Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
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And youll happily let it happen again, and again, and again.
Its an honor to be concussed, really.
(Harry also insists I can come on over and visit her ample wardrobe vault any time.
Is now too soon?)
Read on for what the duo considers their bests and worsts.
The original was so fantastic.
Harry:I dont really have a favorite, for the reason that Im sort of moody.
Im not in the same state of mind every single minute of every single day.
Other times, I just want to get it over with.
Stein:I should single out that were proud of Rapture and the legacyand contextof that song.
Harry:Theres a lot of great pleasure and satisfaction of having an audience that loves your music.
So playing those songs is always like a gift.
Most transgressive song
Harry:Transgressive?
How much time do we have?
Stein:I was always proud to be on those radical right-wing lists of bands that were verboten.
Those lists that were like, We should be avoiding for drugs and sex and all of that stuff.
Theres a lot that falls into that category.
Harry:It didnt really take much to be offensive on those lists.
Some of the songs remind me of each other.
The songs reference each other sometimes, is what Im saying.
Harry:Yeah, they reference our experiences and each other.
I was really shocked because Rip Her to Shreds is about vicious gossip.
It wasnt about ripping anybody just verbally, verbal abuse.
Stein:Well, thats violence to a certain extent.
Harry:But I dont think thats what they meant.
I think they were talking about crime and physical violence.
Everybody assumed it was about the Falklands War, which absolutely had nothing to do with the song.
Most acrobatic song
Stein:A lot of stuff for Debbie was written in those high registers.
Some of those keys have been lowered over the years.
Something like Sunday Girl in that original D key was probably your most acrobatic, right, Debbie?
It sounds sweet and even, but total vocal gymnastics went into that.
Harry:Id agree with that.
So I somehow have to make it work.
I think its very beautiful.
Its odd how it works out between us, and how we understand each other musically.
Stein:My whole writing approach is like Beethoven after he was deaf.
Harry:Good going, Chris.
Not the literal meaning so much, but more of the way of these things stay afloat in consciousness.
Ill fucking go to CVS and hear The Tide Is High while doing my shopping.
So that kind of stuff is something that has evolved.
Harry:I think that according to todays standards theres practically no holds barred.
There were moments in the past where we couldnt do live shows because it was deemed too explicit.
We had one incident like that and it really meant nothing.
Like, my underpants showed onstage.
Stein:That was very triggering forLester Bangsapparently.
The writers kept coming back to me with stories about hookers, taking the lyrics very literally.
It wasnt about that at all.
Its like one of those catch-22s of law.
Basically that was the root of X Offender.
It didnt have anything to do with selling sex or anything like that.
It was a sex offender, but not a sex offender in that he was an aggressive rapist.
But he was lumped into this category.
I wish that everybody would fuck off and get out of our personal lives.
Stein:Yeah, I dont really know how you would glean that from the lyrics of X Offender.
A lot of our songs do that.
Stein:The Attack of the Giant Ants is not about giant ants attacking us.
Its a metaphor for the human condition and ecology.
All art is subjective, and most artistic analysis is done after the fact.
Some people go into making art with specific things inserted into it that are meant to be seen.
Most personal album
Stein:The first record,Blondie.
I was thinking about how we were just so happy to be able to get a record released.
There was very little thought about the results.
It was very much the process of getting ourselves on this object.
Harry:I think youve hit on something thats actually a problem with Blondie.
I think thats really important about bands, the idea that a band is a composition of different minds.
Its something thats really special and unique.
In a way its been overcome by commercialism, shall we say.
I mean, its mostly solo artists that we hear from, isnt it?
Stein:We moved into a period of solo artists and computer music.
Harry:I cant honestly say if one is better than the other.
A piece of good music is a piece of good music for me.
I know Chris agrees with that.
But from our point of view, thats what we do.
Thats how we formed the band and thats how we work.
Album that was the most delicate to create
Stein:Maybe the one were working on now.
Its hard to say.
Harry:It would have to bePlastic Letters.
Stein:There was a lot of tension that went into that album.
Harry:Hell,Gary Lachmanleft when we were recording.
Stein:And then the label changed in the midst of us recording!
Fondest CBGB memory
Stein:It was a home away from home.
We spent so much time there.
It was like being in his apartment.
There were big chairs, bookshelves, and a couch that kind of stuff.
It was this terrific and very eccentric atmosphere.
I always felt the connection to the beats with Hilly and his lifestyle.
Harry:Beats, bikers, and bands.
An entire firing squad!
Im pretty sure he called the fire department to make the video better.
Harry:God bless.
One of the things about CBGB that many people dont understand is it was a neighborhood thing.
CBGB was that for our little downtown area.
Stein:Well, it was also a very downtrodden area, to put it mildly.
But there were a lot of things about CBGB that were great.
Nice memories all around.
We played the Ramones first show.
Album cover that should be hung in the MoMA
Stein:The first ones pretty great.
All of our covers are a little problematic here and there.
But its time the museum curators put H.R.
Gigers work for Debbies solo albums in the MoMA, for fucks sake.
Giger isnt represented in the MoMA, and its just a tremendous oversight on their part.
But thats a whole other story.
I think our newer covers are more actualized.
In the more recent ones, do you feel that way?
Stein:Yeah, Ive probably been more successful with the recent ones.
I really like Chris Berenss painting forPanic of Girls.
Harry:What aboutNo Exitwith Rob Roths photo?
Stein:No Exitis pretty great.
I love the blue.
Im still trying to figure out what the next fucking thing is going to be.
Harry:I have a storage room with almost everything that Ive worn, including the album looks.
Its kind of funky.
