Blondie - Autoamerican
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
- Nov 29
- 5 min read
כתב: Moti Kupfer
תאריך הוצאה - UK 29.11.80 / US 19.11.25
Let's begin with a quote:
"Fab Five Freddie told me everybody's fly, DJ's spinnin' are savin' my mind, Flash is fast
Flash is cool, Francois sais pas, flashé no do"
The early eighties positioned "Blondie" as one of the hottest groups around. This came after two albums, "Parallel Lines" and "Eat To the Beat", which produced hits and earned countless praises. Yet the great success only heightened the excitement and the stakes. The band decided on an even more radical change with the release of their fifth album, "Autoamerican", which came out on November 26, 1980.
It was an album that blended elements of jazz, blues, disco, rap, and avant-garde, and still achieved significant commercial success, reaching platinum status on both sides of the Atlantic. At the same time, it somewhat confused critics. Debbie Harry, the all time revolutionary, aimed high without hesitation. She became the first woman to perform rap vocals and embedded them in a pop song that also mixed disco and funk elements. It could be said that "Rapture" encapsulates the album’s entire eclectic spirit in five minutes.
Similar to the ambitious "Sandinista!" by "The Clash", "Autoamerican" was criticized for daring to embrace such a diverse sound. A critique that was, in truth, surprising only to those unfamiliar with the DNA of "Blondie" from day one.
"Blondie was probably the most modern band I’ve ever worked with in that they soaked up influences from innumerable sources," said Craig Leon, producer of "No Exit", in a 2019 interview with "Record Collector "magazine.
Leon praised the band for their endless curiosity. "As songs like 'Heart Of Glass' show, "they were like human samplers when it came to incorporating ideas and concepts and genres, often in just one song. They are probably the most eclectic band I’ve ever worked with."
"Eclectic" remained the key word when it came to "Autoamerican". The recordings marked a rare event, as it was the first time "Blondie" left New York, their hometown, to record an album. The sessions were held at "United Western Recorders" in Hollywood, where "The Beach Boys" recorded segments of "Good Vibrations". During their time in California, Debbie Harry was joined again by "Parallel Lines" producer Mike Chapman and studio engineer Lenise Bent. Bent recalls that the band and the producer were extremely meticulous in their preparation. "They'd done a lot of pre-production," she said in a 1999 interview. "Everybody was pretty prepared by the time they got into the studio. Magical things did happen, there was room for those spontaneous things, but the preparation helped because you didn’t have to think about the basics."
"Blondie" brought a wealth of new songs into the sessions, including "T-Birds", the cinematic "Angels On The Balcony", and the aggressive "Walk Like Me", with its heavy drums.
In addition, Burke notes that Blondie brought in a lot of outside musicians for the album. Tom Scott, who played soprano saxophone on the "Wings" track "Listen to What the Man Said", added a jazzy groove to the rough disco-funk track "Rapture", a song inspired by New York’s emerging rap scene.
The cover version of the rocksteady single by "The Paragons", "The Tide Is High", also reached number one on the charts. Bent recalls that impressive session musicians appeared on this track. "The horn section was like the A team of L.A."
"If I remember right, there were six of them and we doubled it. On strings, I think there were at least two violins, two violas and possibly a cello. The percussion was pretty much the last thing we did, because that was more like sweetening-fine-tuning and making it something uncommon or a little more interesting."
With its "European" ("Europa") opening track and the detached vocals that follow, "Autoamerican" feels like a New Wave soundtrack to a film no one has seen yet.
By contrast, the band fearlessly tackled everything from the jazzy cabaret of "Here’s Looking At You", to the shimmering disco funk of "Live It Up", and the smooth noir styled blues of "Faces", the latter featuring smoky, majestic vocals from Debbie Harry.
The band released two singles from this album, "The Tide Is High", which offered a refreshing remake of a rocksteady song originally belonging to the Jamaican ska group "The Paragons", and "Rapture", the revolutionary single. Both reached number one in several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. "Rapture" became the first rap song in history to reach number one on the American singles chart.
Debbie Harry and Chris Stein supported rap and were involved in the community, often attending street parties. They even took Nile Rodgers of "Chic" to one of those parties, where he first realized that his song "Good Times" was the favorite choice of many DJs. "Blondie" brought rap to a much wider audience with this song. Debbie Harry says that many rappers, including members of Mobb Deep and Wu Tang Clan, told her it was the first rap song they had ever heard, since the genre was not welcome on radio at the time, and it also became the first rap song to reach the top of the American chart.
The album opens with "Europa", a modernist and reflective instrumental piece that flows into a free spoken word section by Harry, praising the virtues of automobiles. In general, it seems the album was influenced by the long drives to the studio and the shift in atmosphere from New York to the Hollywood tribal fire, a transition that did not sit easily with all band members.
Another song that blends the difficulties of a romantic relationship with driving on the road is "Go Through It".
Another interesting track is "T Birds", clearly influenced by "Third Stone From The Sun" by Jimi Hendrix, although musically it functions as a bright and ecstatic pop song, worlds apart from Hendrix. Lyrically, the song is surprising, since based on the album title one might think it refers to a car or perhaps a street gang, yet in reality it deals with a Native American totem. In the middle of the track there is a rapid spoken word section by Debbie Harry, and the tribal percussion throughout serves as an additional nod to the spiritual meaning of the bird that carries the title on its back.
Despite the successful singles, the record label initially hesitated about the album’s chances of selling well.
Burke recalls, "When the album was delivered to the record company, they didn’t know what to make of it. They said there were no hits. And of course “The Tide Is High” and “Rapture” are on that record."
In a 2020 interview marking the album’s fortieth anniversary, Stein revealed that the intended title had been "Coca Cola", because it sounded "very American", but the "Coca Cola" company unsurprisingly rejected the idea.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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