Blondie Albums Ranked From Worst to Best
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- čas přidán 30. 07. 2024
- The Blondie discography is very much a tale of 2 halves. There's the original 6-album run and then there's the 5 albums that they released after a 17 year hiatus. But how does it all shake out in our rankings? Find out now!
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Blondie is an American rock band co-founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band were pioneers in the American punk and then the new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York. Their first two albums contained strong elements of these genres, and although highly successful in the United Kingdom and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the United States until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next three years, the band achieved several hit singles including "Heart of Glass", "Call Me", "Rapture" and "The Tide Is High". The band became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles, incorporating elements of disco, pop, reggae, and early rap music.
Blondie disbanded after the release of its sixth studio album, The Hunter, in 1982. Debbie Harry continued to pursue a solo career with varied results after taking a few years off to care for partner Chris Stein, who was diagnosed with pemphigus, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin. The band re-formed in 1997, achieving renewed success and a number one single in the United Kingdom with "Maria" in 1999, exactly 20 years after their first UK No. 1 single ("Heart of Glass").
The group toured and performed throughout the world during the following years, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Blondie has sold around 40 million records worldwide and is still active. The band's eleventh studio album, Pollinator, was released on May 5, 2017.
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Let us know what you think of Blondie's discography and how you rank the albums. Thanks for watching!
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Fun fact, "Maria" was their sixth UK No. 1, making them one of the few groups to have a UK No. 1 in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
Also number one in Spain twice with in 5 weeks.
Maria is not a very good song tho. @@michaelmckenna7109
Parallel Lines is a perfect pop masterpiece. All killer. Even the Buddy Holly cover is killer and it's filler. The album is that killer. Mike Chapman deserves a ton of credit for the production.
Autoamerican is underrated as hell
Really looking forward to this one. I never thought they'd make the rotation so quickly.
I for one am glad Blondie got back together because they’ve entertained thousands with their brilliant live shows.
Great video guys. :D I have loved Blondie from an early age. I first saw them on TOTP with Heart of Glass when I was around 4 and it was number 1. I fell in love with Debbie Harry and had the poster given away with "The best of Blondie" on my wall growing up. I think you nailed it with Parallel lines - gorgeous album and fade away and radiatde has to e one of my favorite songs from the album. x
I’m with Kramzer this week. Love Blondie, especially Parallel Lines and Eat To The Beat, which are two near perfect albums. No one mentioned The Hardest Part, one of my favourite tracks, there’s a great music video for that one too (the whole Eat to the Beat album track by track has great music videos). I also don’t know how Jason dislikes Atomic, such a cool track!
Yeah. Atomic is on my top 10 song list. I believe it was the first time in rock history that a band did a promotional video for every song on an album. The hardest Part is a great song. Just misses my top 10.
LOVE Atomic!!! And The Hardest Part
I'm really sad they don't talk about how good of a drummer clem is. Clem burke is underrated as hell as a drummer
Maybe that's why they didn't mention him.
I mentioned the drumming was underrated
Thanks kram must been when I was paying attention sorry man
@@andrewdyke5561 I always gotchu on drumming
First comment since I think my first watch from Listography, the Queen video, but I've watched a whole bunch of these ranking videos since and I must say, I really appreciate you guys going through these large discographies. I feel like I'm learning something about artists who I largely ignored, except maybe for a few albums, which tends to happen with large discographies, especially when there's a clear divide between their "good" and "bad" material. I'm someone who listens to a lot of hard rocka nd metal but grew up with jazz, got introduced to new wave, and finally got more into punk much later in life (hey, what can i say? You want shorter songs when you realise you're getting old and tomorrow might be your last day on earth!). Blondie's a perfect example of the kind of band I mostly ignored, as I only have Plastic Letters and Parallel Lines, and to date these are still the only ones I've listened to.
Interesting how the band would probably just tell you they were being creative with mashing together all these disparate styles, whereas most of us would say, they have no filter. It's great that you love reggae, but that doesn't mean you have to incorporate it into your band's music.
I always liked the band and had all their albums (except one). One of the few pop-oriented CBGB bands, they were a lot of fun over the years. I still listen to them even though they are not top shelf albums.
10. Panic of Girls (3,5)
9. The Curse of Blondie (3,5)
8. No Exit (3,5)
7. The Hunter (3,5)
6. Pollinator (3,5)
5. Blondie (More of a promise of what was to come, it has not aged too well for me) (3,5)
4. Autoamerican (The first half of the album - LP side 1 - was really great, side 2 was almost unlistenable) (3,5)
3. Plastic Letters (3,5)
2. Parallel Lines (This is almost a greatest hits album...a bit too light to be my #1 but still I sing along with every song - bad for the rest of the world. Even Robert Fripp liked it enough to do a great appearance.) (4)
1. Eat to the Beat (Not a single bad track on this one and a few more edges than on Parallel Lines.) (4,5)
Yeah, I was surprised by the way the song "Eat to the Beat" was dissed in the video. I think it's great.
@@179rich I understand it as a homage to the New York Dolls, harmonica and all - you cannot expect the boys to get that...Trash (the Dolls song, I mean).
@@179rich I didn’t like the dong Eat to the beat but the rest of it was good. I think the song Maria has to grow on you.
@@iwantafennec9577 Angels on the Balcony wasmy #7 in the Blondie top 10 songs list.
Great t-shirt Joe!
Thank you. - Joe
Nick Cave’s back catalogue would make a fantastic discography, guys.. 😆😉
The tide is low so I'm mooooving slow. I'm going to be your number ze-ro.
Been listening to them since 78. Blondie is impossible for me to view objectively because I have such great memories as a kid. It's a very personal band to me. I dig that every song sounds very different, the Anti-Ramones if you will. That makes for incredible replayability. It's funny because when you said she wasn't a great singer I felt a little offended. Makes no logical sense of course, but 40 years of loving a band will do that to you. In full agreement about the reformed band though, some things are better left in history, and there is no way they could recapture the magic.
