WEBVTT - Blondie (Rewind): Punk vs. Disco, Held Hostage by Phil Spector, and Riding with Ted Bundy 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:04.320 Hey guys, welcome into another rewind episode of Disgrace Sland 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:05.880 and boy, oh boy, do we have a good one 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:07.960 for you today. A controversial one. This one is on 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:10.879 the band Blondie. More specifically, it's on this story about 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:14.600 Debbie Harry, a story that I love, A story that 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:20.280 at its very core is so true, crimey and very controversial. 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:22.759 A lot of people don't believe that this is true. However, 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.960 Debbie Harry herself, she's the one who claims that this 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:31.560 story of an abduction at the hands of none other 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:36.680 than Ted Bundy absolutely happened to her. And frankly, those 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.879 who are so called Ted Bundy experts the proof that 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:44.440 they offer up to dispute Debbie Harry's account of what 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:48.479 went down, it is complete weak sauce. I love this 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:50.720 story because every time I talk about it on social media, 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:53.760 a lot of people get upset and they come at 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:55.480 us and they say, we don't know what we're talking about. 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.560 But I believe Debbie Harry. And again it goes back 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:01.160 to the actual proof. All right, So you can listen 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:03.200 to this episode, you can tell us what you think. 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:05.959 Be the judge yourself. Let us know. Aside from that 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:09.200 it's just a great story about the foundational era of 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.040 punk rock in New York City in the early seventies, 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:16.360 and just a trailblazing artist Debbie Harry and her fantastic 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.720 band Blondie. You're gonna love it. Here you go. This 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.959 episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:28.080 Please check the show notes for more information. Disgraceland is 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:43.160 a production of Double Elvis. The stories about Blondie are insane. 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:46.399 The band got its start in New York's fertile punk 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.480 scene in the late seventies, a time when fear and 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.280 violent crime had a stranglehold on the city. Two members 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:55.840 of the group were mugged on the street. One of them, 0:01:56.000 --> 0:02:00.280 Debbie Harry, was then raped at knife point by her attacker. 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:03.440 Debbie Harry also barely escaped with her life after she 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.560 unknowingly accepted a ride from a serial killer. Debbie and 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.919 Blondie were loved and desired by many good and bad, 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:15.720 including producer Phil Spector, who once held them captive inside 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:20.240 his lavish Hollywood mansion. But Blondie didn't need Phil Spector 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:24.280 to make great music, some of the coolest genre bending 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.280 music of all time. Unlike that clip I played for 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:30.000 you at the top of the show that wasn't great music. 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.880 That was a preset loop for my mellotron called Robert 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:38.919 Stack Attack MK one. I played you that loop because 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.120 I can't afford the rights to a clip from Les 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.400 Freak by Chic. And why would I play you that 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:48.720 specific slice of ah Freak out Cheese? Could I afford it? 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:53.160 Because that was the number one song in America in 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.840 January nineteen seventy nine, And that was the month that 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:00.680 Blondie released Heart of Glass, a song that out punk 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:04.720 punk pissed off some of the most devoted fans improved. 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:09.359 They were capable of surviving just about anything. On this 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:15.919 episode Fear and Violent Crime, Punk versus disco, muggers, serial killers, 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:22.240 Debbie Harry, and Blondie. I'm Jake Brennan and this is 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:52.560 this grayest Land nineteen seventy five. You step off the 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:56.200 plane and La Guardia is humming. This is your first 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:58.720 time in New York City. Maybe you came from the 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:02.600 Midwest or some town down south. Maybe you hopped a 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:04.840 puddle jumper from New England, or took a seven forty 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:08.120 seven from across the pond. But you're here now, and 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.920 it's crazy. The terminal is swarming with people and they 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.280 knock up against you as you try to get your bearings. 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:17.480 Limo drivers are holding signs with the names of people 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:23.080 who aren't you. Harry Krishnas float by, bells ringing, consciousness expanding, 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.080 and in the middle of it all there's this guy, 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:31.520 average build, average height, average everything, handing out pamphlets to 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:35.560 whoever will take them, which includes you. Because you, my friend, 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.919 are way out of your depth, a fish out of water, 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:42.640 a hay seed, a jabbroni. This man in front of 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:44.160 you is going to make you take this fold of 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:46.920 a piece of paper because you have no other choice, 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.440 because you're new here and you're a victim in waiting. 