*sigh* i just need to shake my head at this, i mean my gawd Debbie Harry didn't have to diss Frank Infante like that!! they just wanted to perform with you guys for this one time and you just have to say, "Can't you see MY BAND is up there?'. ugh. so unfullfilling and rightfully so...i mean, i love Blondie to death but this was just tasteful and upsetting at the same time. Frank Infante is one of my favorite Blondie members of all time, the replacement for him isn't as awesome as he is. wow.
Frank Infante & Nigel Harrison were there when Blondie were at their peak. Yes, they deserve credit for the band's success. I hate to see dissent in a band I absolutely love!
It's a shame Nigel and Frank aren't part of Blondie anymore. Nigel's bass playing was a major part of Blondie for me, not to mention all the songs he co wrote. And Frank's great guitar playing.
"Blondie" has hit a new low. Car commercials for Ira Toyota in Danvers, Massachusetts saying "Call Me! For a car, truck, van or SUV, Call Me!" I am not joking.
Well the way I heard it...and this echoes somewhat what Imaginary Gallery said...is that Nigel and Frank didn't want to do the reunion in 1998, but then when the rest of the band reunited anyway Nigel and Frank proceeded to sue them for reuniting without them.
RG - during the heyday, chris' contributions were invaluable! he may not be hendrix, but hes written great lyrics and music for Blondie. they ALL did. ok, nigel and frank to a lesser degree, but i still love me some "i know but i dont know!"
@sonnenanbeter89 seriously...then what album of theirs has all those punk songs that I missed? Ya know punk.. like the Ramones, Dead Kennedy's, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, etc. Where was this elusive Blondie album that has music like that??????
Clem Burke is one of the greatest drummers alive but his talent is being wasted on the "just keep the beat" music that I believe Chris has steered them towards. The first 5 albums are INCREDIBLE! That's the Blondie that the original fans expected from a reunion. I agree with your re:2 post reunion albums. It was missing the sound that Frank & Nigel brought to the band. PLEASE Blondie, reconsider you're position and get them back for a tour. Don't let Blondie's incredible legacy end this way.
Frank said they squeezed them out. Let's say it wasn't a friendly split. He told me I could search this video on youtube and I did. As I watched it, he wouldn't watch it with me and he turned away and walked out of the room. Anyway, we went and had a beer together at the pool bar... in the Sheraton Keauhou Bay... Heck of a nice guy.
All bands have there problems and this band has seen many I have seen them three times and even in a small club and they are so down to earth it would shock the average person. Debbie and Chris are good people. Dont judge them if you dont know them!
@StephanJK-Technically he is still a member and still gets paid. He had a major heroin addiction, as he talks about on his own website. The other members did not want those demons revisited. Really, is any of this so hard to look up?
I met Frank Infante in Hawaii and he told me his side of the story. He led me to this video in my office but he wouldn't watch it. He's a nice, personable guy that I think got screwed, like so many rockers do -- but mostly by the record companies. He's putting a band together now, and I think they should find another blonde vocalist and resurrect their own Blondie. Blondie was a band, not just Debbie. Could you imagine Robert Plant starting a new Led Zeppelin without Jimmy Page?
Destri is still working with Blondie, he's written songs on the new album Panic of Girls he just doesn't want to tour. As to the other guy, yea he was a roll player for a time, and Debbie and Chris want to support their current band members. Destri had a hand in writing some of their good songs but Blondie is largely Debbie, Chris and Clem Burke's amazing drumming. Everything you read about Debbie says she is very kind and generous.
You're right, but I can't imagine Frank, Nigel & Gary refusing to join. It makes no sense. And like Judge Judy says: If it doesn't make sense, it's not true. Seems to me like they were waiting for the day Blondie would reform, and then when they did reform without them, they sued. Frank Infante emailed me & told me they were not asked to be part of the reunion.
Well, I just got it straight from Frank Infante. Here is the cut & paste of his email: "No Nigel and myself were not asked to join the reunion. Frank Infante" It's just as I said in my earlier post. Chris decided that reunion money split 4 ways is more than 6 ways. I blame Chris & Debby for the turn that Blondie took. Opening for "The New Cars" ?!?! With Frank & Nigel it would have been vice versa.
i agree, tomdib. what chris might not realize, is that the 4 yrs w/ Nigel were blondies incredible run of great albums. the two post-reunion albums were just terrible. quality vs quantity.
