > 0:43:35# Barely breathing Almost comatose... #
0:43:35 > 0:43:38We had the melody and the riff, but I don't think we were conscious,
0:43:38 > 0:43:40like, "Whoa, we're doing a rap."
0:43:40 > 0:43:44I remember Chris bringing in the idea and not understanding it.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47I was like, "You think we could do this?"
0:43:47 > 0:43:49We're white guys, how much could we know?
0:43:49 > 0:43:53# In Rapture... #
0:43:53 > 0:43:55The rap on Rapture got to the point
0:43:55 > 0:43:59where everything was done except the rap.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01We had this elongated section without a rap.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05I said, "Whatever this rap is, now's your chance.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08"This is your moment, get out there and do it."
0:44:08 > 0:44:13They said, "OK, hang on, we better write it." So they stood there for about 15 minutes, wrote this rap,
0:44:13 > 0:44:16and out she went.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18Excuse me.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21She said, "OK, I got it." I said, "You do? All right. It's a lot of bars"
0:44:21 > 0:44:25She said, "OK." She goes out and she starts rapping away and...
0:44:25 > 0:44:31All these incredible "eats guitars and eating cars" and all that stuff.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33Phew!
0:44:33 > 0:44:35What was she on that day? I don't know.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38# Fab 5 Freddie told me everybody's fly
0:44:38 > 0:44:40# DJ's spinnin' are savin' my mind
0:44:40 > 0:44:42# Flash is fast Flash is cool
0:44:42 > 0:44:44# Francois sez fas' Flashe no do... #
0:44:44 > 0:44:48That was about me describing what was going on in the hip-hop scene
0:44:48 > 0:44:51to Chris and Debbie when we would hang out and talk.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54She said, "Fab 5 Freddie told me everybody's fly
0:44:54 > 0:44:57"DJ's spinnin' are savin' my mind."
0:44:57 > 0:45:01Fly was a word used to describe if you were part of the hip-hop scene
0:45:01 > 0:45:05and you had the right style, you were a fly guy or a fly girl.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08# Flash is fast Flash is cool... #
0:45:08 > 0:45:11"Flash is fast, fast is cool."
0:45:11 > 0:45:15A DJ named Grandmaster Flash was known as the fastest DJ.
0:45:15 > 0:45:21He had perfected his technique of manipulating the beats on the turntables in a seamless fashion.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24# And out comes a man from Mars
0:45:24 > 0:45:26# And you try to run but he's got a gun
0:45:26 > 0:45:28# And he shoots you dead and he eats your head... #
0:45:28 > 0:45:33It was the first time, I guess, a mainstream audience had a peek
0:45:33 > 0:45:37of what was about to become this huge movement...
0:45:37 > 0:45:40called hip-hop.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46Rapture completed a hat trick of number ones in only six months.
0:45:46 > 0:45:53All entirely different, from power pop, to reggae, to rap.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56Blondie were, quite simply, the biggest band in the world.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03Chris and Debbie celebrated by moving into a six-storey mansion
0:46:03 > 0:46:05in Manhattan.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10Nothing could derail them, except themselves.
0:46:10 > 0:46:16The drugs were part of... that was part of the deal.
0:46:16 > 0:46:22If you work with Blondie, you get Blondie and whatever baggage they're carting around with them.
0:46:23 > 0:46:28The '80s - it was sort of like the glorification of cocaine...
0:46:28 > 0:46:31For example, we would fly from New York into London,
0:46:31 > 0:46:34and stay at our regular hotel and normally you'd go there
0:46:34 > 0:46:39and from the record company there would be a display of flowers, a bowl of fruit.
0:46:39 > 0:46:40By the time it got to 1980,
0:46:40 > 0:46:43there would be an eighth of an ounce of cocaine,
0:46:43 > 0:46:45along with the flowers and the fruit.
