dogmatika
Icons of cool
13 July 2006
"My biggest regret is smoking pot constantly for 10 or 15 years, because it definitely takes away your edge. It's like the guys in South Park say, it makes being bored seem like an OK thing."
The Independent profile Debbie Harry and Chris Stein.
[The documentary One Way or Another] begins with the now grey-haired Stein and Harry returning to the unbelievably squalid environs of CBGB's club in New York, the nerve centre of the scene that also threw up their more immediately credible contemporaries The Ramones and Talking Heads. The camera follows Stein and Harry into the dank, graffiti-scarred toilets where, so legend has it, the couple once had sex.
"Oh that's all a load of crazy bullshit," Stein says. "Never mind making out, I never even went into those toilets, they were so grotesque. We made out in the alley, if you must know."
To begin with, the CBGB's scene was very insular and cliquey. Only people from other bands went there, so everyone in the audience belonged to a band. But it gradually became apparent that Blondie had a much broader appeal. Their music was smart and accessible, while Debbie Harry had a charisma that captivated both boys and girls - but especially boys. Iggy Pop recalls inviting Blondie to tour with him at a time when David Bowie was playing keyboards in his backing band. "Debbie was an American ponytail girl as seen through the lens of Roger Vadim; Barbarella on speed, or something like that," Pop says. "Bowie and I both tried to hit on her backstage. We didn't get anywhere, but she was always very smooth about that. It was always, 'Hey, well, maybe another time when Chris isn't around'. Always very cool about it."
Was she flattered to be hit on by both Iggy Pop and David Bowie? "Of course," Harry says. "It was a lot of fun. They're two really great stars, musicians and writers that I've always admired. The whole thing was mindblowing to be on tour with them in the first place. And to have flirtations with guys like that was just the icing on the cake."
"Oh that's all a load of crazy bullshit," Stein says. "Never mind making out, I never even went into those toilets, they were so grotesque. We made out in the alley, if you must know."
To begin with, the CBGB's scene was very insular and cliquey. Only people from other bands went there, so everyone in the audience belonged to a band. But it gradually became apparent that Blondie had a much broader appeal. Their music was smart and accessible, while Debbie Harry had a charisma that captivated both boys and girls - but especially boys. Iggy Pop recalls inviting Blondie to tour with him at a time when David Bowie was playing keyboards in his backing band. "Debbie was an American ponytail girl as seen through the lens of Roger Vadim; Barbarella on speed, or something like that," Pop says. "Bowie and I both tried to hit on her backstage. We didn't get anywhere, but she was always very smooth about that. It was always, 'Hey, well, maybe another time when Chris isn't around'. Always very cool about it."
Was she flattered to be hit on by both Iggy Pop and David Bowie? "Of course," Harry says. "It was a lot of fun. They're two really great stars, musicians and writers that I've always admired. The whole thing was mindblowing to be on tour with them in the first place. And to have flirtations with guys like that was just the icing on the cake."
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