Heart of Glass

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Heart of Glass
Blondie
publication September 1978 (album)
January 1979 (single)
length 3:22 (7 "single)
5:50 (12" maxi)
Genre (s) Disco , new wave
Author (s) Debbie Harry , Chris Stein
Producer (s) Mike Chapman
Label Chrysalis Records
album Parallel lines

Heart of Glass is a song by the American band Blondie . It appeared in September 1978 on the album Parallel Lines and was released from it in January 1979 as the third single. The song became a number one hit in many countries including the US, UK , Germany , Austria and Switzerland . It is also considered the band's biggest hit.

Creation and publication

Heart of Glass is based on a previous song written by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein in 1974/75 , Once I Had a Love , which was much slower and was produced in blues / reggae style, but also had strong disco influences. The band therefore called it "the disco song". In 1978 it was initially recorded as a rock version. The now well-known disco version was then recorded at the suggestion of producer Mike Chapman in June 1978 at the Record Plant in New York City . The recordings took place after the band experimented with a Roland drum computer, a Roland CR-78 . Debbie Harry herself said in an interview with the NME in 1978 that she was heavily influenced by Giorgio Moroder's music: “It's commercial, but it's good, it says something ... that's the kind of stuff that I want to do. "

In July 1995, the album Beautiful: The Remix Album released a remix by Diddy and K-Klass, which made it to number seven on the US dance charts.

reception

The single was released on Chrysalis Records in January 1979 , and a 5:50 minute long 12 "maxi was also released. In the course of 1979 the song became a worldwide hit, which was popular in German-speaking countries as well as in Great Britain and the USA reached top position in the charts. on 30 April 1979 Blondie joined disco in ZDF , but also several other television appearances followed also a music video was made that in. YouTube has been viewed now over 200 million times (as of June 2020).

The song achieved gold status in Germany and the USA and platinum status in Great Britain. In 2010 it was named 259th on the Rolling Stone 500 . The list Songs of the Century of the RIAA has Heart of Glass Place 217th

Cover versions

The song was covered many times. As early as 1979, the British instrumental band The Shadows covered the song for their album String of Hits . This album reached number one on the UK album charts. In the German-speaking countries, Marianne Rosenberg's version , Heart of Glass , was particularly popular. It reached number 38 in Germany and was in the charts for ten weeks. A total of three times , on June 11 and July 9, 1979 (eleventh place each time) and August 6, 1979 (14th place), Rosenberg presented the song in the ZDF hit parade at a time when it was organized according to sales figures. In the previous edition, on May 9th, he was named at number 19, but Rosenberg was not on the show. A version by Gisele Bündchen and Bob Sinclar as Gisele & Bob Sinclar reached number 73 in Germany and number 63 in Austria in 2014. Nelly Furtado sang the song within a medley on her Loose concert tour in 2007 . Other versions exist among others of:

Individual proof

  1. ↑ a b https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/apr/29/how-we-made-heart-glass
  2. ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-blondie-created-heart-of-glass-1425401870
  3. ↑ Tony Parsons: Gentlemen Prefer Blondies ... , NME, February 4, 1978
  4. ↑ a b https://hitparade.ch/song/Blondie/Heart-Of-Glass-559
  5. ↑ Music video on YouTube
  6. ↑ RS500 Songs (List 2010)