I'm always fascinated by bands that have huge hits, but so many stinkers. Like how could the creative team responsible for something that feels transcendent also create such dreck? I'm thinking of Blondie, Boston, Van Halen and Rush as the worst offenders out of the bands I like. "Union City Blue" can't possibly be from the same band that created "Take it Back" Makes me respect a band like Led Zeppelin even more. Such a great run from start to finish, and even their worst songs are pretty damn good in context.
You nailed Blondie's run of albums. I love this band's early period.
1. Parallel Lines
2. Plastic Letters
3. Eat To The Beat
4. Blondie
5. Autoamerican
. (big drop)
6. The Hunter
. (huge drop)
7. No Exit
8. Pollinator
9. The Curse Of Blondie
10. Panic Of Girls
11. Ghosts Of Download
I grew up with Blondie as a kid - I turned 8 midway thru 1976 - as I gradually shifted from rock (think Zeppelin, Tull, Rush) to the new wave/punk sound. I still love the first 5 records, and I consider them to be formative new wave/punk classics. They can't hold up against Armed Forces, Fear of Music, or Look Sharp!, but they're surely on par with Rocket To Russia, Freedom of Choice, or Drums and Wires.. They all still sound great.
the Hunter is ok, but a big drop off... the last 5 are kind of bad.
Most bands would kill to have 4 great albums. I think the top 4 can be arranged in any order. Correct about the big drops thereafter.
Just finished listening to all 11 and Joe and Jason are on the money here... the first five albums then forget the rest which stuffed up their legacy... great video guys are per normal...loved it
Fun Fact: 'Maria' seems to be more popular in Germany than 'Heart of Glass' is. At least in the last 20 years. Heard it a couple of times on the radio still to this year. 'Heart of Glass' not so much. I also think 'Maria' is better but we will come to that tomorrow.
Blondie didn't really break up in 1982. Chris Stein got sick. Debbie Harry went solo for a few albums. They probably had a bad early record deal with the first six. Not sure if they made any money then. Debbie Harry also acted a lot in the 1980s.
For me all you really need is a Greatest hits album, though i do quite like pollinator.
1. Parallel Lines (1978) 5/5
2. Blondie (1976) 4.5/5
3. Eat To The Beat (1979) 4/5
4. Plastic Letters (1977) 3/5
5. Autoamerican (1980) 3/5
6. Pollinator (2017) 3/5
7. Panic Of Girls (2011) 3/5
8. No Exit (1999) 2.5/5
9. The Hunter (1982) 2.5/5
10. The Curse Of Blondie (2003) 2/5
11. Ghosts Of Download (2014) 1/5
I think it's fair to say that without Blondie the New Wave movement as we know it would not have existed.
I stop after Autoamerican but that's exactly how I would rank the first five.
We share the opinion that Pollinator ranks right after the top 5, even if we shuffle those around a bit.
1. AutoAmerican.
2. Blondie.
3. Parallel Lines
4. Eat to the Beat.
5. Plastic Letters.
Her first five albums are her most inspired and most important. On her sixth album, there was a noticeable drop in quality and importance. For me, and for a lot of long time devoted Blondie fans, she never released anything on par after that point. But those first five albums, though....
P.S. Can't forget that she had some great singles during this period too. 'Call Me' was huge....
One of the first CDs I ever owned was The Best of Blondie that was released in the 80s and I've had Autoamerican and Eat to the Beat on vinyl for as long as I can remember. I had no idea they had so many modern albums but to be honest after these reviews I kinda want to hear them just to hear some of this for myself. Your reviews were hilarious.
I also had to laugh at Benny peeking up on Joe's shirt the whole video.
The Best Of Blondie is still the best compilation.
With it’s single edits/mixes it’s a great addition to the albums.
I imagine these are pre recorded, but I still feel like there is a goofiness here connected to the date it was posted. :D This video has inspired me to revisit their first six plus try the newest one so I'm excited for that! For me definitely a songs not albums band: My most listened to Blondie album is "The Best of Blondie" (the 1981 version), which is definitely a strong 5 star! Even though while at the record store I delightedly bought the first four on Vinyl and marveled at those great album covers, I only really remember Parallel Lines, which I historically thought of more like a 4 out of 5 album. Time to dig in! OH forgot, saw them in 1999 or 2000 touring behind Last Exit, and it was good not great, but glad I got to see them in action live nonetheless.
Blondie is an unusual band. You could choose to buy only their greatest hits or their entire discography, and it doesn't really make that much difference which you go for.
The hits are essential and represent the best of what the band has to offer, but they also have a lot of worthwhile deep cuts spread out among the filler.
Whether you buy everything or just the hits, you still, of course, get the hits. But the deep cuts both matter and don't matter, somehow.
You'll still get the complete Blondie experience without delving deeper, but if you delve deeper, then you get "more" Blondie. And that's a good thing, but also not necessary...
I don't know where I'm going with this...
I only had their Greatest Hits on tape when I was a kid but I did listen to it a lot. Never got a regular studio album.
Blondie's later stuff is uneven. A really fun band to see perform.
I was waited for this one guys. Can u do phish next or grateful dead
I am glad they got back together as they are great live.
What amazes me about Blondie is how awesome they were in the 70s, even their 80s releases were good. However their modern stuff is some of the worst albums I can think of by a band I like lol
1. Eat to the Beat
2. Parallel Lines
3. Plastic Letters
4. Autoamerican
5. Blondie
6. The Hunter
7. Pollinator
8. No Exit (just for Maria)
9. Panic of Girls (bad but the next two are worse)
10. The Curse of Blondie
11. Ghost of Download
Great summation as always.
Kinda hilarious how their second run gets treated, heh..
I especially love ‘this is what we were and look how bad we are now!’ 🤣
Anyway, I personally would put the debut in my Top 3. In my opinion it’s on a par with Eat To The Beat and certainly better than Plastic Letters which I never really connected with.