0:46:45 > 0:46:50One of my managers told me that I should always keep a 100 bill on me.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53In case I had to roll a bill up to snort some coke.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57It would be a 100 bill cos that would be sort of hip.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04It got you into the beat. I found my drug, Chris found his drug.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06I got a little crazy.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13It wasn't hard to see that something was going to go wrong.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19# In Babylon on the boulevard of broken dreams
0:47:19 > 0:47:22# My willpower at the lowest ebb
0:47:22 > 0:47:25# Oh, what can I do? #
0:47:25 > 0:47:31The horn section that they brought in to play on the Island Of Lost Souls, they were all a bunch of junkies.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35Puerto Ricans, they'd come across and...
0:47:35 > 0:47:39Great players and they were all jumped out of their minds...
0:47:39 > 0:47:43the whole session, sweating profusely.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47Disappearing into the bathroom and coming back and...
0:47:47 > 0:47:53I was like, "Even my horn section are junkies. God!"
0:47:55 > 0:47:56# Hey, hey!
0:47:56 > 0:47:58# Really get away
0:47:58 > 0:48:00# Is what he said... #
0:48:00 > 0:48:02The whole thing fell into this black hole...
0:48:02 > 0:48:05# Where did he go? #
0:48:05 > 0:48:08..and we all tumbled in, one after the other.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13I think that's probably the main contributor to the band disbanding.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15Is probably our drug problems.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18The band had pushed the self-destruct button.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21And for Chris and Debbie the glamour of the cocaine lifestyle
0:48:21 > 0:48:24was about to be replaced by a more dangerous addiction.
0:48:24 > 0:48:29It was a period when heavy drug use, heroin specifically,
0:48:29 > 0:48:33swept through the CBGB's... downtown scene like a plague.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35CALLER: It would be helpful if you got someone
0:48:35 > 0:48:37that was able to work the camera.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39That means there's a lack of good drugs here
0:48:39 > 0:48:42at the studio if the camera's really steady.
0:48:42 > 0:48:48Everyone got sucked into it because we all wanted to be like William Burroughs and Lou Reed.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52It's funny to think of being a junkie as aspirational.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55CALLER: It looks like it's a fucking dope house.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59Goddamn! That's a really perceptive fellow.
0:48:59 > 0:49:04Drugs were a tremendous downfall for us because we were with management
0:49:04 > 0:49:08who were really OK with cocaine use - that was fine -
0:49:08 > 0:49:12but once you graduated to heroin use you were fucked.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15You could buy a bag of heroin for 10 and get really fucked up.
0:49:15 > 0:49:20That was one of the few bargains available to us, I suppose.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23Although in the end it didn't prove to be much of a bargain.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30# Colour me your colour, baby... #
0:49:30 > 0:49:35In 1982, the band announced a farewell tour.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37The drugs were taking their toll
0:49:37 > 0:49:41and The Hunter, their final album, barely made the top 40.
0:49:41 > 0:49:46Jimmy Destri told me that sold 20,000 copies.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48The Hunter - 20,000 copies!
0:49:48 > 0:49:51It's like, "There must have been a mistake."
0:49:51 > 0:49:55# Call me
0:49:55 > 0:49:58# When you're ready for some sweet delight
0:49:58 > 0:50:00# Call me... #
0:50:00 > 0:50:02The tour was a disaster. It was just horrible.
0:50:02 > 0:50:08We were booked into gigs that were 20,000 seater places and there's only 9,000 people there.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16At that point, that's when Chris really started to look pale, skinny...
0:50:16 > 0:50:21I remember it was quite dramatic cos I went to The Hunted tour
0:50:21 > 0:50:26and he was standing there dressed from head to foot in black,
0:50:26 > 0:50:28but he looked like a ghost.
0:50:28 > 0:50:32He really had this white pallor. Unbelievable.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36Blondie were losing money on the tour,
0:50:36 > 0:50:39but as the band prepared to take their final curtain call,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42they discovered they'd been losing money for years.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45Some of their advisors had proved less than reliable.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48Their rock and roll pension had disappeared.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52They attracted people who were pariahs and you could see...
