Notablog

Song of the Day: Rapture, words and music by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, was a #1 Billboard Hot 100 hit for Blondie, from their fifth studio album, “Autoamerican” (1980). The song is noted for its mashup of new wave, disco, hip hop, and rap. Harry and Stein were friends with many Brooklyn- and Bronx-based rap artists, including Fab 5 Freddy, and it was their influence on this single that made it the first #1 pop song to feature an extended rap coda. In fact, “Fab 5 Freddy” are the first three words uttered in that rap. (There are also shout outs to Grandmaster Flash and DJ Francois Kevorkian.) Feb 5 Freddy (aka Fred Brathwaite) would later praise this song as having laid “the mainstream foundation for the hip-hop cultural revolution that was soon to follow.” In the first of our July birthdays and anniversaries, today marks Debbie Harry‘s 80th birthday! Check out the original Blondie classic [YouTube link].