I saw Blondie in 1979 & have been a fan since, until recently when they didnt invite Nigel & Frank on the reunion tour. Chris knows money cut four ways is MORE than six. Then they wouldn't let them join in the at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame because Nigel & Frank sued them for not inviting them on the reunion tour. They got screwed TWICE. Frank & Nigel were a BIG part of Blondie. Debby & Chris have ruined Blondie's reputation.
It appears that Frank & Nigel didn't want to be part of the reunion initially, & then when it became successful changed their mind & by then it was too late. Is this not what happened? (please clarify with FACTS)
He is or at least was a great drummer. Haven't you ever heard "Dreaming"? When I saw them live though he either couldn't or could be bothered to play like that in concert. Same on "Call Me" which Debbie now has to sing in this lower key with a cougar voice that sounds like she's heavily medicated.
So in her 60's she is supposed to sing it in the same key as when she was 35? Even the great Robert Plant sings his songs completely different now, and has for many years.. ya make do with aging pipes man
Frank and Nigel are integral members of Blondie and should have been involved in their comeback,even if only to play on this one event that was,after all commemorating the history of the band when they were at their brilliant best and these two were a big part of it. What we did see, was a pale immitation of what they used to be and Frank and Nigel looking like idiots. What a shame.
It's always sad to see bands fall apart, but it is a very, very common story. After multiple lawsuits what do people expect? Harmony? It's like a family in an estate dispute; nothing is ever the same and everyone is convinced they are right. I do think the ceremony should have been organized differently to avoid a predictably awkward situation, but the chance to avoid the appearance of pettiness was definitely a two way street, some of the very partisan comments I have read notwithstanding.
holy crap im not alone! i dont trust chris on giving an unadulterated version of a story. i agree - post-'99 Blondie sucks. i dont care how long Leigh has been with them....he and the guitarist (have the cds but dunno what his name is!) suck. i had summer '09 tour dates on my calendar but you know what? my $ will go to see Sonic Youth, Godsmack, and The Church - REAL bands that arent scared to rock, play with passion, and entertain. GIMME INFANTE/HARRISON AND PUT OUT SOME GOOD MUSIC, BLONDIE.
Harrison and Infante were in the band during its heydey (1977 to 1982). Leigh Foxx was not in the band at the time. I think the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame should have a rule which says that inducted members should be able to perform with a band they were a part of if they want to.
So not only does the RRHOF get to decide which members get in, they would also get to decide who plays on stage? Are you nuts, man??. You are ignoring the fact that some bands are still ongoing bands, but in a different configuration from their heyday... The same situation happened with Deep Purple.... While everyone knows that Ritchie Blackmore was the founder and the writer of all of their iconic riffs and leads in their most recognized years, the fact that he quit on the band right in the middle of a tour, pretty much did him in with those guys... and then they hired the excellent Steve Morse (and has since been with DP for over 20 years) which meant that Ritchie could come to the HOF induction, but no, he was not going to be allowed to play, period. It sucked, but I totally get it, when you are an ongoing band and a key former member shit on you big time, sometimes it is just too much to overcome... and I bet Steve Morse (Steve was not inducted, what an insult!) would have been honored to play with Ritchie, but the band could not agree on Ritchie playing.. Some think that Ian was a real tool for that, but I totally get his position... Same here with Chris, Deborah and Clem. But back to rebutting your point, not only should the HOF have no say in who plays, they should leave it up to the band to decide who the key members were, or at least deliberate with the band on that matter and maybe come to agreement. I believe most bands, Blondie and Deep Purple included, would be magnanimous and reasonable enough to include the proper members for deserved induction, and can still field the bandmates on stage of their choosing if they are an ongoing band... Personally, I think the band should decide who is included. Not some stupid organization.
@ihasch 1. On a recent interview with a New Zealand radio station, he stated, that they have basically kicked him out and that a lawsuit is pending, so, money is the issue and nothing else 2. He was a cocain addict, not heroin and is helping drug addicts
Long story short, Chris and Debbie didn’t WANT Frank to join them performing a song because they had new band mates. Yeah sad they didn’t but it’s their band. Simple as that.
PS-It helps to actually know a band's history before you mouth off. Their interpersonal problems are not much different than the Ramones or the Talking Heads or the Clash. (Start in punk, end in litigation). Yet despite myriad band breakup stories, Blondie is the only one that seems to elicit dumb comments. Strange double standard. There was a LOT of tension all the way from the beginning. It's a miracle the band lasted as long as it did.
