Blondie On GC Sessions

[SurferJoe46]

I saw the GC-Sessions show yesterday and I see that age has not been kind to them - the whole band.

The biggest admission I heard - and it wasn't between the lines - was that drugs were a big mistake for them.

They thought they were creative geniuses when they were smokin' and tokin', but they lost their creative 'juices' and their edge for a long time.

1981 + a few years later are still not clear to their memories and they talk almost - er, wistfully --- searching for words to complete the sentences they cannot fully form.

I've also heard that The Beatles went through the same time period when they were getting wasted taking acid and hash and they also recorded the great stuff that they were 'creating' and when replayed it made no sense at all and was just crappola.

Back on the Blondie topic - there were a lot of blank sentences, missing verbs and broken syntax in their speech and the interview was all messed up.

Kinda sad and where would they be if they hadn't cooked their heads all those years ago?!?!?!

Debbie (an ex-Playboy bunny) looks like she got her foot caught in the trailer hitch behind the limo on the way over to the show and got dragged a few miles until the driver realized that she was not supposed to be bouncing in the rear view mirror.

I don't find their new album (Panic Of Girls) all that good - not as great as their original stuff was some years ago anyway. Musically they are kinda drifting and not centered at all it seems to me. They are still looking for the hook upon which to rebuild their careers.

Debbie said that they (and she especially) don't want to be a revival band and need new vistas. The word 'vista' though, was hard to conjure up though.

I don't think they were wasted on the show - I seriously hope not, as it only made them look like they needed keepers to care for them.

Somehow I don't find them as a self-declared New Wave or Disco-Rap-Reggae fusion at all, and instead I hear them as cutting edge rockers. That's just my take on them and prolly won't align with anyone else and their assessment of Blondie.

Silly Dream Department here: I wish that somehow I was the bassist for them. Odd - huh?

[Jim Nazium]

Debbie Harry wasn't a young girl even back when Blondie was big, and according to Wikipedia she's now 66. So I'm not surprised that she doesn't look too hot. It's sad, yet I suppose valuable for the rest of us, to see people after years of living the rock & roll lifestyle and the toll it takes on them.

[tycobb73]

I thought Debbie kicked most of the orginal members out and wouldn't let them back in.

[SurferJoe46]

Originally Posted by tycobb73

I thought Debbie kicked most of the orginal members out and wouldn't let them back in.

I checked out some of the Midnight Specials on YT and saw that the drummer, and of course the lead guitar and maybe the #2 guitarist were the same people.

The three of them on the GC Sessions were talking like they were at least part of the original act. And then Debbie saying she didn't want to be part of an oldies revival group which kinda means that they are pretty much all back in the lineup.

I may need to do more research - but I think the bassist is not an original member right now. Could be wrong on that too - dunnow.

[LiquidMidnight]

All bands have their stories and drama, but I have the utmost respect for bands that have longevity without becoming self-destructive rock 'n roll cliches and being regulated to county fair gigs as a revival act because they basically became a musical joke when they orchestraed their fall from grace.. The Scorpions, U2, and of course, Rush, all come to mind as such bands who avoided those cliches and kept steady.

P.s. Would also add R.E.M. to that list of bands, though many of the big national bands from that time period avoided the self-destructive cliche. Obviously, a few didn't (e.g., Alice in Chains, Nirvana). Perhaps it was a result of rebelling against the rock 'n roll values of the 70s and 80s.