0:50:52 > 0:50:56You'd look at them and go, "Oh, man, here we go.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59"There goes another fucking shark, another slimeball."
0:50:59 > 0:51:03And I assume those guys made a lot of money off us.
0:51:03 > 0:51:10We had a letter from our accountant, basically saying, "Don't expect any more money.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13"It's all over. There's £25,000 left in the Blondie account.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17"Make arrangements, don't count on another penny from Blondie."
0:51:17 > 0:51:23We were being attacked on all fronts at that point.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27Our label had dropped us, our management had walked out
0:51:27 > 0:51:30and the IRS was closing in on us.
0:51:31 > 0:51:36We were all in a tax hole. I think Chris owed near a million dollars, I owed half a million dollars.
0:51:36 > 0:51:42When you've been a good boy, this is what they give you.
0:51:42 > 0:51:48Platinum records - they represent 20 or 30 million album sales.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52I think this is probably all that Debbie and Chris ever got.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56We sold 20 million albums and we've got 25 grand left in the account.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59I don't think there were any dollars and cents that came with it.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02After all that work, we wound up in the red.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09During all this time, Chris continued to lose weight.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12Even the folk at TV Party started to notice.
0:52:14 > 0:52:16Chris was always just kind of normal.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18He wasn't fat, he wasn't thin,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21but then suddenly he was getting thinner and thinner.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24It was obvious that something was going on.
0:52:24 > 0:52:30- You're tipping the scales at what, Chris?- 140.- When was the last time you weighed 140?- Years ago.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33The frightening thing was nobody knew what it was.
0:52:34 > 0:52:39I remember trying on Debbie's clothes and being really pleased that I could fit into her pants.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43I probably thought I looked great and gaunt.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47He complained of a sore throat and it became very serious,
0:52:47 > 0:52:51he couldn't swallow, he couldn't get any food in.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55The next day we called an ambulance and I was, you know....hauled out.
0:52:58 > 0:53:03The disease is called pemphigus vulgaris and it's an immune disorder
0:53:03 > 0:53:06that manifests itself in a variety of ways.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10One of them is these lesions and it's really horrible.
0:53:10 > 0:53:1270% of my skin blistered.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16Pemphigus is Latin for blisters.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19- So I...- It's like burns.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22You want to see it? That's old scars.
0:53:22 > 0:53:28DEBBIE: This one nurse came over to me and pulled me aside and said,
0:53:28 > 0:53:32"I read this definition of what Chris' illness is."
0:53:34 > 0:53:37It's really scary. I thought he was going to die.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41It was terminal.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43They said that he was dying and that was that.
0:53:43 > 0:53:49There was a horrible photo of Debbie in something like the National Enquirer.
0:53:49 > 0:53:54One of those horrible magazines. She was photographed in a supermarket
0:53:54 > 0:53:57with a wheeled sort of thing buying food
0:53:57 > 0:54:03and she'd put a lot of weight on and she really looked like a cartoon waxwork figure.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07She just took this attitude that she was going to stay by Chris
0:54:07 > 0:54:10and she was going to make it all work out.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17I find that incredibly moving cos it's so rare.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21I remember Debbie pretty much putting her career on hold
0:54:21 > 0:54:25to basically stay and help take care of Chris.
0:54:25 > 0:54:29I really think it's inarguable that her career suffered.
0:54:29 > 0:54:36# Suddenly Some subtle entity... #
0:54:36 > 0:54:41With Debbie by his side, Chris defied the illness and gradually pulled through,
0:54:41 > 0:54:43but the cost was considerable.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45They lost the uptown mansion
0:54:45 > 0:54:48and they were both still weaning themselves off heroin.
0:54:48 > 0:54:54Remember everything was sliding downhill. We were running out of money and stuff like that.