I just love the punky CBGB’s vibe the debut has.
Hearing "Call Me" by Debbie and Giorgio Moroder is missing from Parallel Lines, is so weird for me. That song was made for American Gigolo, the essence of Call Me is totally different than any song from Parallel Lines. Also rating Autoamerican so down below just goes to show that this video wasn't thought that much. And Jason not liking Blondie, like I can see that, but giving the Album "Blondie" so much bad reviews being their first album, like come on, is way better than most albums for other artist today.
I love the hunter album. My favorite blondie album.Way underrated album,some of their best most creative sounding album.
I'm married to the band. If all they had ever written was Dreaming they'd still be in my top 3 artists. Autoamerican is their opus, I think. Plastic Letters has some of my favorite songs, and some of their best songs, and it might tie w/Eat to the Beat as my fave album because of some of those songs. But Eat to the Beat would be my pick for #1 album. Best drum intro on an album ever. The album goes from punk to ballads to reggae to pop. I love the juxtapostion of putting Sound-a-Sleep and Victor on the same album. I love the song Eat to the Beat...it's not everyone who can throw "alka seltzer" into a song and make it work, and the song is right on point w/Debbie's lyrical cleverness and penchant for smuttiness. And the gold star goes to whoever thought "you know what this song needs? Harmonica!" The album, itself, shows off Jimmy's superb writing, and the man could give lessions in how to use a synthasizer in a band w/out taking over. The album displays Chris' deep rooted influence in their sound -the spaghetti western guitar hook in Atomic just slays me. There's fantastic guitar licks all over the album. And those gorgeous vocals that just seem to hang there on Union City Blue and Shayla. Agh! That album is stellar. Sorry for the novel I just wrote!
I just got into Blondie this past year. Eat To The Beat is my favorite album and contains at least three of my favorite Blondie songs, Dreaming, Accidents Never Happen and Atomic. I also quite like their debut album and The Hunter. Parallel Lines has one song that I absolutely hate and that is One Way Or Another. That’s why I don’t think Parallel Lines it their best, though I do love quite a few songs from it, like Fade Away and Radiate, Hangin’ on the Telephone and I Know But I Don’t Know. The only reunion album is like is No Exit.
I'll agree: however - let me take out Atomic and replace it with Not Living in the Real World . Now we match !
I was never a Blondie fan. I always felt they were overrated, and their popularity in the late 70s early 80s was due more to Debbie Harry's sexuality than the band's music. When most people discussed Blondie, they were talking about Debbie Harry, and not the band. I resented the fact that they were more popular and more highly regarded in the press than their contemporaries and my favorite band at the time, Talking Heads. I got over that resentment, and I have come to like some of their songs, but I still feel they were overrated.
They had some great singles that sounded absolutely fantastic on the radio and in the club. Better radio singles than Talking Heads--including and especially Rapture, Jason's dead wrong, he doesn't like fun (or dancing?) I think--but I don't know that many critics regarded them as being anywhere near as good as Talking Heads. Debbie Harry was obviously part of their appeal, but to attribute that to her sex appeal gives short shrift to her singing voice and the quality of those singles. I think they are properly rated in history. General consensus is that they had some great singles, but I don't know that many critics consider their albums to be essential listening.
I stand corrected on one point for sure. RS has Parallel Lines at #146 of the 500 greatest all time albums. So one masterpiece of an album.
@@burmajones803 I agree with you that Blondie's singles are a little bit more memorable than the Talking Heads' singles. Popularity is such a multi-faceted thing. An artist that has lots of great albums but only a few hit singles will struggle to be as popular as an artist that has a lot of hit singles but only a few great albums. The artists that mean the most to me are those who excel at both- they have a sizeable catalog of great albums as well as a run of memorable hit singles.
I don’t point all of Blondie’s success to Harry’s sexuality. If that were the case, she would’ve been just as successful during her solo years.
I thought Talking Heads was a big critically acclaimed band. Always considered them a critics band. But I agree Blondie isn’t that good and I don’t really care for Debbie Harry.
I really thought "Hello Joe" was gonna be Joe's all-time favorite Blondie song.
If not, let's hope the other listographers choose it out of respect.
LMFAO. That is a top 10 worst Blondie song for me.
@@179rich No one's talking about quality, it's all about Joe.
@@lionelraoul And the fact that Joe called it out as one of the very worst.
Yeah , I tried to like the latter years material but it’s just not very good although I think the albums have at least 2 or 3 good tracks on them . I do think across the board though a great many classic artists have lost the art of writing great hit songs which I find baffling. Live though this band are a treat but it’s all heyday stuff
Ha! Loved the comment on Harry’s uninspired rapping. BTW Please rank Seals and Croft albums; can’t find an analysis of their work anywhere, Thanks!!
I don’t know much Seals and Crofts but I love Diamond Girl. - Joe
I think their albums from 1972 to 76 are classics with the pinnacle being Unborn Child in 74 which was panned by critics due to its pro life message which was inspired by the band’s embrace of the Baha’i faith. Also, James Seals was the brother of Dan Seals of the group England Dan and John Ford Coley.
Ooooh Jason ranking a rap group's discography... now THAT would be a fun watch. I'd suggest Run the Jewels, Tribe Called Quest or Public Enemy for that venture (that may never happen).
I get the impression it would be torture for him but maybe it would open him up.
Those are really good choices if you have to explore whole 'catalogues' of hip hop artists. Some rough times for Public Enemy there, but a lot of classics from those artists overall. Maybe Kendrick after another album or two or perhaps Jay-Z (which would be up and down to say the least).
@@paulh6673 I thought so too. But I chose those 3 specifically with Jason in mind as a guy who doesn't like rap but is political and is a music production nerd who also appreciates good lyrics. I thought there would be a chance for an epiphany. Outkast might work too
@@gino88 oh yeah I forgot about Outkast. A few great albums in a row there. Giving it a bit more thought I'd throw The Roots in there as well. Because of my rock-centric background I don't immediately think of hip-hop artists as having the kind of consistent runs of albums comparable to 'classic rock' etc (like Wu-Tang could only work if you included solo stuff, or MF DOOM with alter-egos) but there are at least some worthy of delving into.
