Bands: profiles from the CBGB years onward
Band profiles here are history, not fan pages. They cover how a band formed, who was in it, which records matter and where it fits in the wider story. We start with the band that took CBGB to the top of the charts.
Blondie are the obvious first profile. Debbie Harry and Chris Stein started the group in New York in 1974, played the same small clubs as the Ramones and Television, and by the end of the decade had number one records on both sides of the Atlantic. Few bands connect the Bowery and pop radio so directly.
This magazine takes its name from a Blondie song, but it has no connection to the band, its members or any record company. We write about them as we would about anyone else, from published sources and with no access or approval.
Profiles stick to documented facts about musicians' working lives. We leave out gossip and speculation about people's private lives. For a wider view, the band lists under Lists cover punk, post-punk and new wave groups across several cities.
In this section
1 page
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Blondie band history: from CBGB to the charts
Blondie band history: formed in New York in 1974 by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, from CBGB to six UK number ones, the albums from 1976 to 1982, the split and the return.
Other sections
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Genres
Punk, new wave, post-punk, no wave and Neue Deutsche Welle explained: where each style began, which records define it and where the boundaries blur.
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Scenes
CBGB on the Bowery, New York punk and London in 1976: the clubs, shops and people that turned a few local bands into a movement.
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Lists
The best punk albums, new wave songs, and the punk, post-punk and new wave bands that matter, each entry with year, place and a reason.
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Songs
The stories behind punk and new wave songs: recording, line-up, chart history and meaning, told in our own words and without printing any lyrics.
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Press
How NME, Sounds, Creem, Punk magazine and Sniffin' Glue covered and shaped punk and new wave, from weekly music papers to photocopied fanzines.
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Vinyl
Practical guides to collecting punk records, identifying first pressings and choosing a turntable, with clear criteria and no made-up test results.