Buyer's Guides.

Blondie, fronted by the iconic Deborah Harry, were one of the most successful and enduring bands to emerge from the late-70s New York punk scene. Long before manufactured pop princesses, Harry took an active role in creating the sound and look that made Blondie famous. Despite their punk/new-wave roots, much of Blondie's success came from their interpretation of various genres of music, from reggae ("The Tide Is High") to disco ("Hanging On The Telephone") and even the first rap to be heard on mainstream radio ("Rapture").

For their harder-edged upbeat tunes, listen to their first single from 1976, "X Offender", or album track "Detroit 442". At the other end of the spectrum are the ballads "In The Flesh" (the "X Offender" B-side that was a huge hit in Australia courtesy of Countdown) or "Picture This".For classic bubblegum pop with a nod to 60s girl-group sounds, try "Sunday Girl" or the glorious track original bass player Gary Valentine contributed in 1979 shortly before leaving the band, "(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear".

Despite being more pop than punk, "Denis" also scored Blondie a Grammy for Best Female Rock performance upon the release of second album Plastic Letters.Two more Grammy awards followed with the release of third album Parallel Lines, with "Heart Of Glass" scoring for Best Disco Recording even though the longplayer also took out Best Rock Album. Often imitated but never bettered, no collection is complete without a selection from Blondie's eclectic catalogue.