FROM CHRIS STEIN: "i realised today that a lot of people are JUST READING reports of what went down at the award ceremony and that makes a huge difference to their perception... beyond that some of these reports are taken second hand from other reports... so i can see that someone reading that the poor guy asked to play and debbie callously (a lot of editorializing goes into these things) told them 'she already had a band' might be taken at surface... just watch the damn show... if those guys really had wanted to play with us the first thing they might have done was to call one of us and ask... of course this never happened... do you know what did happen? a person from our managment pulled me aside and said: "you're not gonna believe this..." "what?" i said "...the old guys from the band?" "yeah..." "they called and said that they have a girl singer and a lawyer and they want to play blondie songs..." "yeah so? thats weird but fine with me." i said "WAIT WAIT! they called the hall of fame and said they wanted to do it on the show... the people from the show went ballistic!" so this conversation really took place... i dont know if any of it is true or not or much care... but i really mean it that if one of them had tried to speak to me in person... well i dont know what i would have thought even then but i certainly wouldnt have been mean to them or told them to piss off... debbie said the same thing... any of you who are pissing and whining about us playing without nigel gary or frank, just get this through your heads: none of them ever asked any of us if they could play with us at the event! that would have had to have happened as a first step... none of us was going to call any of them and ask them to do it i will say that... playing music is a very personal thing, any of you who have been through a divorce know the kind of intense shit that goes on... frank wasnt in the band for the last year of blondie before we broke up back then, we did two albums and had number one hits all over the world before frank or nigel joined bla bla bla... our real fans know the deal... i dont know what the hell else i can say... no matter how much any of us go over how we feel about the whole thing or what we think the 'real story' is somebody will disagree so ultimately my advice is to find something better to worry about maybe like events in the real world that have a more direct impact on our survival... " _ 2006
i still dont agree with what they did, kind of stabbed them in the back. they sued them because they were not included on the records. they still were in the band and you cant just totally ignore that as they did. i think its to hard to make any judgments without hearing both sides of the story.
Oh, I wasn't necessarily responding to your comment - more to the attitude of the current principals in the band (I guess they should stop performing Presence, Dear, then).
That's really upsetting to watch! Quite degrading to see professionals act like that. Anyone else thinks that Nigel Harrison now looks like Michael Caine?
You don't understand. The 4 of them got back together and didn't ask Frank & Nigel. When Frank & Nigel sued them for that, they wouldn't allow Frank & Nigel to play @ the H.O.F. induction "because they sued us." Really lame, don't you think?
He says their current bass player Leigh Fox or whatever has been with them for 20 years and Nigel Harrison for 4 1/2. So do they pay Leigh like he was a real member of the band? No.
Dunno... I mean... if they're not in the band anymore... why would they play? they're no longer members. it's just a put up to gain popularity, or to break Debbie's fame apart. :S
@kingofallwhites-You have no clue what you are talking about. Frank sued them all the way back in 1981. Its been a bunch of lawsuits since, the last in 1998 that the court threw out. Last I checked No Exit was a big commercial success worldwide. Chris and Debbie founded the band, brought Nigel and Frank in, made sure they were given an equal cut of royaties, did the brunt of the songwriting with Destri. Yet their ungrateful because they like a dozen other bands have had a falling out? Please.
@StephanJK-Not villifying him. He is doing something valuable. But as you admit he had major problems. I know he wasn't happy about the band not touring with him, but it wasn't exactly arbitrary either. As to this lawsuit I keep hearing about, time will tell.
@kingofallwhites-No, but it's amazing what you can learn when you make an effort. When you publicly villify people you need to have the facts straight. These personal conflicts go way back. Maybe it's one person's fault, maybe the other. But it's music, not masochism. Blondie is not unique in this. And like you said, what do we expect? Maybe it's expected that lawsuits would emerge whatever their ultimate (lack of) merits, but its equally expected that the other side might seriously resent it.
and on the plus side, is new lineup for them isn't the same as the lineup from 1977. i dunno, the "new Blondie" isn't on the popularity scale like they were back then and the songs they have aren't as memorable either. i prefer Blondie from thirty years ago than today, even though i've grown up in the nineties instead. i'm hoping someday the reunion will come undone hopefully the original members can perform together and leave all this mess behind them.