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:54.200 The pamphlet has an image of a hooded skull on 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:57.719 the front, with a large, bold text that reads Welcome 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:01.240 to Fear City and at the bottom of the page, 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.400 a survival guide for visitors to the City of New York. 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:09.520 If this pamphlet is to be believed, Right here, right now, robberies, 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:15.760 aggravated assault, larceny, burglaries, they're all on a meteoric rise. Meanwhile, 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.920 the mayor's making sweeping cuts to public safety in order 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:22.280 to balance the budget. New York is no longer New York. 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:25.760 As this pamphlet tells you, New York is a living hell, 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:31.520 and in a living hell, there's plenty to be afraid of. Muggers, rapists, thieves, 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.200 criminal devians of all stripes, everyone ready and able to 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.560 rob you, mean you, even kill you. You have no 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.640 idea what these sub human city types are capable of, 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.599 and you also have no idea that this pamphlet was 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.839 created and distributed by police and fire unions as a 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.080 subversive means to drum up support for Popeye Doyle and 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:54.560 his partners currently nursing a cold one on unpaid leave 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:58.120 while a garbage strike strangles New York with rotting trash. 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:01.839 All you're focused on are the guidelines written inside this 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:06.839 piece of paper. Stay off the streets after six pm, 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:13.080 avoid public transportation, safeguard to your handbag, and perhaps most importantly, 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:21.200 do not walk anywhere. Over in Manhattan, Debbie Harry and 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:25.040 Chris Stein were doing what New Yorkers did. They were walking, 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:28.039 But Debbie Harry and Chris Stein weren't a couple of 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.960 roubes fresh off of plane from Des Moines. They weren't 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:35.840 victims in wading either. They were lovers, musical partners, leaders 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:38.720 of the band Blondie, a band that thrived in New 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.159 York's sketchiest corners. It would take more than a single 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.560 fold pamphlet to strike fear in their hearts. Fear wasn't 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:49.359 in the plan. Not tonight. Tonight, they were riding a 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:52.640 very specific high, the KINDI get after your band plays 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:54.960 a killer set inside a tiny club that reeks a 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:59.560 beer sweating piss. Tonight's show at CBGB with the Ramones 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:03.039 was one for the books. Blondie sounded tight on that 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.400 shitty little stage. Every show they played these days was 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.840 better than the last. They were broke, They were struggling, 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.520 but all the same, they were quickly gaining an audience, 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.920 a real following, not just the dudes who whistled at 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:18.080 Debbie in her beach blonde hair that gave the group 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:21.440 its name, but real fans of the music, of bands 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:24.240 that were steering rock and roll back to its simpler roots, 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:28.440 back to New York's musical past. A little shangri las here, 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.680 some ronnettes there, but not quite. This was fast, this 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:34.720 was loud, This was new, and just like Debbie and 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:37.760 Chris weren't afraid of some fierce city freak lurking around 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:41.480 the next corner. They weren't afraid of the new, new music, 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:45.680 new fashion, new ideas. Embrace it all, Andy told them. 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:49.160 Andy Warhol was a regular at Maxis Kansas City, the 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:52.360 spot where Debbie briefly worked as a waitress. It was 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:54.600 now one of the local nightclubs that booked Blondie on 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.440 the regular. Debbie didn't want to go back to waitressing, 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:00.000 just like Chris didn't want to go back on welfare, 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:04.160 so they took Andy Warhol's advice. They didn't fear the 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:08.960 new and they also didn't fear having a good time. 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.480 Punk rock could be fun if you just let your 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.880 guard down, you can dance to it. But people in 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:19.200 New York circa nineteen seventy five weren't dancing to punk. 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:23.120 Everyone was too cool for that. Even if Debbie Harry, 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:25.640 one of the coolest fucking people to walk the planet 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.520 then and now, encouraged dancing, the crowds just stood there, 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:32.600 arms crossed, quietly judging while the band played, or, in 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:35.760 the case of Blondie, probably undressing Debbie with their eyes. 