0:54:54 > 0:54:59We had a really nice place uptown and we had to get a crummier place further downtown.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07We were both on methadone, which she went off pretty quickly
0:55:07 > 0:55:10and I stayed on because my condition was stress related.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16My sexuality went down and we just went out of synch...
0:55:16 > 0:55:17I think.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26I don't know what her take on it is anyway.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31Basically, I think that's really right.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39Now that I look back on it, I think that I was sort of having a...
0:55:39 > 0:55:41nervous breakdown of a sort.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44I think her going off methadone quickly, really,
0:55:44 > 0:55:46that's really hard, too.
0:55:46 > 0:55:48I think that made her really nuts.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56I felt that I had been going like this for so long...
0:55:56 > 0:56:01I was just like this crazy, throbbing madness, you know?
0:56:01 > 0:56:03I just had to pull the plug...
0:56:07 > 0:56:10Debbie left. I thought that was apparent.
0:56:10 > 0:56:12..and so that's what I did.
0:56:15 > 0:56:20It was definitely her who decided to take a place down the block.
0:56:20 > 0:56:25# Fade away and radiate
0:56:27 > 0:56:31# Fade away and radiate
0:56:31 > 0:56:36# Fade away and radiate. #
0:56:42 > 0:56:45After the break-up, times were lean.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47Debbie had some success as an actress,
0:56:47 > 0:56:49but found it harder with solo records,
0:56:49 > 0:56:53while Chris battled drug addiction and serious debt.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57Chris was bankrupt...
0:56:57 > 0:57:00and Jimmy wasn't far behind.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05Completely and utterly broke.
0:57:05 > 0:57:10In the late '90s, out of rehab but still a million in debt,
0:57:10 > 0:57:13Chris decided to put a new version of the band together
0:57:13 > 0:57:16and pinned his hopes on a new song.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20Hearing Maria for the first time was very moving
0:57:20 > 0:57:24cos I realised that, you know... Even thinking about it gets me emotional
0:57:24 > 0:57:26cos I just realised it could be a hit.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30I was at the first recording session that I ever did with them and...
0:57:30 > 0:57:32The first thing I ever did was play Maria
0:57:32 > 0:57:35and I had to come up with this guitar part for the intro.
0:57:35 > 0:57:36I was thinking like...
0:57:36 > 0:57:39"Blondie, they always do that kind of stuff."
0:57:39 > 0:57:42So I just started playing.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45It's instantly recognisable as a Blondie record
0:57:45 > 0:57:48from the # Doh, doh, doh Doh, doh, doh... #
0:57:48 > 0:57:51And yet the voice is so much deeper at the beginning.
0:57:51 > 0:57:53# She moves like she don't care
0:57:53 > 0:57:57# Smooth as silk Cool as air... #
0:57:57 > 0:58:01And because she'd worked in the intervening years with people like Jazz Passengers
0:58:01 > 0:58:06I think her voice had grown much richer and she's learnt to do different things with it.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09# ..and your heart beats like a subway train... #
0:58:10 > 0:58:13I couldn't sing the chorus, so I just did a keyboard line.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18# Maria You've gotta see her... #
0:58:18 > 0:58:22I did a little demo of it where I slowed the tape down
0:58:22 > 0:58:24and did the chorus. # Maria... #
0:58:24 > 0:58:26Debbie got it right away, she goes, "This is good."
0:58:26 > 0:58:29# Maria
0:58:29 > 0:58:31# You've gotta see her
0:58:32 > 0:58:37# Go in-sane and out of your mind
0:58:39 > 0:58:43# Latina Ave Maria
0:58:45 > 0:58:50# A million and one candle lights... #
0:58:50 > 0:58:53What was interesting was no-one wanted to sign Blondie.
0:58:53 > 0:58:58So we made our own label and they had a number one single in 14 countries.
0:58:58 > 0:59:01# Fool for love and full of fire... #
0:59:01 > 0:59:04When the record came out, it went to number one in one week.
0:59:04 > 0:59:08It was like she'd never been away. The record sounds like a rebirth.
