As retro radio stations and flashback lunch hours so often forget, there was much more to Blondie than the disco kitsch of "Heart of Glass," the island kitsch of "The Tide Is High" and the hip-hop kitsch of "Rapture." At heart, Blondie was one of the best girl-fronted pop bands, complete with the art-punk attitude expected from the late-'70s class that also spawned the Ramones and Talking Heads. With all eyes on the alluring Debbie Harry (so much so that ads were taken out to remind the public that "Blondie is a band"), Blondie shone on lesser-spun singles such as "One Way or Another," "Dreaming" and "Hanging on the Telephone." And even if Blondie's 1999 comeback bid, No Exit, wasn't all that hot a record, it'll take a lot more than a Coolio cameo to tarnish this group's legacy.
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