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:39.520 The whole scene was a sausage veest, even Patty dressed 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.360 like a man. Debbie Harry did drag too, but she 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:45.439 did girl drag, not boy drag, a blow up doll 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:48.160 who would gladly kick your ass. And though the punk 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:51.200 bands in New York hadn't come to blows yet, the 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:55.280 divide had already begun right there in CEBGV a line 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.079 drawn in the sand, rather a line drawn on the 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:01.840 club's beer stained floor on one side, the Ramones and 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:06.960 Blondie on the other. Patti Smith in television, pot versus art, 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:13.200 those who danced versus those who did not. Tonight, Debbie 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:15.600 Harry was done trying to get another crowd to dance. 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:19.320 She just wanted to go home. She and Chris Steine 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.040 made the short walk from CBGB to Chris's apartment at 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:25.400 the corner of First Avenue in East First Street aka 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:29.440 First and First aka the nexus of the universe according 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:34.280 to longtime New Yorker Cosmo Kramer. But I digress. It 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.640 was dark, it was late, and their footsteps were in 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.360 sync and impatient. Just as they reached the front door 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.880 to Chris's place, however, another pair of footsteps came rushing 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.880 from behind them, loud and coming up fast. Debbie and 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:54.559 Chris spun around and saw the hooded skull, Death's shrouded head, 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:58.480 Fierce City and Carney. The man wore a leather jacket 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:02.160 and held a large knife. He wanted money and had none. 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:06.160 What about that? Fierce City motioned to the guitar case 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:09.080 in Chris's hand. Chris didn't want to give up his fender, 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.360 but what was he going to do? The guy had 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.960 a knife, so Chris handed it over. What about drugs? 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:17.920 Chris had a few doses of acid in the freezer 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:22.160 inside his apartment. Did he want those? Nah man? Fierce 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:24.839 City didn't want to trip out. Fiar City wanted to 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:28.160 get high. The man now motioned to Chris's front door. 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:30.760 Take me inside and let's see what else you got. 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:35.480 Debbie and Chris let him inside the apartment, the knife 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.719 at their backs. The man tied Chris to the bedpost 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:41.720 with a pair of pantyhose. He tied Debbie's hands behind 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.800 her back with a scarf. He ransacked the place. He 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.360 found a camera and another guitar, this one a Gibson 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.160 sg that Chris had borrowed from one of his Blondie bandmates. 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.520 He took what he could get but he wasn't done taking. 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:58.360 He wanted more. He untied Debbie's hands and told her 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.720 to take her pants off, and then, at knife point, 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:07.920 he raped her. Fierce City, took the guitars in the camera, 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:11.880 and disappeared into the New York City streets. Blondie, a 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.359 band that was making moves but was nonetheless broke and struggling, 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.560 found themselves down two pieces of precious gear, and Debbie 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:24.800 Harry found herself in shock. She was angry, she was furious. 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:29.440 She wasn't afraid, because Debbie Harry was determined to never 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:56.439 become a victim. She was a survivor. Teenage Debbie Harry 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.160 couldn't wait to get the hell out of Jersey. The 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:05.199 Burbs were so pathetic, so predictable. Fall in love, get married, 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.320 settle down, two and a half kids, picket fence, the 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:12.559 whole nine sounded like a death sentence. Debbie Harry wanted 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.679 to live. She took the bus to New York City 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:20.840 and saw people really living, beat Nicks, musicians, visionaries. She 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.040 took the bus again. She watched the velvet underground get 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.520 up tight under an explosion of color and light in 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:32.200 Saint Mark's Place again, moondog, blind bearded, a Viking helmet 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:34.400 on top of his head, passing out his poetry on 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:39.760 sixth and fifty third. More people per people, freethinkers, free doers, 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:44.440 all them doing something different, something divine, something dangerous. Even 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:48.040 she could do that. She could be dangerous too. She 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.760 just wanted to be something that she couldn't be in Jersey. 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.520 In New York, she was a secretary, a waitress, a 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:58.040 hostess at the Playboy Club on East fifty nine. But 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:02.079 corsets and bunny years weren't her thing. Neither was the band. 