0:59:08 > 0:59:10She even sings Ave Maria in the record.
0:59:10 > 0:59:15I'm very gratified and happy that Blondie had a rebirth,
0:59:15 > 0:59:20you know, and Debbie looks great.
0:59:20 > 0:59:22I've done some plastic surgery,
0:59:22 > 0:59:26I think it was already at least ten years now since I did it.
0:59:26 > 0:59:29Just have really good genetics.
0:59:29 > 0:59:32# Maria
0:59:32 > 0:59:34# You've gotta see her
0:59:36 > 0:59:40# Go in-sane and out of your mind... #
0:59:42 > 0:59:45The band were finally in the black,
0:59:45 > 0:59:48but this being Blondie it wasn't that simple.
0:59:48 > 0:59:52The ex-members wanted their share and decided to sue.
0:59:52 > 0:59:57You're all in a boat together and you're looking for that pot at the end of the rainbow.
0:59:57 > 1:00:00When it's just in sight, when you're finally out of debt,
1:00:00 > 1:00:02"OK, you two guys, you're out now."
1:00:02 > 1:00:04# On your own... #
1:00:04 > 1:00:06I want that life back like any musician does.
1:00:06 > 1:00:08# Maria
1:00:08 > 1:00:11# You've gotta see her
1:00:11 > 1:00:14# Go in-sane and out... #
1:00:14 > 1:00:172006 finds Blondie still recording and touring,
1:00:17 > 1:00:20but with some new family members in tow.
1:00:20 > 1:00:23That's Barbara, this is my wife, Barbara.
1:00:23 > 1:00:27We've been married for about seven years now.
1:00:27 > 1:00:30Or together for seven years, something like that.
1:00:30 > 1:00:33And then we had these babies.
1:00:33 > 1:00:37And there's another baby floating around, but it's not here.
1:00:37 > 1:00:40It's at the hotel. We left her at a bar last night.
1:00:40 > 1:00:45CHILD CHATTERS I think early on in my relationship,
1:00:45 > 1:00:49I was intimidated and less secure
1:00:49 > 1:00:53and sort of wondering about this woman -
1:00:53 > 1:00:55his partner.
1:00:55 > 1:00:57And they are so close.
1:00:57 > 1:01:00- You left your thing.- What thing? - Your wireless.
1:01:00 > 1:01:03- I left it over there. - Maybe you lost it.
1:01:03 > 1:01:06They have love and it was hard for me a little.
1:01:06 > 1:01:11- There, there.- Daddy, want carry.
1:01:13 > 1:01:14- Good girl.- No cry.
1:01:14 > 1:01:16DEBBIE: Hello, Akira.
1:01:16 > 1:01:19BARBARA: 'I have a different relationship with him'
1:01:19 > 1:01:22and a different relationship with her.
1:01:22 > 1:01:25By the second, you get prettier and prettier.
1:01:25 > 1:01:31Yes, you do. She does look really cute like that.
1:01:33 > 1:01:36Has she got...Chris' ears?
1:01:36 > 1:01:39She does.
1:01:39 > 1:01:42Hi, Daddy.
1:01:42 > 1:01:47I respect what they have because why would I want to deny
1:01:47 > 1:01:50people that I love, love for one another?
1:01:50 > 1:01:53Debbie is Akira and Valentina's godmother.
1:01:53 > 1:01:56Yes, and she gets them if anything happens to us.
1:01:56 > 1:01:58CHILDREN CHATTER
1:01:58 > 1:02:01I can't believe I didn't want to!
1:02:05 > 1:02:07With the age of some of the band touching 60,
1:02:07 > 1:02:10there are now health issues to be taken into account.
1:02:16 > 1:02:20What we're struggling with is the fact that we have to keep our stage volume really low
1:02:20 > 1:02:23because over the years Debbie's developed tinnitus,
1:02:23 > 1:02:25ringing of the ears.