Smne trashed Nigel pretty hard on Wikipedia syin that he blew all of his Blondie $ and got a job at Capital Rcds and said that he was an arrogant deuchbag to everyone there. No clue if it's true-sounded like a low level person at Capital w an axe to grind but they gave really specific examples. Someone had it removed though. Still I would rather see him up there. Noone gives a shit about a "Parrallel Lines" tour with half the band not allowed to play or in JD's case too embarassed to play.
of course.. but sex pistols is not about music.. is about a milestone in music history... is about performance.. is about punk.. i don't like sex pistols.. but due to them some of my very fav groups exists
I definitely wouldn't want to see the "new" Blondie in concert especially after knowing what happened at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
From what I have read, it seems that Chris Stein was jealous of Frank Infante's guitar talents and could never get past it. It should have been more than enough for him to have written hits and be boning DH back in the day. But he wanted it all... and now real fans don't bother going to their awful shows anymore. They suck. And frankly now I question whether they should even be in the hall of fame.
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*sigh* i just need to shake my head at this, i mean my gawd Debbie Harry didn't have to diss Frank Infante like that!! they just wanted to perform with you guys for this one time and you just have to say, "Can't you see MY BAND is up there?'. ugh. so unfullfilling and rightfully so...i mean, i love Blondie to death but this was just tasteful and upsetting at the same time. Frank Infante is one of my favorite Blondie members of all time, the replacement for him isn't as awesome as he is. wow.
I grew up with Frank and he's a great guy. He was a super guitar player back then.
Frank Infante & Nigel Harrison were there when Blondie were at their peak. Yes, they deserve credit for the band's success. I hate to see dissent in a band I absolutely love!
Kinda sad when bands fall out like this. I'm glad most of my fav bands are still friends. Sabbath, Ac/dc, Zeppelin.
Stein said he only worked with Nigel Harrison for 4 and a half years. Hey Chris, those were the 4 and a half years anyone knew or cared who you were!
It's a shame Nigel and Frank aren't part of Blondie anymore. Nigel's bass playing was a major part of Blondie for me, not to mention all the songs he co wrote. And Frank's great guitar playing.
"Blondie" has hit a new low. Car commercials for Ira Toyota in Danvers, Massachusetts saying "Call Me! For a car, truck, van or SUV, Call Me!" I am not joking.
Well the way I heard it...and this echoes somewhat what Imaginary Gallery said...is that Nigel and Frank didn't want to do the reunion in 1998, but then when the rest of the band reunited anyway Nigel and Frank proceeded to sue them for reuniting without them.
RG - during the heyday, chris' contributions were invaluable! he may not be hendrix, but hes written great lyrics and music for Blondie. they ALL did. ok, nigel and frank to a lesser degree, but i still love me some "i know but i dont know!"
@sonnenanbeter89
seriously...then what album of theirs has all those punk songs that I missed?
Ya know punk.. like the Ramones, Dead Kennedy's, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, etc.
Where was this elusive Blondie album that has music like that??????
No one cares about those 20 years. It's the 4 years with nigel that brought you success.
Clem Burke is one of the greatest drummers alive but his talent is being wasted on the "just keep the beat" music that I believe Chris has steered them towards. The first 5 albums are INCREDIBLE! That's the Blondie that the original fans expected from a reunion. I agree with your re:2 post reunion albums. It was missing the sound that Frank & Nigel brought to the band. PLEASE Blondie, reconsider you're position and get them back for a tour. Don't let Blondie's incredible legacy end this way.
tomdib: "Clem Burke is one of the greatest drummers alive.."
What a joke.
Frank said they squeezed them out. Let's say it wasn't a friendly split. He told me I could search this video on youtube and I did. As I watched it, he wouldn't watch it with me and he turned away and walked out of the room. Anyway, we went and had a beer together at the pool bar... in the Sheraton Keauhou Bay... Heck of a nice guy.
All bands have there problems and this band has seen many
I have seen them three times and even in a small club and they are so down to earth it would shock the average person.
Debbie and Chris are good people. Dont judge them if you dont know them!
i also saw some comments on the sex pistols..........yes blondie are a great band but the sex pistols have always been the ultimate punk band
@StephanJK-Technically he is still a member and still gets paid. He had a major heroin addiction, as he talks about on his own website. The other members did not want those demons revisited.
Really, is any of this so hard to look up?
