Dance rock, despite what you might have heard, is not dead, nor is it hiding from hip-hop or any other fertile genre. Keeping on doing what they’ve been doing (on and off) for more than twenty-five years, Blondie is back with The Curse of Blondie. What is The Curse of Blondie, you might ask…Truthfully, the only curse that continues to afflict the group is a propensity for creating such perfect and innovative hits that the rest of their albums don’t get the attention that they deserve (Depeche Mode is a band like this as well).
First single “Good Boys” is a blast, and its many remixes help to prove this. “Rules for Living” is a midtempo tale of love that keeps its metaphors nimble and the rhythm section focused, one of those songs that grows on you with each successive listen. And as they have since 1980, Blondie keep the dialogue between hip-hop, dance, and rock flowing freely, innovating rather than eliminating.
Anyone who ever had any doubts about the longevity and legitimacy of Blondie should have their words handed to them on a platter with the flawless “The Tingler,” which uses the concept of an old William Castle horror film to approximate the twisted nature of love in such a brisk and nervy electro punk-NRG style that it took me about seventeen tries to listen to the last few songs on the disc because “The Tingler” kept calling over and over again.
This is the kind of record that you can play at a party and know that there is truly something for everyone. Blondie still have it, and "The Tingler" may be the finest pop song of the year.
