A wonderful book about Blondie - the band and the people.
Illuminating. Took me back to the days when they ruled the airwaves

I thought I’d left this feedback earlier (my mistake) I’m actually buying this book for myself! I want the proper copy- great book!

I am drawn to rock biographies, and since Blondie's salad days occurred during mine it was a pleasure to delve back into the 70's when hits such as "Call Me" and "Heart of Glass" were mainstays on the radio.

What makes this book so special are the many direct quotes from singer and front woman Deborah Harry, as well as her bandmates: Guitarist and longtime lover Chris Stein, drummer Clem Burke, bassist Gary Valentine, keyboardist Jimmy Destri and other later band members. The authors were embedded with Blondie from their early inception because they worked for a British music magazine. Because of this, they have a treasure trove of interviews with Blondie that span decades. Hearing the band members "speak" in real time relative to each time period lent a wonderful authenticity to this biography.

The book is chock full of details of each Blondie album's creation, as well as Deborah Harry's solo offerings and many concert tours. The breadth of these descriptions will no doubt delight major Blondie fans who are already familiar with their discography. If you only know the major hits like me, this deep analysis of their songwriting album by album might become a bit tiresome (unless it inspires you to listen to the song samples on the internet).

Chris Stein's mysterious illness and eventual recovery was also explored, as well as Debbie's successful parallel career as an actress.

As for me, I particularly enjoyed the many passages of interviews with the band members, especially the ones from Debbie. It was a joy to journey along with them throughout the years to see where they are today.

Oh, this book, soooooooo good. It is more than just a biography. It also chronicles the New York City fringe and underground music scene from the late sixties until the early eighties. You get background on the clubs and venues and how they started, who was playing with whom, who was headlining, what bands were sharing members, or quarreling, and how different bands morphed from one genre to another. There is information not only about the recording studios, but why the studios/producers/engineers were chosen. There are sections about management and the tours bands were doing during that time; on both coasts and in the UK. There is so much music history crammed into this book it boggles the mind. And it has photos! Lots of photos. *takes a deep breath*

It also sheds light on how things changed in the late 1970s, early 1980s, for bands and musicians. I always say these are the years when the music "business" turned into the music "industry". The book shows what was happening and evolving on the business and technical sides, at that place in time, to set these changes in motion. It is most certainly a book I will re-read more than once.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

One of the most iconic groups of their generation, Blondie experienced an unparalleled rise to global superstardom during the late 1970s. As they topped charts throughout the world, vocalist Deborah Harry adorned magazine covers and bedroom walls everywhere.
Drawing upon extensive first-hand interview material from Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and many other significant players in the band’s long history, Blondie: Parallel Lives is the definitive eye-witness account of the group’s long and often tumultuous existence.
Beginning with their childhoods, backgrounds and influences, the book charts the development of Blondie to their massive popular success and eventual break up; the 1997 reformation, subsequent renaissance with their No Exit album; the controversies surrounding the 2006 induction to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, ending in the present with the release of Panic of Girls.
Co-author Kris Needs established a friendship with Harry, Stein and the rest of the band that endures to this day. As a trusted confidante, he now recounts the full story.

Let me start by saying that Blondie WERE NOT my favourite group growing up - I wasn't really old enough to know who they were during their heyday. It wasn't until I was well into my teens before I had heard of them - and their career was starting to go backwards pretty quickly.

But this book - this book makes me wish I was a little bit older and had the chance to see those days of both Blondie and the New York scene in general, at the time. See, this isn't a book JUST about Blondie - it is a book about a time and a city, and the goings on in the music scene and industry.

And, for the most part, it is a brilliant biography. Not just chronicling the years of the band, but giving the reader a more intimate knowledge of the members of the group. We read about the early days of the band - and the dreadful music they played live in those years - and also about their contemporaries: The New York Dolls, The Ramones, Television to name just a few, and how Blondie worked together as a group to out-do those heavyweight names. Personally, I am not sure they eclipsed The Ramones...but my bias is probably showing there. Now, speaking of bias...

What stopped this being a 5-star review was two things: about halfway through the book, we get a lot of minutae about the band - gigs, parties, playlists etc. Hardly interesting reading. Now, the co-author Kris Needs used to run a fanzine of Blondie, so that could explain the details...
The second thing was that the last 100 pages or so was a Debbie Harry retrospective. While she went on to become the famous name from the band, it seemed to step away from being a book about Blondie...

Overall, a very good read about a band, a time and a place...well recommended!


Paul
ARH

I like Blondie/Debby Harry music but I don't know much detail about their background. My thanks to the publisher for a review copy of Parallel Lives via Netgalley.

This is an easy read; it's linear, starting with Debbie Harry's early life and start in NYC. The story charts the other band members too, how they met and the late 60s music scene and influences in New York. Chris Stein features a lot and the initial rise of the band, followed quickly by artistic differences, management issues and the relentless pressure of trying to stay at the top is well depicted. Blondie was such a different band in so many ways. Fronted by a woman, an eclectic mix of style, part punk, part rock with reggae and disco thrown into the mix.

The book is interesting, but a little flat. It's filled with fact, but never exciting. Harry is one of the most complex and enigmatic people on the planet. She's a true individual, distinctive in every way. The band was way ahead of the time. The dynamics were complex and disparate but it all feels a little superficial. I enjoyed it.

I love watching documentaries about bands and musicians, as well as reading their memoirs and biographies. This book did not dissapoint me in any way. I enjoyed every page learning about each bandmembers, friends and the paths that lead them to becoing a rock solid band. It was very real, open, and exciting to read about how the scene and the decades aligned and shaped the music that they produced. I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan or not of Blondie simply because of the indepth anthology of the music and art scene.

Great and informative. I very much enjoyed this book.

Interesting and informative read on an American icon : Debbie Harry. Highly recommend for any fan of the rock band.

Blondie was like a reality show before there was reality TV. In New York, in the punk era - they knew they had made it when they landed the cover of Rolling Stone in 1979. Debbie's entire life she had been trained to become a house wife and for marriage - but that's not what she wanted. In a time when NYC was collapsing and life in New York resulted in seeing a lot of dead bums, Debbie and Chris had a spark and made Blondie a household name by 1980-1981. This book was a really cool look back at a band that I wasn't all that familar with - and as always - I loved all the pictures! There was lots of pictures. I also loved reading about New York in the early 80s, even though it was nothing like it is today, it's cool to see how far it has come.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

This is a band that I have loved for a long time and had expected to really enjoy this book. Though it was chock full of information about the band I found it rather dry reading and had trouble sustaining interest. Just not for me..

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this review copy.

Being a child of the 70's, I was interested to read this book. I loved, and still do enjoy, listening to the music of Blondie when I was growing up. The book covers their career from their early days right through to the more recent stuff. It was informative, but at times it felt a bit slow. There is plenty of interviews and quotes from the band and other people who knew them. The best part for me was the photographs of not just Debbie Harry, but the rest of the band. Many of these photos are previously unseen and it was great to be taken back 30 years!

If you are a die hard Blondie fan, then this book would be perfect for you. Whilst I like Blondie's music, I think, for me, the book was just a bit too hard going, with too many boring facts.

Great book about a pretty awesome band. The story gives a nice amount of time on each band member as they formed and came up, with most of the story focusing on Debbie and Chris and life before, during and after the Blondie phenomena. Very nice style, easy to get into and well researched.

Loved this book! What a great read! Highly Recommend!