@rocknrollluv - They have always been really gratious and totally lovely when I have met them....
I met Frank Infante in Hawaii and he told me his side of the story. He led me to this video in my office but he wouldn't watch it. He's a nice, personable guy that I think got screwed, like so many rockers do -- but mostly by the record companies. He's putting a band together now, and I think they should find another blonde vocalist and resurrect their own Blondie. Blondie was a band, not just Debbie. Could you imagine Robert Plant starting a new Led Zeppelin without Jimmy Page?
Frank Infante was a big part of the sound that made them big, they should have let me play
Destri is still working with Blondie, he's written songs on the new album Panic of Girls he just doesn't want to tour. As to the other guy, yea he was a roll player for a time, and Debbie and Chris want to support their current band members. Destri had a hand in writing some of their good songs but Blondie is largely Debbie, Chris and Clem Burke's amazing drumming. Everything you read about Debbie says she is very kind and generous.
You're right, but I can't imagine Frank, Nigel & Gary refusing to join. It makes no sense. And like Judge Judy says: If it doesn't make sense, it's not true. Seems to me like they were waiting for the day Blondie would reform, and then when they did reform without them, they sued. Frank Infante emailed me & told me they were not asked to be part of the reunion.
Well, I just got it straight from Frank Infante. Here is the cut & paste of his email:
"No Nigel and myself were not asked to join the reunion.
Frank Infante"
It's just as I said in my earlier post. Chris decided that reunion money split 4 ways is more than 6 ways. I blame Chris & Debby for the turn that Blondie took. Opening for "The New Cars" ?!?! With Frank & Nigel it would have been vice versa.
i agree, tomdib. what chris might not realize, is that the 4 yrs w/ Nigel were blondies incredible run of great albums. the two post-reunion albums were just terrible. quality vs quantity.
Just because someone isn't in the present incarnation doesn't mean he shouldn't be acknowledged for his part in the band's history.
At least Infante and Valentine don't sound coked up every time they talk over the mic.
Frank emailed me that they were not asked to take part in the reunion.
I saw Blondie in 1979 & have been a fan since, until recently when they didnt invite Nigel & Frank on the reunion tour. Chris knows money cut four ways is MORE than six. Then they wouldn't let them join in the at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame because Nigel & Frank sued them for not inviting them on the reunion tour. They got screwed TWICE. Frank & Nigel were a BIG part of Blondie. Debby & Chris have ruined Blondie's reputation.
Is the 3rd person who sued them Jimi Destri or Gary Valentino?
Gary
It appears that Frank & Nigel didn't want to be part of the reunion initially, & then when it became successful changed their mind & by then it was too late. Is this not what happened? (please clarify with FACTS)
He is or at least was a great drummer. Haven't you ever heard "Dreaming"? When I saw them live though he either couldn't or could be bothered to play like that in concert. Same on "Call Me" which Debbie now has to sing in this lower key with a cougar voice that sounds like she's heavily medicated.
So in her 60's she is supposed to sing it in the same key as when she was 35? Even the great Robert Plant sings his songs completely different now, and has
for many years.. ya make do with aging pipes man
And what is (L)?
Frank and Nigel are integral members of Blondie and should have been involved in their comeback,even if only to play on this one event that was,after all commemorating the history of the band when they were at their brilliant best and these two were a big part of it. What we did see, was a pale immitation of what they used to be and Frank and Nigel looking like idiots. What a shame.
It's always sad to see bands fall apart, but it is a very, very common story. After multiple lawsuits what do people expect? Harmony? It's like a family in an estate dispute; nothing is ever the same and everyone is convinced they are right. I do think the ceremony should have been organized differently to avoid a predictably awkward situation, but the chance to avoid the appearance of pettiness was definitely a two way street, some of the very partisan comments I have read notwithstanding.
Obviously you are forgetting the Talking Heads here.
holy crap im not alone! i dont trust chris on giving an unadulterated version of a story. i agree - post-'99 Blondie sucks. i dont care how long Leigh has been with them....he and the guitarist (have the cds but dunno what his name is!) suck.
i had summer '09 tour dates on my calendar but you know what? my $ will go to see Sonic Youth, Godsmack, and The Church - REAL bands that arent scared to rock, play with passion, and entertain. GIMME INFANTE/HARRISON AND PUT OUT SOME GOOD MUSIC, BLONDIE.