@@paulh6673 ROOTS absolutely... at some point. I came up with "Run the Jewels" initially based on having only 4 albums and easing a guy like Jason into hip hop and thinking "which listening experience wouldn't scare Jason off of rap forever?" Then I thought "Maybe it's not how many albums but just light and listenable ... and thought a Tribe called quest". Then I thought "well he won't like ALL of Public Enemy but there's a very good chance he'll give one album 5 stars."
Roots while amazing may have too many albums for a guy that doesn't like rap and might turn him off for good. Wu Tang, Jay Zee and others I think you actually have to be a fan of rap first to love not to introduce someone who isn't a fan... honestly might be a repellant.
1. Parallel Lines . . . 5/5
2. Eat to the Beat . . . 5/5
3. Plastic Letters . . . 5/5
4. Debut . . . 4.5/5
5. Autoamerican . . . 4.5/5
6. The Hunter . . . 4/5
7. Panic of Girls . . . 3.5/5
8. No Exit . . . 3.5/5
9. Curse of Blondie . . . 3.5/5
10. Pollinator . . . 2.5/5
11. Ghosts of Download 1.5/5
Yeah. I'm a huge fan, so I found myself agreeing more with Kram here. A top 10 band for me.
Some commentary if I may.
Parallel Lines: The best, but close among the top 3 classics. The album cover art defines "skinny tie" music. Boys, unless I missed it, I don't recall anyone mentioning "country" among all of the genres that Blondies dabbles in. "Picture This" has a country feel. My two personal faves "11:59" (the perfect pop song) and "Fade Away and Radiate", the James Dean tribute.
Eat to the Beat: Yes, Boys. Terrible title. Not a great song; but a great album. This is the band at the absolute peak. They also released a promotional video for every damn song on the freakin album. That's ambition. "Atomic" a fave; with "Accidents Never Happen" a great deep dive. (Roulette wheel drums.)
Plastic Letters: Some amazing and bizarre song subjects. I think Jason singled out "Bermuda Triangle Blues". Awesome song. "I Didn't Have the Nerve to Say No" - best outro ever, maybe.
Debut: Nearly another 5 star album. "Kung Fu Girls" a classic.
Autoamerican: The band wanted to go into a different direction here. (They said so at the time.) I'm okay with the fact that they hit just about every possible genre. Did them all well, here. The hidden gem: "Angels on the Balcony". Also, my favorite album cover art.
The Hunter: A step down from the first five classics but still a very good album. "English Boys", the Beatles tribute, my favorite.
Panic of Girls: That's right, Boys. Their best reunion phase album. Sorry, Joe and Jason. I hear what you guys are sayin but gotta disagree. I think it is such a joyful, fun album. Kind of hit or miss. Some bittersweet, beautiful gems such as "The End The End" and "China Shoes".
No Exit: A bit of a bloated mess with many bad songs but the good ones outnumber the low points. The country styled "The Dream's Lost on Me" is a fave.
The Curse of Blondie: Many people think they were Cleopatra in a past life; but in Debbie's case it is probably true. "Rules for Living" and "The Tingler" are two standouts here.
Pollinator: Here's the one album where most people actually like it better than I do. The sound was an improvement but the songwriting is overall weak here.
Ghosts of Download: Can't say anything that Joe hasn't already said in a funnier way. The only truly bad album in their discography.
Wow, you are a super fan. I agree, I don't think it's necessarily a problem when an album goes "genre hopping." I Agree with "The Dream's Lost on Me," gave it 4.5 stars.
Looking forward to your top ten songs ;-)
@@179rich Hey Rich. Thanks.
love the intensity of this one
A great video this chaps & i have to say Debbie Harry was the sole cause of Global Warming in the late 70s to mid 1980s & even today she looks great.... Saw them on The Hunter Tour when it was coming to an end first time around & what an appalling album it was but thankfully all the classic songs were played also! My Top 5 albums are...
1 - Parallel Lines
2 - Eat To The Beat
3 - Blondie
4 - Plastic Letters
5 - Autoamerican...
I only like their first five best to worest
1. Parellel lines
2. Eat to beat
3. Autoamerican
4. Blondie
5. Second album
1) AutoAmerican.....2) Parallel Lines.....3) Eat to the Beat
Glad to see someone else place 'Auto' at #1...
I've come to the opinion that the first album is great. It has a lot of good songs: Rifle Range, Kung Fu Girls, and Man Overboard are great, in addition to X Offender, Rip Her to Shreds, and In the Flesh. It's easily my #2 album of theirs.
I think Blondie is a great hit singles band that made one classic album. You three know which one I'm talking about. Thank you for this interesting episode.
They have many terrific deep cuts.
I tried hard but couldn't really get into them. Nevertheless, I enjoyed hearing you guys' commentary.
I'd argue despite The Hunters lack of great song....it's a nicer listen as a whole than Pollinator...
I give it 3 stars while I give Pollinator 2 stars.
was never interested in blondie enough to listen to a full album so i will defer to the judgement of the critics on this one.
I love Blondie, but I accept that it's based on a relatively small number of songs and really, only 4 albums, they lose me at Autoamerican. But their great stuff is so great that it contains multitudes so I don't bother with anything after Eat to the Beat aside from a handful of songs.
One. Eat to the beat
Two. Parallel lines
Three. Blondie
Four. AutoAmerican
Five. Plastic letters
Six. The Hunter
I love classic Blondie. Reunion Blondie, not so much.
Lester Bangs praised the debut a lot
Cause it’s their best.
