Tag: new-wave

• Blondie: Permanent Waves

  Background: Who doesn’t love Blondie? I had an all-too-brief chat with Debbie Harry for a concert preview when the reunited group was touring through Cleveland. Twenty-five years later, she’s still out playing with the group and serving as a fashion icon and all-purpose inspiration for new generations. The ripples are too numerous to count, but…

• Duran Duran: Back to the Future

  Background: I was a teenage New Romantic, somehow surviving life in mid-’80s rural Ohio despite sporting full stage wear and eyeliner for trips to malls, grocery stores… basically everywhere. Duran Duran were a sartorial influence for a Chess King-enabled season, but Japan, Psychedelic Furs and Echo and the Bunnymen have remained more enduring musical inspirations…