Harrison and Infante were in the band during its heydey (1977 to 1982). Leigh Foxx was not in the band at the time. I think the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame should have a rule which says that inducted members should be able to perform with a band they were a part of if they want to.
So not only does the RRHOF get to decide which members get in, they would also get to decide who plays on stage? Are you nuts, man??. You
are ignoring the fact that some bands are still ongoing bands, but in a different configuration from their heyday...
The same situation happened with Deep Purple....
While everyone knows that Ritchie Blackmore was the founder and the writer of all of their iconic riffs and leads in their most recognized years,
the fact that he quit on the band right in the middle of a tour, pretty much did him in with those guys... and then they hired the excellent Steve Morse (and has since been with DP for over 20 years) which meant that
Ritchie could come to the HOF induction, but no, he was not going to be allowed to play, period. It sucked, but I totally get it, when you are an ongoing band and a key former member
shit on you big time, sometimes it is just too much to overcome... and I bet Steve Morse (Steve was not inducted, what an insult!) would have been honored to play with Ritchie,
but the band could not agree on Ritchie playing.. Some think that Ian was a real tool for that, but I totally get his position...
Same here with Chris, Deborah and Clem.
But back to rebutting your point, not only should the HOF have no say in who plays, they should leave it up to the band to decide who the key members were, or at least deliberate with the band on that matter and maybe come to agreement.
I believe most bands, Blondie and Deep Purple included, would be magnanimous and reasonable enough to include the proper members for deserved induction,
and can still field the bandmates on stage of their choosing if they are an ongoing band... Personally, I think the band should decide who is included. Not some stupid organization.
@ihasch
1. On a recent interview with a New Zealand radio station, he stated, that they have basically kicked him out and that a lawsuit is pending, so, money is the issue and nothing else
2. He was a cocain addict, not heroin and is helping drug addicts
Long story short, Chris and Debbie didn’t WANT Frank to join them performing a song because they had new band mates. Yeah sad they didn’t but it’s their band. Simple as that.
PS-It helps to actually know a band's history before you mouth off. Their interpersonal problems are not much different than the Ramones or the Talking Heads or the Clash. (Start in punk, end in litigation). Yet despite myriad band breakup stories, Blondie is the only one that seems to elicit dumb comments. Strange double standard. There was a LOT of tension all the way from the beginning. It's a miracle the band lasted as long as it did.
FROM CHRIS STEIN:
"i realised today that a lot of people are JUST READING reports of what went down at the award ceremony and that makes a huge difference to their perception... beyond that some of these reports are taken second hand from other reports... so i can see that someone reading that the poor guy asked to play and debbie callously (a lot of editorializing goes into these things) told them 'she already had a band' might be taken at surface... just watch the damn show... if those guys really had wanted to play with us the first thing they might have done was to call one of us and ask... of course this never happened... do you know what did happen? a person from our managment pulled me aside and said: "you're not gonna believe this..." "what?" i said "...the old guys from the band?" "yeah..." "they called and said that they have a girl singer and a lawyer and they want to play blondie songs..." "yeah so? thats weird but fine with me." i said "WAIT WAIT! they called the hall of fame and said they wanted to do it on the show... the people from the show went ballistic!" so this conversation really took place... i dont know if any of it is true or not or much care... but i really mean it that if one of them had tried to speak to me in person... well i dont know what i would have thought even then but i certainly wouldnt have been mean to them or told them to piss off... debbie said the same thing... any of you who are pissing and whining about us playing without nigel gary or frank, just get this through your heads: none of them ever asked any of us if they could play with us at the event! that would have had to have happened as a first step... none of us was going to call any of them and ask them to do it i will say that... playing music is a very personal thing, any of you who have been through a divorce know the kind of intense shit that goes on... frank wasnt in the band for the last year of blondie before we broke up back then, we did two albums and had number one hits all over the world before frank or nigel joined bla bla bla... our real fans know the deal... i dont know what the hell else i can say... no matter how much any of us go over how we feel about the whole thing or what we think the 'real story' is somebody will disagree so ultimately my advice is to find something better to worry about maybe like events in the real world that have a more direct impact on our survival... " _ 2006
OWOWOWOWWOWOWOWO my two eternal wet dreams queens in one night!!! i suspect i'll wake up dehidrated
i still dont agree with what they did, kind of stabbed them in the back. they sued them because they were not included on the records. they still were in the band and you cant just totally ignore that as they did. i think its to hard to make any judgments without hearing both sides of the story.
ok got it, got it, got it!