1:02:25 > 1:02:28So she's extremely sensitive to any kind of loud noise.
1:02:28 > 1:02:30There's nothing like playing acoustic...
1:02:30 > 1:02:32drums.
1:02:33 > 1:02:37I have like this sort of very high-pitched thing and sometimes...
1:02:37 > 1:02:42When it started I thought I was getting signals from outer space.
1:02:42 > 1:02:48I actually have an elaborate baffling system - I think you call it Perspex over here.
1:02:48 > 1:02:52Plexiglas, so the sound is a lot more controllable on stage.
1:02:52 > 1:02:56Some band members, however, would like more than Perspex
1:02:56 > 1:02:58between them and Clem.
1:03:00 > 1:03:03I think he'd be best off behind a big wall of cinder blocks,
1:03:03 > 1:03:07which are the things used in construction sites, you know, those big grey things.
1:03:07 > 1:03:11If we could have one of those it would be OK.
1:03:11 > 1:03:15Clem drives me crazy because he's so completely different than I am.
1:03:15 > 1:03:18He's completely on the other side of the universe from me.
1:03:18 > 1:03:21This is the kind of stuff that makes me remember why I do this.
1:03:21 > 1:03:25I'm not very much interested in fucking reading rock magazines.
1:03:25 > 1:03:28Keith Moon was a hero for me early on.
1:03:28 > 1:03:30Keith Moon was an idiot.
1:03:31 > 1:03:34I always wanted to make it interesting.
1:03:34 > 1:03:37I want people to have something to look at.
1:03:37 > 1:03:40Showmanship takes away from his playing, we feel.
1:03:40 > 1:03:45I want to give people something to have fun with...
1:03:45 > 1:03:46when I'm on stage.
1:03:48 > 1:03:51DRUM SOLO CONTINUES
1:03:52 > 1:03:53CHEERING
1:03:53 > 1:03:58Clem is very caught up in his rock and roll star persona.
1:03:58 > 1:04:02Probably more so than anybody I know.
1:04:02 > 1:04:03It's a great feeling.
1:04:03 > 1:04:05Imagine if your whole life was like that -
1:04:05 > 1:04:08people cheering and telling you how great you were.
1:04:08 > 1:04:11DEBBIE: It was really like a family.
1:04:11 > 1:04:17How many brothers and sisters actually...dig each other?
1:04:17 > 1:04:22- You know?- But in the Blondie family there are other issues.
1:04:22 > 1:04:24They're missing one key member.
1:04:24 > 1:04:27Jimmy, who wasn't allowed on the current tour.
1:04:27 > 1:04:32I used to do tonnes of drugs and stuff like that, but I...
1:04:32 > 1:04:34stopped after a while.
1:04:34 > 1:04:37Jimmy found it harder to pull himself out of all that.
1:04:37 > 1:04:40I was having some drug problems.
1:04:40 > 1:04:43Even though he thought he was doing OK.
1:04:43 > 1:04:46Everybody else, you know, didn't see eye to eye with him.
1:04:46 > 1:04:51We all thought he was fucking up more than he did. And obviously...
1:04:51 > 1:04:53I think the band kind of...
1:04:53 > 1:04:59read him the riot act and said, "We have to do this tour and you're not capable of doing it."
1:04:59 > 1:05:04What they did to me was pretty bald-faced wrong.
1:05:04 > 1:05:07Debbie feels let down by Jimmy.
1:05:07 > 1:05:09Yeah, I do, I feel really let down.
1:05:09 > 1:05:11Perhaps more so than myself.
1:05:11 > 1:05:16I don't know, I'm just maybe a sucker for that. He just has a lot of demons.
1:05:16 > 1:05:19Chris had a serious drug problem. We helped him through it.
1:05:19 > 1:05:22I was having some drug problems and I was ostracised for it.
1:05:22 > 1:05:24There is something really wonderful about him,
1:05:24 > 1:05:30but there's also this complete horror and when he lives in the horror side,
1:05:30 > 1:05:32which he tends to do quite a bit,
1:05:32 > 1:05:36you can't be with him. You can't be around him and you can't work with him.
