"The first time I ever saw Debbie Harry, Chris Stein showed me some Polaroid photos he had taken of her in a PUNK t-shirt. “Wanna use these in Punk Magazine?” he asked one late night at CBGB. He knew we needed a cool t-shirt model.

So, Debbie Harry became our first t-shirt model, in PUNK #3, and a beautiful relationship was formed. Next issue, we published the first PUNK fold-out centerfold with a bunch of amazing photos of Debbie that Chris had taken or found including a pin-up that we called “The Punk Playmate.” This helped the band get signed to their first record deal!

Over the next few years Chris and Debbie contributed lots of stuff to PUNK, including exclusive photos from their tour with Iggy Pop (David Bowie on keyboards), a story about UFOs in Australia, and Debbie’s starring role in Mutant Monster Beach Party, with Joey Ramone as her surfer BF. (Chris appeared as her dad!)

People wonder why anyone thought Blondie was a punk rock band, but they weren’t. They were a Punk Magazine band! "