"Heart of Glass" is a song by American New Wave band
Blondie. Featured on the band's third studio album,
Parallel Lines, it was released as a single in 1979 and
topped the charts in several countries, most notably in the
United Kingdom and United States.
Rolling Stoneranked the song number 255 on its list of
the 500 greatest songs of all time.
"Heart of Glass" was originally recorded in 1975 under the
name "Once I Had a Love," and was much slower with a
blues/reggae vibe to it. The song was frequently performed on
tours, then was re-recorded with the same title in 1978, when
the song was made a bit more rock-oriented. When Blondie
recorded the album
Parallel Lines, disco was big on the music scene, and
producer Mike Chapman decided to give the song the disco twist
that made the song what it is today, and one of the best-known
Blondie recordings. For the single release the track was
remixed by Chapman with the double-tracked bass drum even more
accentuated.
The song was released in January 1979, and reached number
one in both the US and the UK. The UK B-side was "Rifle Range",
from Blondie's self titled debut album while the US single used
the
Parallel Linestrack "11:59". The accompanying music
video for "Heart of Glass" was filmed at Studio 54 in New York
City.
The versions appearing on the 7" single issued in early 1979
varied from country to country, some used the regular album
version (UK, 3:54), others an edited album version (US, 3:22)
and others an edited version of the 12" Disco Mix (4:10), which
is the one usually found on current hits compilations like the
1994 anthology
The Platinum Collection,
Greatest Hits: Sight + Sound(2005) and
Greatest Hits: Sound & Vision(2006). For the band's
very first hits compilation, 1981's
The Best of Blondie, producer Mike Chapman created a
special mix including elements from both the 12" Disco Version
and the 12" Instrumental (4:33). The 1981 version appears on
2002's
Greatest Hits.
Almost immediately after its release, "Heart of Glass"
became the subject of controversy because of its disco sound.
At the time, Blondie was one of the bands at the forefront of
New York's growing New Wave musical scene and were accused of
"selling out" for releasing a disco song. According to Blondie
frontwoman Deborah Harry, "Heart of Glass" made the band
pariahs in the eyes of many of their fellow musicians in the
New York music scene. The band was accused of pandering to the
mainstream that many punk/new wave bands at the time were
actively rebelling against.
There was also the issue of the use of the expression "pain
in the ass" within the lyrics which, at the time, did not sit
easily with the BBC. The radio version changed it to "heart of
glass." In Australia, the song was banned from radio for its
"strong language."
Despite the controversy, the song was a huge hit and helped
propel Blondie from cult group to mainstream icons. The band
itself has acknowledged the success of the song in helping
their careers and has downplayed criticism of the song,
pointing out that Blondie always experimented with different
styles of music and that "Heart of Glass" was their take on
disco. The band itself has jokingly taken to referring to the
song as "The Disco Song" in interviews.
The "Heart of Glass" promotional video was filmed at the
Studio 54 discothèque in New York City with director Stanley
Dorfman. The video begins with footage of New York City in the
night before joining Blondie perform at Studio 54. Then, the
video alternates between close-ups of Harry's face as she
lip-syncs, and mid-distance shots of the entire band. In the
video Harry wears a silver dress designed by Stephen Sprouse.
To create the dress, Sprouse photo-printed a picture of
television scan lines onto a piece of fabric, and then,
according to Harry, "put a layer of cotton fabric underneath
and a layer of chiffon on top, and then the scan-lines would do
this op-art thing". The popularity of the song helped Sprouse's
work earn a lot of exposure from the media.
"Draped in a sheer, silver Sprouse dress," Kris Needs
summarized while writing for
Mojo Classic, "Debbie sang through gritted teeth, while
the boys cavorted with mirror balls". Studying Harry's attitude
in the "effortlessly cool" video, music writer Pat Kane felt
she "exuded a steely confidence about her sexual impact ... The
Marilyn [Monroe] do has artfully fallen over, and she's in the
funkiest of dresses: one strap across her shoulder, swirling
silks around about her. Her iconic face shows flickers of
interest, amidst the boredom and ennui of the song's lyrics".
Kane also noted that the band members fooling around with disco
balls, "taking the mickey out of their own disco fixation".
Reviewing the
Greatest Hits: Sound & VisionDVD for Pitchfork
Media, Jess Harvell wrote that while "owning your own copy of
'Heart of Glass' may not seem as cool [anymore] ... there's the
always luminous Deborah Harry, who would give boiling asparagus
an erotic charge, all while looking too bored to live".
The first official remix of "Heart of Glass", by Shep
Pettibone, appeared on the Blondie/Debbie Harry remix
compilation
Once More into the Bleachin 1988 and was also issued as
a single in certain territories. The song was remixed by Diddy
and re-released again in July 1995, reaching number 15 in the
UK Singles Chart and was included on the 1995 remix compilation
Beautiful - The Remix Album. In 2007, Positiva Records
released a seven-track EP consisting of the original radio and
album versions of the song, plus five new remixes by DJ Edison.
Missy Elliott's 2003 hit "Work It" sampled the famous Roland
CR-78 drum machine intro from the track. Natalie
Bassingthwaighte sampled the song on her song "Supersensual",
which is from her debut studio album, 1000 Stars.