Parallel Lines actually won 1978 for me, though that was easily my least favorite year of the 70’s, as my 4-1/2 star albums (also including The Man-Machine from Kraftwerk and The Cars debut) were on the lower end. I do really like their debut a lot as my second favorite - the mix of girl group, proto-punk and New Wave influences is really appealing to my ears, and I like the various “perky” synth tones. 😉 I still haven’t gotten around to listening to Panic of Girls and Ghosts of Download like I said I would, but I agree with Kramzer that No Exit and Pollinator are perfectly good albums that give their comeback years some merit for me. My ranking so far:
1. Parallel Lines (4.5 stars)
2. Blondie (4)
3. Eat to the Beat (4)
4. Plastic Letters (3.5)
5. Autoamerican (3.5) (corny as the rap section might be, I still really like “Rapture” a lot)
6. Pollinator (3.5)
7. No Exit (3.5)
8-9. I haven’t listened to The Curse of Blondie in awhile, so I’m not sure if it’s a low 3 or high 2.5, but The Hunter from recent listening is a low 3 for me, so the jury’s still out on this one.
Our rankings are almost exactly the same! I agree that Blondie's debut is the one that comes close to being as good as Parallel Lines.
Now that you mentioned Kraftwerk, I'd really like to see a Kraftwerk listography. Would be pretty interesting if you'd ask me.
@@Sir_Eyeball Jason gave them a thumbs down when the 3 were discussing nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, despite their massive influence, so I’m not sure his opinion on them is too high. 😜 I definitely need to do a ranking video on them for my channel sometime after I hear the one album Ralf & Florian I’m missing though.
@@ThePhysicalillusion That's no good news haha. We willl see what the future brings.
@@Sir_Eyeball The future brings...Future Days - not Kraftwerk but my favourite Can album. Imagine Joe listening to Phallus Dei, I retrieved it a few days ago when Godspeed You! Black Emperor released their new album and it sounded somehow familiar. "Ahead of their times" is so often misused but it sure fits those bands. And Faust was still active in 2017...
IMO, the official live version of the song No Exit is actually really cool. DH raps Collio’s verses.
The first 4 albums were great. Some of their newer albums are not going to be great but that is how it goes. Some singles did not make it on these albums maybe if they had the albums later on would have better. Food for thought.
I was a teen through the initial run and stopped buying the albums after Autoamerican. Your reviews tell me that was probably a good decision. Why cloud the waters and sully the memory? I've never actually drafted a list but I'm sure Parallel Lines would make my top 50 albums of all time. I love Eat to the Beat almost as much. And I think "Rapture" is great fun. :D
1. Parallel Lines
2. Eat to the Beat
3. Blondie
4. Plastic Letters
5. Autoamerican
Call Me was recorded in 1980. It should have been on Autoamerican. BTW, Clem Burke is one of the most underrated drummers in rock.
I caught a Plimsouls show in 1995 and Clem Burke was the drummer
Johnny Ramone slags Clem off for when he was drumming with the Ramones saying he couldn't keep time or anything..... Bit harsh IMO as he's a top drummer.
@@xtstevie They said he wasn't fast enough. I think he's a great drummer as well.
@dannyeliot I’ve always loved Clem! I’d call the drumming on Accidents Never Happen “fast”😉😉👍🏼
11) Panic of Girls (2 stars)
10) The Curse of Blondie (2 stars)
09) Pollinator (2 stars)
08) Ghosts of Download (2.25 stars)
07) The Hunter (3 stars)
06) Autoamerican (3.25 stars)
05) No Exit (3.5 stars)
04) Blondie (3.5 stars)
03) Plastic Letters (3.5 stars)
02) Eat to the Beat (4 stars)
01) Parallel Lines (4.5 stars)
I was more methodical with this list. I rated every track and then averaged them to get the album rating. I will do all my album ratings like this from now on. Pretty much what you see is what you get, except I rated the lower albums lower than the average because too many less than good songs made the albums even worse. So instinct still comes into play. There were some stinker songs lower than two stars in there, but they didn't weigh their respective albums down enough to put them in the dreaded, deplorable, less-than-two-stars level.
Quite a scientific method. Only works with Pop artists though, I would say.
The debut only gets 3.5? Disagree on that one. It's floor is 4 stars, imo.
@@AbbeyRoadkill1 The highest rated on that album - four stars each for Shark, Rifle Range and Kung Fu Girls. 4.5 stars for Ants. Some songs less than 3 stars.
@@AbbeyRoadkill1 Lies gets 2.25 stars and Look Good gets 2.75 stars. The rest are in the 3 star range.
I didn't rate Ghosts of Download higher just to be a contrarian. I think there are two four star songs on that album, one of which is a brilliant cover of Relax. I don't see how you can not like it if you liked the original.
Parallel Lines is my 2nd favorite Blondie album. just inching past it is Eat to the Beat. "Victor" is one of my favorite ever Blondie songs (it's not about Frankenstein, Joe. I don't fully know what it's about, but the gist is someone fleeing from their country and their lover into the arms of their new lover). Parallel is undeniably great, however, and I like every album until I get to the Hunter. Debbie Harry also made some pretty bad solo records, but I saw her live 3 times and she is a DYNAMITE performer-the 1st time I saw her, she opened for Tears for Fears and blew them off the stage!
Russian Revolution maybe
Here’s mine:
11. The Hunter
10. Pollinator (the crappy sound quality spoils it for me)
9. Ghosts of Download
8. Plastic Letters
7. No Exit
6. Eat to the Beat
5. The Curse of Blondie
4. Autoamerican
3. Panic of Girls (underrated, though the world music genre is an acquired taste)
2. Blondie (one of the best debut albums ever, pure surf/punk/pop)
1. Parallel Lines (still their undeniable best, though a LOT of people prefer Eat to the Beat)
Blondie 76-82 were a great band. In my top 20.