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:04.920 She found herself singing in the Wind in the Willows. 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:09.440 Just like Pink Floyd, they took inspiration from classic children's literature. 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.680 Unlike Pink Floyd, the Willows were not part of the 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:17.040 new folk rock. Cheese wasn't Debbie's bag. So for now, 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:20.679 at least, the gig was over. The jobs dried up, 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:23.640 and the money ran out. Before long, she was back 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:27.880 in the Garden State, and she was back to taking 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:32.360 the bus into the city. Nineteen seventy two, visiting friends 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:36.199 on Avenue C. Tonight, New York smelled like urine and 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.400 hot trash. Debbie Harry wanted to get across town to 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:43.160 see her favorite band, the New York Dolls, also hot trash, 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.520 but the good kind of hot trash. The Dolls were 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:49.559 the hottest and trashiest band in the growing underground scene, 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:52.800 and though Debbie was crazy about them, her friends were not, 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:55.480 which meant she had no one to bum a ride 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.280 off of. Fuck it. It was only one mile down 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.920 West Houston sixth. She strapped on a pair oftol platform 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:03.800 she was and began to do that thing you weren't 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:06.960 supposed to do in fierce city. She began to walk. 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:10.959 She barely made it a block. The platforms were killing 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:13.240 her feet. She stuck a hand up in the air 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.240 in case any cabs drove by. But cabs didn't come 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.280 to Alphabet City, not in nineteen seventy two, when it 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:23.280 was all drunks, junkies and musicians, a demographic that kept 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:25.440 the rents low, and thus was the last place a 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:28.280 cabby could expect to find a paying customer, or so 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:32.480 the thinking went. One car did slow down, however, a 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:35.960 white VW Beetle. It traveled up Houston and then turned 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:40.280 right on Avenue A. The platform heels were excruciating now, 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.440 and Debbie stopped to take them off. She looked down 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:47.440 at the sidewalk, broken glass everywhere. New York City was 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.800 a mess, but it was her mess, well hers and 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:54.600 sixteen million others, including the guy inside the white beetle, 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:59.400 which was coming around again. This time it slowed down 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.840 and stopped. The driver was alone. He called out and 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.920 asked if she needed a ride. She didn't know this guy. 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:08.120 She did know better than to get in the car 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:10.920 with a total stranger, though, especially in a city where 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.320 the murder rate had already broken records the first half 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:17.000 of the year. Debbie told the guy thanks, but no thanks. 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.000 The beatle pulled back out into traffic and took the 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:25.680 right on a first avenue. Debbie kept walking, hobbling. Really 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.840 what a slog At this rate, she was going to 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.080 miss the dolls and have nothing but shredded feet to 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:34.560 show for it. Miserable as she was, though at least 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:39.280 she wasn't in Jersey. She had just broken up with 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:42.800 her boyfriend, a house painter, a real man's man, and 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:47.200 a real pain in the ass. Too jealous, paranoid, aggressive, 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.040 he went through her phone bills and called her friends, 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.080 followed her around like a psycho, convinced she was lying 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:56.120 in two timing him. He especially hated it when she 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.760 went into the city, not because he was concerned that 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:00.920 she would wind up in some kind of trouble, because 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.080 he couldn't deal with not having control over her. When 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:07.720 Debbie ended it, the dude flipped, broke into her apartment, 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.840 held her at gunpoint. She called the cops and they 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.600 couldn't do shit, couldn't do or wouldn't do. Remember this 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.320 happened in Jersey. Then they said New York City was 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.760 the place to fear it. Right now, Debbie didn't feel 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:25.520 any fear. She was sweating, her feet were killing her, 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.800 and that beetle came around again, the only car on 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.360 the street again. The driver pulled over and called out, 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:36.280 need a ride. Debbie could see the guy clearly now, 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.440 good looking, clean shaven, short, hairy, with a bit of 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:43.920 a wavy curl to it, persistent, motherfucker. Debbie paused. She 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:47.880 didn't hitchhike, never, not even in her hippie days. When 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:51.240 Debbie Harry went to Woodstock, she drove, but she was 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:53.800 hot and her feet were throbbing, and the show was 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:55.800 going to start any minute, and it would likely only 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:58.800 be a few minutes by car to get there, so 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.160 Debbie jumped in the beetle and shut the door behind her. 