Chris Stein/Negative: Me, Blondie, and the Advent of Punk

Nostalgic exhibition at Somerset House of photographs by Chris Stein of the band Blondie, of which he was a member, and the New York music scene of the late 70s.

I was always a bit of a Blondie fan and have fond memories of 3rd year French and someone singing Denis before the teacher arrived because there were bits in French! Also the wonderful quote from a lecturer at University who had a full sized picture of Debbie Harry in his office “It’s the weekend and Debbie Harry is on the Muppets, life is good!”

But enough of me these pictures were great fun and gave a real sense of a generation of musicians at a particular time. I got a real sense of the friendships which existed and was interested to see on the commentaries often included news of what people were doing now. I had also forgotten just how different Debbie Harry herself looked to teenage eyes and to many of us was the first strong, independent female figure in music.

The shame was that there was one person missing in the pictures, Chris Stein himself as he was taking them. It was easy to forget he was part of the band and a great musician as well as photographer.

 

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