This is a post many months in the making.  Mostly because I haven’t had time to write it up.  Blondie was hugely important for me as a youngster, before the days of internet porn and copious, readily available nudity, because Debbie Harry was a hottie who wore a white see-through dress on the cover of Parallel Lines.  I started at that cover for days.  Or, I stared at two things on that cover for days.

But it wasn’t just Debbie’s boobs that grabbed me.  The music was a fantastic blend of new wave and pop–it made top 40 cool to listen to–and their rawer material, like “Rip Her To Shreds” and the entire “Eat to the Beat” album rarely left my turntable.

They’re due a tribute.  Here goes.  A few tastes, and a zip included below, as usual.

A is for The Associates-Heart of Glass.  This one is odd because musically it starts off doing Blondie’s “In the Flesh,” a great, underrated gem.

B is for The Bad Plus-Heart of Glass.  By far the most covered Blondie tune in history.

C is for Captain Polaroid-Union City Blue.  Love this song.

D is for Dungeon’s heavy metal take on Call Me.

E is for 11:59-The Postmarks.  Solid cover.

F is for Franz Ferdinand-Call Me.

G is for even more glass!  And more to come!  Heart of Glass-Annie Bethancourt. A sad, acoustic, longing song that I wish was recorded a little louder. Still powerful, though.

H is for Heart of Glass-The Brew. I like this one. It’s kind of a cross between The Darkness and Death Cab for Cutie. If you can imagine that.

I is for impolite!  Me First and the Gimme Gimmes-Heart of Glass.

J is for Bill Janovitz’s medley cover, one of the best songs on this post, of Blondie’s Dreaming and The Rolling Stones’ Til The Next Goodbye.

K is for KEEP THIS ZIPFILE! It’s good stuff!

L is for Lily Allen’s Heart of Glass.

L is also for look closely at this photo . . .

M is for Mash Up!

N is for The Nerves, who actually did this song before Blondie.  L7-Hanging on the Telephone.  What a great band these chicks were.  Wonder what happened to them?

O is for Of Montreal-One Way or Another.   This is a bopping rock take on this song, one of Blondie’s most cynical stalker tunes.

P is for the Puppini Sisters-Heart of Glass.

R is for One Way Or Another-Lee Rocker.  And since there was no Q, here’s another R: Lynch-Rapture.  Okay, this one is kinda filler. It’s worth one listen, though.

S is for Dreaming-Amy Speace.  A Johnny Cash-like take on my favorite Blondie song.

T is for Ted Leo-Union City Blue.

U is for Unidenified Jam-Charlie Hunter.  A very neat blues/jazz jam in which, at about minute nine, he incorporates “Heart of Glass.”

V is for Shayla by Ramesh Srivastava (Voxtrot).

V is also for video! Rapture Riders video (Blondie vs. Doors)

W is for Wilco-Dreaming.

X is for X-Over.  Union City Noise (Public Enemy vs. Blondie) is one of my favorite rap/pop mash ups of all time.

Y is for I Am Always Touched By Your Presence Dear-My Luminaries.  Alright, it doesn’t begin with “Y”, but at least there’s a couple Ys in there.  If you decide you don’t want this song because of that, I understand.  Your loss.

Z is for the Zipfile hidden above.  Go find it!