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.960 The driver pulled out on the house too. She thanked 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.879 him for picking her up. He just grunted and stared 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.600 straight ahead at the open road. That's when Debbie noticed 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:15.240 the smell coming off of him. Not body odor, it 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:20.840 was beyond that. It smelled like something rotting. The hair 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.359 on the back of her neck stood up between the 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.080 heat and now the smell. The air and the car 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:30.120 was stifling. The windows were barely cracked and the stench 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:34.200 burned her eyes. She needed fresh air, needed to breathe. 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.080 She reached for the crank to roll her window down, 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:40.560 but there wasn't a crank. There also wasn't a door handle. 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:45.320 Debbie panicked. She had to do something, and do it fast. 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.200 She had to get out of this car. With one 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.080 eye on the driver, she propped herself up on the 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:52.199 outer edge of the seat. She shoved her arms with 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:54.280 a little crack at the top of the window. The 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:56.680 driver turned his head from the road to look at Debbie. 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:58.840 He was on to her. He took a hard left 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.280 on the Thompson Street. I'd a slam Debbie into the 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.480 door and prevent her escape. She arched herself up higher, 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:06.680 the pit of her elbow now wrapped around the top 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:09.480 lip of the window. She stretched her arm out lower, 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.000 now all the way down to the outer door handle, 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.000 and she yanked it upward. Just as the driver swerved 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:18.840 and the car door flew open. Debbie, in her platform shoes, 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:22.439 toppled out into the empty intersection, her ass at the pavement, 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:25.680 and the VW Bug completed the turn, passing her door 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:28.320 flapping open. She didn't know what she'd do with the 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.280 driver through a U turn and came back for her. 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:33.159 All she knew she had that feeling, the one that 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:35.119 drove her to New York City in the first place. 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:40.600 Debbie Harry wanted to live. She jumped to her feet, 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.920 and she waited. She was ready for anything, the beatles, 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:48.920 gurgling engine, the ungodly stench infesting the car's interior, But 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:55.280 nothing happened. The car never came back. Debbie Harry walked 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:57.120 the rest of the way to the New York Dolls Gig, 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.000 knowing full well that only a naive Jersey girl would 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:01.840 think that this would be the last time she'd find 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:05.360 herself trapped and looking for a way out. New York 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:09.479 City was dangerous. The whole world was. But Debbie Harry 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:17.520 was dangerous too. We'll be right back after this word. 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:29.880 Were were Thirty one year old Debbie Harry was pissed. 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:34.119 She was looking at a promotional poster for Blondie's first album, 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:37.639 a whole slew of posters actually pasted up on walls 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:42.560 throughout Times Square. The posters featured her, just her, not 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:45.480 her boyfriend in rock and roll co conspirator Chris Steine, 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:49.639 not bassist Gary Valentine, her drummer Clem Burke, not the 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:53.359 new guy Jimmy Destric who just joined on keys. It 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:58.000 was all Debbie. Platinum hair, red lips, black sea through blouse. 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:01.600 The record label promised they'd cropped the photo, but here 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.840 it was. They left very little to the imagination. She 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:08.359 kind of couldn't believe what she was looking at. Well, 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.840 actually she kind of could. Dudes were dudes, and dudes 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.920 ran this business. She was now in the music business. 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.520 Dudes who heard the name Blondie and immediately thought only 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:22.359 of her, Debbie Harry. Maybe that photo in Punk Magazine 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:24.399 or was it cream the one where she's wearing that 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:27.399 Vultures T shirt, A studded belt in underwear looking like 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:30.840 a punk rock Barberella. She was sexy as fuck, no 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.199 doubt about it, and she knew it. Everyone in New 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:35.280 York knew it, and soon the rest of the world 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.359 would too. But what she was looking at now didn't 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:42.920 feel sexy. It felt like a violation. Not simply because 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.360 you could see everything in this photo, nipples and all. 