1:05:36 > 1:05:40We go through each other like a hot knife through butter.
1:05:40 > 1:05:43I can't see myself ever working with them again, not on stage.
1:05:43 > 1:05:47Never again. What I think they're missing is a hell of a fucking lot.
1:05:47 > 1:05:49But in early 2006,
1:05:49 > 1:05:51Jimmy is just one of their problems.
1:05:51 > 1:05:56The original band is about to be inducted into America's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
1:05:56 > 1:06:00That means the ex-members who sued are invited too.
1:06:00 > 1:06:04It's the first time they've all met up since court.
1:06:04 > 1:06:08I don't know what's going to happen. If it was up to me and Debbie, they wouldn't be there.
1:06:08 > 1:06:13How can they expect me to want to say, "Welcome back, boys."
1:06:13 > 1:06:18You know, I mean it just doesn't... What kind of thinking is that?
1:06:18 > 1:06:21The reunion with the others - I doubt they'll show up.
1:06:21 > 1:06:23I'm going. I've got my tickets.
1:06:23 > 1:06:24You want to see 'em?
1:06:24 > 1:06:29Are you going up on stage with Chris, Debbie, Clem and Jimmy?
1:06:29 > 1:06:32Possibly.
1:06:32 > 1:06:33We don't know.
1:06:33 > 1:06:37It has all the potential of being a rather explosive family reunion,
1:06:37 > 1:06:39from, you know, past experiences.
1:06:46 > 1:06:50- CHRIS:- It's really relaxing. It's just great to be around all my peers
1:06:50 > 1:06:52and fellow band mates once again,
1:06:52 > 1:06:54in this friendly and cheerful environment,
1:06:54 > 1:07:00devoid of pressure or any kind of angst.
1:07:00 > 1:07:02Everyone's nervous and uptight
1:07:02 > 1:07:06and we have to brush elbows with the idiots who are suing us.
1:07:06 > 1:07:08Look how beautiful I was.
1:07:08 > 1:07:12Three of them, Leigh Foxx, our current base player,
1:07:12 > 1:07:15has been with us for 20 years and he's not getting inducted,
1:07:15 > 1:07:19but Nigel, who we worked with for four and a half years, is!
1:07:19 > 1:07:21That's the size of it.
1:07:24 > 1:07:28Tonight, New York legends Blondie will become members of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
1:07:28 > 1:07:32CHEERING
1:07:34 > 1:07:37Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,
1:07:37 > 1:07:41thank you is not enough, but...
1:07:41 > 1:07:45You know, we do have a long list of people that helped get us here.
1:07:45 > 1:07:50I'd like to thank everybody that was responsible for getting us here tonight, both past and present.
1:07:50 > 1:07:53I'd like to thank my wife, my two kids
1:07:53 > 1:07:55and mostly I want to...
1:07:55 > 1:08:00All the people you see behind me. It was a very big band. There's even more than this...
1:08:00 > 1:08:02back in the day.
1:08:02 > 1:08:06But most of all, I want to thank Debbie for sticking with me...
1:08:06 > 1:08:09all through this nonsense.
1:08:09 > 1:08:10Thank you.
1:08:10 > 1:08:14Former Blondie member Frank Infante begged lead singer Deborah Harry
1:08:14 > 1:08:16to let him and Nigel Harrison play, but no dice.
1:08:16 > 1:08:19One thing that would really make it better would be
1:08:19 > 1:08:23if we could actually perform for you tonight, but for some reason...
1:08:23 > 1:08:25some of us are not allowed to do that.
1:08:25 > 1:08:29I'd like to do that. I'd like to play, but...
1:08:29 > 1:08:30Debbie, is that allowed?
1:08:30 > 1:08:32No? We'd like to play with you guys.
1:08:32 > 1:08:36- Me, Nigel...- Not tonight. - Not tonight, oh.