1. Blondie (not technically the best but my favorite)
2. Parallel Lines (hard to argue with this classic. everything works)
3. Autoamerican (dark horse of the catalogue)
4. Eat to the Beat (as good a sequel to a blockbuster as you can hope)
5. The Hunter (when i finally heard it i didn't get the bad reviews)
6. Plastic Letters
7. No Exit (i think Kramzer is right about this one)
8. Pollinator
9. Panic of Girls
10. The Curse of Blondie
11. Ghosts of Download
Good that someone else gets the greatness of their debut. X Offender was a fantastic single as well.
@@beetlebum7760 Definitely. There's something really cool about the debut.
Can you guys consider album rankings for Amy Macdonald and Patti Rothberg please
Speaking of bands who broke up and came back from a classic period. Echo & the Bunnymen. That would also be highly entertaining for me to see you guy rank.
Me too. I'm a big fan. Maybe they'll have a poll to choose an 80s alternative band. I would choose Siouxsie & the Banshees in a heartbeat if given the chance.
@@179rich ooh yeah that would be a fun one too
The boys discussed E&TB in some detail, but it was in the AOTY videos (for the 80's). I think Jason may be the big fan, but not sure. Agree that the band should get their own video. Ocean Rain my fave.
@@179rich Rich - yeah, Would love a Siouxsie video. Please, Boys!
@@NaughtyVampireGod My journey with them is knowing their early work casually but hearing one of the newer songs from the album Siberia and being super impressed. Then listening to a recent live album and loving all I was hearing with Ian's new mature gravely voice. I think they have all 3.5 to 5 star albums as a whole. Ocean Rain being my clear winner as well.
I was never considering it but Joe confirmed my fears to warn me off EVER listening to their 'comeback' albums. I don't care too much for the debut, Plastic Letters is good and Parallel Lines their peak. Eat To The Beat and Autoamerican is part of the slide downhill albeit with somre good tracks.
I kind of agree with Jason that they are not a great band - not a new wave heavyweight like Elvis Costello, Siouxsie and the Banshees or Talking Heads, for example - but Jason's measure of a band is all based on their albums (e.g. Todd Rundgren who had long since become irrelevant when Jason was giving him nominations for album and song of the year). He doesn't think singles exist unless they were on albums (Jason wouldn't rate Call Me because it doesn't texist unless he counts the American Gigolo soundtrack)
So, from 1978-1980, I would call Blondie a great singles band, much like Abba but not at that level. But their consistent output in those years was pretty impressive and Parallel Lines brings it all together. They epitomised the accessibility of great pop music that exploded after punk in the new wave years (I think Kramzer might agree here) and it's a skill that hardly any of the prog bands of the early to mid seventies mastered. I know some of you rate Genesis' attempt at being cool and pop in the 80s but apart from Turn It On Again, it's pretty embarrassing compared to Blondie. If Blondie were embarrassing, Genesis even ironically referred to their lack of cool by naming their1991 album We Can't Dance, announcing their prog credentials 15 years after it all ended. Utterly cringeworthy.
Blondie is frigging awesome - Debbie Harry has an amazing combination of cool and awkward or nerdy - I love the science fiction in her lyrics sometimes - their second act is somewhat problematic but Pollinator is really good and the others have at least a few good songs on them - except for Ghosts of Download - that’s a dumpster fire -
Yeah. Agree with yer comments on Debbie. As to the reunion phase i actually like a few of the albums. I have a different take on Pollinator. Disappointed with the weak songwriting. Favorite later stage Blondie is Panic of Girls. Minority opinion I suppose.
Plus she is really really nice - which you can see in interviews from the late 70's. Not pretentious at all.
@@NaughtyVampireGod there’s some great songs on there - I LOVE “WHAT I HEARD” - “Mother” and “Love doesn’t frighten me at all” and the BEIRUT cover - I had never heard of BEIRUT before - now I love them too !
@@chillrob-g1838 That's cool. My faves are "The End the End" and the bittersweet closer "China Shoes". Agree Beruit song is great.
@@chillrob-g1838 yes!
I enjoy Blondie albums as a whole, but feel like "Parallel Lines" was another level of goodness from them, to the point where it kind of misrepresents the band. It's not my favorite of theirs ("Autoamerican" is), but it just has it all: great singles, terrific singing, a band that is in synch and worthy of Clem's drumming, fun lyrics, and a boatload of sexy attitude mixed with pop smarts.
It represents Mike Chapman
@@PikesvilleAl Maybe. Chapman was a pop producer, and "Parallel Lines" is a pop album. But those songs are classic Blondie: sneering new-wave energy with Brill Building/girl group influences.
You have to be a fan to appreciate them . Your exactly where you need to be.
I love thier comeback albums
Guys - "Call Me" came AFTER "Eat to the Beat," which was AFTER "Parallel Lines."
If anything, "Call Me" should have been on ETTB or Autoamerican.
Autoamerican was a "wrong direction" album that spawned two Number One hits. Would have been three if they'd included Call Me.
Angel on the Balcony is the best song
Call Me and the excellent b-side Suzy & Jeffrey are on the remastered version of Autoamerican, making a great Blondie album even better!
16:04 ❤the art work by Chris Berens .
And D-day is a fun punkish on this awesome project a throwback,kinda like Debbie’s song, comic books from def dumb and blonde ,it’s a fun album.
❤You have to be a blondie fan to get it.
Also I get it with my divas vocals,she has slowed on her range at times it’s there ,I love when she’s been with the likes of the jazz passengers her voice was silk honey with a touch of husky. I love blondie they def work from a formula I see@hear it. To me Debbie and blondie are an artist band with playing with noise sound that’s creative,and art appeals to people differently.) I commend,value all of your opinions ! My last pinch.. I know I’m a hardcore fan of B..because I actually really like some of the cuts on the curse of blondie, I’m kinda on my own here lol, undone great sound and lyrical.
Wasn’t a fan of good boys hated the video. I loved diamond bridge,goldenrod. Thank you guys !
I believe it was Joe who mentioned listening to some of these on CZcams with the commercials in between the songs. You know it is a bad album when the commercials sound better than the album you are listening to.