Oh, I wasn't necessarily responding to your comment - more to the attitude of the current principals in the band (I guess they should stop performing Presence, Dear, then).
That's really upsetting to watch! Quite degrading to see professionals act like that.
Anyone else thinks that Nigel Harrison now looks like Michael Caine?
You don't understand. The 4 of them got back together and didn't ask Frank & Nigel. When Frank & Nigel sued them for that, they wouldn't allow Frank & Nigel to play @ the H.O.F. induction "because they sued us." Really lame, don't you think?
He says their current bass player Leigh Fox or whatever has been with them for 20 years and Nigel Harrison for 4 1/2. So do they pay Leigh like he was a real member of the band? No.
Dunno... I mean... if they're not in the band anymore... why would they play? they're no longer members.
it's just a put up to gain popularity, or to break Debbie's fame apart. :S
@kingofallwhites-You have no clue what you are talking about. Frank sued them all the way back in 1981. Its been a bunch of lawsuits since, the last in 1998 that the court threw out. Last I checked No Exit was a big commercial success worldwide. Chris and Debbie founded the band, brought Nigel and Frank in, made sure they were given an equal cut of royaties, did the brunt of the songwriting with Destri. Yet their ungrateful because they like a dozen other bands have had a falling out? Please.
@StephanJK-Not villifying him. He is doing something valuable. But as you admit he had major problems. I know he wasn't happy about the band not touring with him, but it wasn't exactly arbitrary either. As to this lawsuit I keep hearing about, time will tell.
Is Shirley Manson Scottish?
@ihasch How do you know so much are you a groupie?
@kingofallwhites-No, but it's amazing what you can learn when you make an effort. When you publicly villify people you need to have the facts straight. These personal conflicts go way back. Maybe it's one person's fault, maybe the other. But it's music, not masochism. Blondie is not unique in this. And like you said, what do we expect? Maybe it's expected that lawsuits would emerge whatever their ultimate (lack of) merits, but its equally expected that the other side might seriously resent it.
and on the plus side, is new lineup for them isn't the same as the lineup from 1977. i dunno, the "new Blondie" isn't on the popularity scale like they were back then and the songs they have aren't as memorable either. i prefer Blondie from thirty years ago than today, even though i've grown up in the nineties instead.
i'm hoping someday the reunion will come undone hopefully the original members can perform together and leave all this mess behind them.
ha ha :)
Smne trashed Nigel pretty hard on Wikipedia syin that he blew all of his Blondie $ and got a job at Capital Rcds and said that he was an arrogant deuchbag to everyone there. No clue if it's true-sounded like a low level person at Capital w an axe to grind but they gave really specific examples. Someone had it removed though. Still I would rather see him up there. Noone gives a shit about a "Parrallel Lines" tour with half the band not allowed to play or in JD's case too embarassed to play.
J. Destri has now also been thrown out of the Band
What did he have to say? I hate the current version of Blondie- they are pathetic. Bring back Infante.
I think thats what you get if you bite the hand that feeds you... Destri and Harry were the better writers anyway...
She's just scottish
The Sex Pistols are overrated.
Blondie > The Sex Pistols
Plus, they've only ever had one studio album.
of course.. but sex pistols is not about music.. is about a milestone in music history... is about performance.. is about punk.. i don't like sex pistols.. but due to them some of my very fav groups exists
I like Blondie, but calling them a punk band is ridiculous.
Keep my tool out of this ok?
I definitely wouldn't want to see the "new" Blondie in concert especially after knowing what happened at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
rock n roll...friendly...lmao....band break ups are just a divorce and they usually crash and burn...lol...
@sonnenanbeter89 blondie had 3 good albums and the rest I'd like to forget exist IMO
From what I have read, it seems that Chris Stein was jealous of Frank Infante's guitar talents and could never get past it. It should have been more than enough for him to have written hits and be boning DH back in the day. But he wanted it all... and now real fans don't bother going to their awful shows anymore. They suck. And frankly now I question whether they should even be in the hall of fame.
shirley manson + debby harry = (L)
Everyone knows Chris Stien is a waffling over rated crap guitarist. Who is he trying to fool? Himself maybe?
Frank emailed me that they were not asked to take part in the reunion.
Frank emailed me that they were not asked to take part in the reunion.