Debbie Harry - Camp Funtime T-Shirt

Debbie Harry and Blondie were the darlings of the New York punk scene in 1975-76. Their high-energy shows with the Ramones at CBGB’s gained considerable attention for Harry and her band mates.

In 1977, Blondie embarked on their first North American tour, opening for Iggy Pop and David Bowie. Blondie had just released their first album, and Iggy was promoting his new record, “The Idiot,” which Bowie produced. With “Parallel Lines,” their third album, the band achieved breakthrough national success. “Heart of Glass,” the third single from the album, hit #1 on the U.S. charts. Blondie made a career out of defying easy categorization.

Their roots were in punk/new wave, but the band his its first major hits in rock/disco (“Heart of Glass,” “Call Me”), reggae (“The Tide Is High”), and hip-hop (“Rapture”). “We really tried to vary our music and not mimic ourselves,” Harry later told Billboard. Blondie and the Dictators performed their 2nd to last show at CBGB’s on 14th October 2006. The following night, the club that gave birth to the punk movement closed its doors after 33 years. In those early years, Harry and her band played numerous shows at CBGB’s with Talking Heads, New York Dolls, Television, and, of course, the Ramones. Harry’s Camp Funtime T-shirt pays homage, in a way, to the Iggy/Bowie tour that launched Blondie’s career. Iggy’s album had a song on it called “Funtime.” Blondie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the Sex Pistols in 2006.