1. Blondie * * * * 1/2
2. Parallel Lines * * * *
3. Plastic Letters * * * *
4. Eat To The Beat * * * 1/2
The debut at #1! Heh-heh, and I thought I was being weird for rating the debut almost as highly as Parallel Lines.
I love the way Blondie's music riles some people and they don't care they just keep don't going.
The entire point of Blondie was experimentation. That's why fans love them. You don't know what you're getting til you play it. If you want the same sound over and over go listen to U2 Pretenders RHCP Coldplay and a 1000 others...
Love there most recent albums except the awful songs Maria, Nothing's Real But The Girl, China Shoes, Diamond Bridge.
The new stuff blows. They have basically been bad since 1979. - Joe
Interesting talk. Have never really considered Blondie a top notch albums band but they actually did have a couple of good ones. Parallel Lines and Plastic Letters
Auto American to?
@@marksantucci4230 hmm I personally find it ok but pretty patchy
Blondie isn't given enough respect as a 17 year old young gay male I first fell in love with the band and Debbie when maria was released and the huge number one hits I had no idea Blondie was responsible for so many great different generas of music and to say that they don't have any clue what time do y'all have any understanding of the fact that you are not seeing the attitude and your efforts to accuse the people to influence and I doubt very much as we all know what influenced lady Gaga and The last few decades and including Madonna and never got credit and never had to gain the need or confidence in getting the attention and recognition for her influence and undeniable true trailblazer in fronting and leader of all male punk band and still sexy and taken seriously if you need to catch up to be educated and quit being a moron to act like they copied lady Gaga lol
Great ranking gentlemen! And generally Im right there with you. Parallel Lines is tops. Pollinator is a worthy addition, perhaps No Exit...the other new ones...Meh. Cheers Matt
I heard several singles by Blondie before, I liked most of them, so I was eager to get into their albums. I have to say that I don’t really like Debbie Harry’s voice. On the first albums it’s alright but it gets worse with time. Overall, not a very good band, but there are a few albums worth listening to. Most of their stuff is not bad, but just really mediocre.
Bad Albums (1 Star):
11. Ghosts of Download
(They wanted to take a step into the future on this one. Unfortunately, they stepped on dog-doo. The stuff they tried out here just doesn’t work and the vocal performances are the worst on any Blondie record. There are some decent moments on this one (like the verse of ‘A Rose by any Name’), but they’re mostly very short. I get why this was in the badness tournament, although I think there is worse stuff out there. Still, a bad record.)
10. The Curse of Blondie
(Most of the songs start promising but start to drag really fast. The only song worth a mention is ‘Golden Rod’. The rest is mostly just really boring. 'Desire brings me back' is one of the worst songs I've ever heard.)
Not so good Albums (2 Stars):
9. Panic of Girls
(Similar problem as with ‚The Curse of Blondie’, but the songs are a tiny bit more interesting. Still not that good. ‘D-Day’ and ‘Love doesn’t frighten me’ are okay.)
8. Pollinator
(The album is not good, but better than the rest of the 21st Century stuff they did. ‘Gravity’ is a good song, most of the songs are not good but not terrible either.)
7. No Exit
(A lot of mediocre songs on here. The big standout is ‘Maria’. Some other tracks are decent like ‘Nothing is real but the Girl’, the rest is not very good. They did not return to form.)
6. Eat to the Beat
(Few songs are good, the most are boring on this one. The best songs are ‘Dreaming’ and ‘Die Young Stay Pretty’. I always love me some Reggae, if done well. ‘Atomic’ on the other hand is just a bad attempt to write another ‘Heart of Glass’. Not a good album.)
5. Plastic Letters
(The songs on this one are not as catchy as the ones from the debut. Overall, not too crazy about this album. ‘Kidnapper’ is the only song I really like on this album.)
Good Albums (3 Stars):
4. The Hunter
(The first three songs are pretty good, as well some later ones. There are some boring songs in here like ‘For your Eyes only’ but overall it’s a good album. I like the tropical feeling some of the songs create.)
3. Blondie
(Short n sweet Pop Rock. I love the synth sounds on this album. Not every song convinces me, but there are some great tracks on here like ‘A Shark in Jets Clothing’ or ‘Little Girl Lies’. ‘The Attack of the Giant Ants’ is the only bad song on the album (it’s really bad).)
Really Good Albums (4 Stars):
2. Autoamerican
(Interesting mix of styles. The first half is great, the second half is not as good, but still alright. I think they made the right decision to change their sound, another album like the ones before would have been too much.)
1. Parallel Lines
(This album starts off not as good as I expected, but it gets way better. ‘Heart of Glass’ is a classic of course, but the entire Side B is an amazing collection of Pop Rock songs. Side A is not that good (with an exception which is my favorite Blondie song now), but still a great album.)
So, it's a fourfecta, if that is a word.
Jason - good call on the Bowie influence on Autoamerican.
When are you guys going to do David Lee Roth solo albums??
When the time is right. - Joe
which is probably never
No way I love Diamond Dave’s solo stuff. We’ll get to it some day. - Joe
Know you’ve done Simon and Garfunkel, but have you ranked Paul Simons solo albums?
Not yet.
Joe is awesome in this so far on number 9
1) FIRST 4 ALBUMS - you arrange them as you'd like. (I am partial to "Dreaming" as I remember when it came out and was just leaving "classic rock" and moving on to "punk/new wave". WHY did the title track not be a Number 1 song ?)
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2) Autoamerican (has a few OK songs , oh Lord, I even like "Walk Like Me".)
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Everything else ...CRAP .
Damn, Jason talking about how they packaged ghost of download with their greatest hits was the most emotion I’ve ever seen him 😂
12:37 I’m a faithful blondie fan and hello Joe is a homage ❤ to Joey Ramone
I ran out of time for three albums but did my best....heres my list...and thoughts...
