FAST TRACKS: Blondie still weaving tangled roots into art
LA Times Calendar - February 26, 2006
By Chris Lee, Special to The Times

CALL Blondie the original mash-up band.

By cross-pollinating reggae, new wave and hip-hop with a uniquely downtown New York art-punk aesthetic, the group was a major force in rock's evolution in the '70s and '80s -- hence its induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month.

As a fitting coda to that mix-and-match success, their new career overview "Blondie: Greatest Hits -- Sound and Vision" (which hits shelves March 7) includes "Rapture Riders," one of the best mash-ups ever produced.

Put together by Mark Vidler under his professional name, Go Home Productions, it grafts Blondie's 1981 hip-hop homage "Rapture" onto the Doors' spookily existential FM radio mainstay "Riders on the Storm."

"Everyone in the band had all these influences that got tossed together," says Blondie's guitarist, Chris Stein.

Adds singer Deborah Harry, "We definitely were influenced by a lot of different styles and tried to include them in what we were doing. It wasn't exactly a mash-up, but it certainly has the same energy."

As it turns out, the Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzarek was one of the band's early adopters. He introduced himself to Blondie in Los Angeles during their debut 1976 tour.

"Ray was one of the first people we met starting out," Harry says. "So to have this comeback at the tail end of our career is a nice thing. It gives an incredible sense of completion."

Not so, however, their inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"We thought it was going to be pretty horrible," the singer admits. "Blondie's never really been about awards. And Chris and I didn't think we even cared."

"But then all our non-music friends told us it was kind of a big deal," Stein says.

"Now we've decided it's kind of nice," Harry says, laughing. "It doesn't s u c k."

I saw the video for this the other day.

I loved it.

I saw it to it was pretty cool how they put those 2 songs and video together ...

This was the first that I have heard of it!!! I would love to see the vid & hear the song!!

VH1 classic has been playing it alot

Great ~ Thanks Teardrop!

Your Welcome ~