1:08:36 > 1:08:38Pretty please. Pretty please!
1:08:38 > 1:08:42- Debbie? I love you.- Can't you see my band is up there?
1:08:42 > 1:08:43Oh, your band.
1:08:43 > 1:08:46I thought Blondie was being inducted tonight.
1:08:46 > 1:08:48Sorry.
1:08:49 > 1:08:53# Once I had a love It was divine
1:08:53 > 1:08:56# I soon found out I was losing my mind... #
1:08:56 > 1:09:01Frankie pleaded with Debbie to play with us and had she been fast on her feet,
1:09:01 > 1:09:05she would have said, "Get down and lick my boots."
1:09:05 > 1:09:06But she's not.
1:09:08 > 1:09:09# In between
1:09:09 > 1:09:13# What I find is pleasing and I'm feeling fine... #
1:09:13 > 1:09:18I would have liked to have played with the band tonight, I really would have liked to have played.
1:09:18 > 1:09:20Logistically, it might have been impossible.
1:09:20 > 1:09:21# It's just no good
1:09:21 > 1:09:23# You teasing like you do... #
1:09:23 > 1:09:26I have a good life now.
1:09:26 > 1:09:29Clean and sober for the longest time and I'm enjoying it.
1:09:29 > 1:09:32I miss it, sure.
1:09:32 > 1:09:34I saw Chris and Clem and I miss them.
1:09:34 > 1:09:39There's an element that I miss and I'm sure there's an element they miss, but this is how it is.
1:09:39 > 1:09:42I'm holding on to this in case I see Frankie and Nigel.
1:09:44 > 1:09:47Chris wants to get us and bash our heads in with his...
1:09:47 > 1:09:48- His award.- Hall Of...
1:09:48 > 1:09:52The thing that made us different and unique was the tension within us.
1:09:52 > 1:09:54We're ready. Bring it on.
1:09:54 > 1:09:56The reason I brought this
1:09:56 > 1:09:58was in case I run into any of those fuckers.
1:09:58 > 1:10:02We're not friends so much as a family that doesn't hang out together.
1:10:02 > 1:10:05There's been little rays of sunshine where we all laughed and got along,
1:10:05 > 1:10:07went shopping together and stuff like that,
1:10:07 > 1:10:09but it was always a tense, irritable situation.
1:10:09 > 1:10:12And I think that internal tension, that's Blondie.
1:10:12 > 1:10:17You know, everybody doesn't mix and that makes the music
1:10:17 > 1:10:20in a way, that much more freaky and twitchy.
1:10:20 > 1:10:23# Oooh-oo... #
1:10:23 > 1:10:25That's what makes the band what it is.
1:10:26 > 1:10:31# Oooh, ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh... #
1:10:32 > 1:10:34# Oooh-whoa-ho. #
1:10:34 > 1:10:35Thank you so much!
1:10:37 > 1:10:39It's been a great night for us.
1:10:39 > 1:10:41We are the champions.
1:10:41 > 1:10:43Wish you all the best.
1:10:45 > 1:10:47And, er, maybe we'll see you again sometime.
1:10:47 > 1:10:50CHEERING
1:11:06 > 1:11:08I have to really say this,
1:11:08 > 1:11:10you know, we have had all these,
1:11:10 > 1:11:12you know, critical problems.
1:11:12 > 1:11:15And somehow I think about God...
1:11:15 > 1:11:18I'm going to sound like such an idiot.
1:11:18 > 1:11:23- I'm going to sound like a complete moron.- Where?
1:11:23 > 1:11:28- You know, in this documentary, in this whole situation.- Why is that?
1:11:28 > 1:11:31We just sailed into it, sort of, in this dream state, you know,
1:11:31 > 1:11:36- expecting everything to just be, you know, perfect!- What, the band?
1:11:36 > 1:11:39- The documentary?- You and me, babe. You and me.- Well, yeah. Well, no...