Did they get their name from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly? Would be cool if they did. Never been a true Blondie head....Suzie and the Banshees gave me my 80s new wave hit....along with Echo and The Bunnymen ... I did however fall for one album In a serious way and am impressed by frequency of hits...nearly every album has one or more...
8 No Exit 4/10 not the best...Maria highlight for sure...a bit stuck in it's 90s, out of tune on Double Take and many others but some risks worked. Gets a point for 'My little mutts gotta hairy butt'😂 Not aged well.
7 Pollinator 6/10 it's fine but I don't need to hear it again...liked last song Fragments ... find Best Day Ever most annoying ever - sry fans .
6 The Hunter 7/10 so 80s it's wearing a shell suite. A no hit Blondie album....? Still enjoyed.
5 Blondie 7/10 it's good sounding bluesy new wave but nothing exceptional.
4 Autoamerican 8/10 probably the most retro sounding record, smooth 50s jazz cafe/club with touches of jive and rock and early 60s psychedelia (Walk Like Me) . Pleasant and good quality album. The highlights are the less jazzy Tide is High, T-Birds, Call Me and the great use of orchestration throughout.
3 Parallel Lines 9/10 cannot argue with the quality of the hits. Very good album.
2 Eat To The Beat 9.5/10 excellent album....enjoyed more than Parallel Lines...darker - funkier and more energetic...yes! Title track ironically meh but only blip
1 Plastic Letters 10/10 I think this maybe their most diverse dark bluesy punky album song for song. I went back for more because it sounds so good.
The name was from the comic strip I believe.
Glad you ranked Plastic Letters so high. We talked about this the other day. i don't think it gets the proper dredit often.
I Know But I Don't Know is not what I'd call a great song, but it's the exception, everything else works on PL.
Blondie didn't jump on the Rap bandwagon later with No Exit. They had one of the earliest huge rap hits with "Rapture." Who doesn't like reggae? Punk in general picked up on the music of marginalized groups of people such as Disco, Reggae, and Hip Hop, because at the time punk itself was marginalized music by a marginalized group of people. The Clash followed a similar trajectory.
Jason. - Joe
Funny how Call Me is singled out as a missing ingredient on Parallel Lines. It appeared a year and a half later inbetween Eat To The Beat and Autoamerican.
10:11 see it’s so funny how we see some albums I liked it! Undone, a fantastic song!
Top 5 predictable to be honest as most of their other albums were poor to awful.... Parallel Lines will always be my favourite 👍
I disagree sir. Every album has great stuff on it .but your right it is a little predictable
Blondie had more than 2 albums? I like Heart of Glass and Dreaming. Debra Harry was probably the sexiest front person of all time!
11. Ghosts of Download (2014) ★½
10. Panic of Girls (2011) ★½
9. The Curse of Blondie (2003) ★½
8. No Exit (1999) ★★
7. Pollinator (2017) ★★★
6. The Hunter (1982) ★★★
5. Autoamerican (1980) ★★★½
4. Plastic Letters (1978) ★★★★
3. Blondie (1976) ★★★★½
2. Parallel Lines (1978) ★★★★★
1. Eat to the Beat (1979) ★★★★★
★★★★★ - Masterpiece
★★★★½ - Really great
★★★★ - Great
★★★½ - Really good
★★★ - Good
★★½ - OK
★★ - Bad
★½ - Really bad
★ - Awful
½ - The worst
Im somewhere in between Joe and Kramzer....I agree the top three albums are great album listens but I also agree there's too much unlikable mixed in for them to be a top 100 pick of mine... Plastic Letters is the great album I take from this though.
Love the phrase cool car wreck
Tide and Rapture, when they originally hit the radio, sounded more like cool New York insider vibey takes on emerging genres. Decades later , what was once fresh , has ,of course, staled through main stream overkill and mediocrity. It's like a magic trick that is no longer magic because you know how it's done.
IDk . . Tide is High still sounds fresh. But I am tired of Rapture at this point and was never actually a huge fan of the song. Video was a different matter since Debbie looked so great (especailly in that little black outfit.). Same one she wore for the album cover I believe.
Sorry, but I'm afraid Tide and Rapture were never cool. I really liked pre 1980 Blondie who were just a good fun rock, pop, punky group but they just lost me as soon as they released Tide
@@MH77391 Like I said, the band wanted to go in aother direction. They got two more #1 hits out of it. BTW, I never thought they were ever "punk" - not much, anyway.
@@NaughtyVampireGod yes fair enough, I just wasn't keen on that new direction
I agree that they weren't really punk but I think some of their earlier stuff had a wee edgy, punky influence there sometimes
For me Blondie are the first 4 albums and Pollinator.....Parallel Lines of course is number one
Given some of the stuff Kramz & Jason have been giving 5 stars in the Album Of The Year series recently I'd have thought giving Parallel Lines 5 stars would be a no-brainer. I understand the argument that 'Parallel' only has 2 undeniable classics on it that are guaranteed to be remembered for all-time. But if that's your standard then you also need to apply that same standard to every one of your favorite albums... because most of the more recent albums you guys have been rating 5 stars don't even have *one* undeniable all-time classic on them, let alone two.
You’re forgetting that I don’t consider the number of “classic” songs or popularity of the album one iota when giving my stars out. -Jason
Same...and what may or may notbe classic to you or the common consensus is nothing to me.
My winner from 2012 is five stars because I like it more than parallel lines. It's just that simple
@@TastesLikeMusic Understood. I guess it's more Kram's reasoning that has me confused. If 3 (or more) all-time classic songs is what is required for a 5 star rating than I don't see how he gets to 5 stars on almost any album made after 2004.
@@ryankramzer1256 But the consensus that Parallel Lines only has 2 classics clearly *did* matter to you. It's the reason you gave for not giving it 5 stars! So suddenly that standard magically doesn't apply when it's one of your recent favorites? That's the definition of recency bias. I'm just looking for consistency.