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:47.960 That wasn't exactly what was pissing Debbie off. What was 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.080 pissing her off was that they cut out the guys, 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:54.719 her bandmates. It reinforced this erroneous idea that Blondie was 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:58.040 Debbie Harry, which couldn't have been further from the truth. 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:02.680 Blondie was, so said the T shirts and the pins, 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:05.000 the ones that Blondie had printed up in the wake 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:08.879 of the Sea through poster bullshit black background, thick pink 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:12.080 texts that read Blondie as a group with an exclamation 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:16.879 point there at the end. Those pins were similar to 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:20.000 the one Phil Spector was now wearing. His said in 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:23.000 the Flesh, a reference to Blondie's song of the same 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:26.480 name from that recently released self titled debut album, a 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:28.960 song that owed a sizeable debt to the girl groups 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:32.320 of the nineteen sixties, groups that Phil Spector himself had 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:36.480 produced some time ago. These days, Phil's reputation had more 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:38.639 to do with guns and wild mood swings than it 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:46.879 did making records. February nineteen seventy seven, Hollywood, Los Angeles 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:50.080 loved Blondie in a way that New York never could. 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:54.399 It was like cheap tricks stumbling into Buddhacan. And there 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:56.639 are two week long residencies at the Whiskey of Go 0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:00.600 Go were CNBC in Affairs Week one. Petty and the 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:04.600 Heartbreakers opened for them. We two their power pop buds. 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:07.600 The Ramones taught the Sunset Strip how to properly pogo. 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:12.400 Debbie was just stoked to see people dancing, but Phil 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:17.000 Spector did not dance. Instead, Phil Spector emerged from his 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:18.920 mansion up in the Hills and made his way into 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:24.000 the Whiskies dressing room, black shirt, black tie, long black cape, 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:26.600 his eyes somewhere behind a pair of aviators, and his 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:29.760 soul somewhere behind a crucifix on a chain around his neck. 0:22:30.080 --> 0:22:32.080 Not that you'd find a soul if you went looking. 0:22:32.920 --> 0:22:35.119 Debbie was more than a little surprised to see that 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:38.000 in the flesh pin stuck to his shirt, close to 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:42.400 his heart. He was a huge fan obsessed. He took 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:44.200 one look at Joey, Johnny and the rest of the 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:47.400 Ramones and told him to scram. He was there for Blondie. 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:50.480 He was there for Debbie. He stared at her thigh 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:53.560 high leather boots. The two goons at his side were 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:57.200 not so impressed. They had one job. No one gets out, 0:22:57.560 --> 0:23:00.960 no one comes in, especially not those talks from Queen's. 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:04.200 But it was getting late, the whiskey was closing down, 0:23:04.800 --> 0:23:08.160 so Phil invited the group back to his place. Debbie 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:11.600 was tired, she didn't really feel like it. The others insisted, 0:23:11.960 --> 0:23:15.600 this is Phil Spector we're talking about. He's interested in us, 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:18.080 in Blondie, the guy who worked with the Beatles wants 0:23:18.119 --> 0:23:22.400 to produce us. So they went up a winding road 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:25.560 into the shallow hills above Sunset Boulevard, to the lavish 0:23:25.600 --> 0:23:27.919 mansion of one of the most successful record producers of 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:30.119 all time, who met them at the front door with 0:23:30.200 --> 0:23:32.720 a bottle of Menischevitz in one hand and a Colt 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:35.640 forty five in the other. The time to back out 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:38.600 of this little Meut and Greet had long passed. Debbie 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:42.240 Harry and the others walked nervously inside. The door latched 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:45.560 shut behind them. Phil Spector didn't give a shit that 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:47.760 it was beyond late at this point, the wee wee 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:50.520 hours of the morning. Debbie Harry and Blondie were going 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:52.240 to hang out with him until the sun came out. 0:23:52.760 --> 0:23:54.719 He had his two goons on it. Just like at 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:57.679 the whiskey. No one gets out, no one comes in. 0:23:58.440 --> 0:24:04.760 They weren't guessed. They were prisoners, trapped, and Debbie Harry 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:08.639 didn't like being trapped, Not in her boyfriend's apartment, not 0:24:08.760 --> 0:24:11.600 in the VW Beadle, and certainly not in the mansion 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:14.679 of the world's most infamous hit maker. It may have 0:24:14.720 --> 0:24:16.320 taken a minute for the boys in the group to 0:24:16.400 --> 0:24:19.520 realize it, but that's what was happening right now. Shit 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:22.879 had gone sideways. But shit always had a way of 0:24:22.920 --> 0:24:26.639 going sideways, Like when they were kicked out of their 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:30.000 New York loft apartment in rehearsal space just days into 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:33.120 recording their first album, or when another apartment of theirs 0:24:33.160 --> 0:24:36.359