Chart entered : 1 August 1981
Chart peak : 32
Number of hits : 10
Well now, here's the first of two hellos from The Week The Music Died. I said in the post on Wuthering Heights that my personal Golden Age for music began with that reaching number one and ended when Green Door replaced Ghost Town at number one. We've now reached precisely that point. Of course there were great records and great groups to come - some of my personal favourites haven't even appeared yet - but the days of liking most of the records in the charts were now over for me. I guess if you're not John Peel or a professional music writer , someone consciously receptive to and eager for "the new" , however far outside your previous comfort zone that might be , that happens to everyone.
None of that has much to do with Debbie Harry launching a solo career, one of the major music stories of the year. The timing seemed right for her and partner Chris Stein to take a year's sabbatical from Blondie , return to being a brunette and do an album with the Chic duo, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards , who had just resurrected Diana Ross's career. Blondie had enjoyed three number one singles in 1980 and, more significantly, had seen their audience move with them as they turned away from New Wave rock into synth-pop, reggae and rap. All the portents therefore were good but unfortunately the title of this single proved hilariously appropriate.
"Backfired " was written by Rodgers and Edwards but is neither aspirational nor celebratory, instead wandering into Steely Dan territory with Debbie giving the brush-off to a sleazy suitor. Rodgers contributes a typical jangly guitar figure for the song's main hook ( and a rare vocal interjection as the sleazeball ) but it's not enough. Debbie semi-raps the verses before the aggravating chorus with its fussy brass lines. It's not outrageously bad but compared to Blondie's own "Rapture" or the recent offering from her CBGB's contemporaries Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz , Wordy Rappinghood , which explored similar musical territory with far more wit and invention, it's just irritatingly mediocre.
The fact that its lead single stiffed in the thirties didn't augur well for the album Koo Koo .
Unnecessarily handicapped by its grotesque cover of Debbie's skewered face designed by Alien-creator H R Giger which some shops refused to stock, it entered at number 6 then rapidly dropped out of the charts. Like the single it's not awful - and "Under Arrest" is pretty good - but you do get the feeling that none of the parties have brought their best work to the table ( and Jimmy Destri's pop nous is sorely missed ) and it's a classic case of two and two making three. For a woman who hadn't put a foot wrong in the past three years it was a stunning reverse. It wasn't terminal or else we wouldn't be talking about it here but Debbie would never fully recover the ground she lost that summer.
Another one of those where I'm surprised they appear here! I could name three of Ms Harry's solo songs, of which this is one.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not, as you say, a cracker. Even as a Chic fan, I'll be the first to admit this was a clear sign their best work together was behind them. Better creative endeavours as solo producers awaited.