{"id":729585,"date":"2026-06-27T17:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729585\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T17:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T17:26:09","slug":"remember-when-blondie-scored-their-first-no-1-hit-in-1979","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729585\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember When Blondie Scored Their First No. 1 Hit in 1979?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1979, Blondie<\/a> scored their first No. 1 hit with \u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d. On the band\u2019s third studio album, Parallel Lines, \u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d was written by band members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d came after Blondie had already released several singles, including some that became moderate hits. Prior to \u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d, Blondie had songs that were successful in other countries, including \u201cIn The Flesh\u201d,\u00a0 \u201cDenis\u201d, and \u201cHanging On The Telephone\u201d, among others. But it\u2019s \u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d that became Blondie\u2019s first song to hit No. 1 in the United States.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n

A song about the pain that often accompanies love, \u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d says, \u201cOnce I had a love and it was a gas \/ Soon turned out had a heart of glass \/ Seemed like the real thing, only to find \/ Mucho mistrust, love\u2019s gone behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d is Blondie\u2019s first No. 1 single, but it isn\u2019t their only one. In 1980, they reached the top of the charts with \u201cCall Me\u201d, one of their most successful singles. Later that year, Blondie also released \u201cThe Tide Is High\u201d, which reached the top of the charts. In 1981, Blondie had their final No.1 single in the United States, with \u201cRapture\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Story Behind \u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d by Blondie<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d might be on Blondie\u2019s third studio album, but it dates back to the beginning of Blondie.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Heart Of Glass\u2019 was one of the first songs Blondie wrote,\u201d Harry reveals<\/a>. \u201cBut it was years before we recorded it properly. We\u2019d tried it as a ballad, as reggae, but it never quite worked. At that point, it had no title. We just called it \u2018The Disco Song\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the angst seems almost palpable in \u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d, Harry insists the song isn\u2019t at all autobiographical.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lyrics weren\u2019t about anyone,\u201d Harry maintains. \u201cThey were just a plaintive moan about lost love. At first, the song kept saying, \u2018Once I had a love, it was a gas. Soon turned out, it was a pain in the ass.\u2019 We couldn\u2019t keep saying that, so we came up with, \u2018Soon turned out, had a heart of glass.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Blondie might have had a hit with \u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d, but it also came with a downside. Part of the popular new wave and punk sound<\/a>, Harry recalls receiving some criticism in their inner circle because of the song.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we did \u2018Heart Of Glass\u2019, it wasn\u2019t cool in our social set to play disco,\u201d Harry admits. \u201cBut we did it because we wanted to be uncool. A lot of people we\u2019d hung out and been close friends with on the scene for years said we\u2019d sold out by doing a disco song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo by Pete Still\/Redferns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1979, Blondie scored their first No. 1 hit with \u201cHeart Of Glass\u201d. On the band\u2019s third studio…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[39362,2617,88,216],"class_list":["post-729585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-blondie","tag-classic-rock","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}