Blondie - "One Way Or Another" 45

Blondie - “One Way or Another” 45
Chrysalis, 1979
Acquired: Salvation Army, Used, 2002
Price: $.50

One of the very first records I ever acquired on my own, shortly after getting a turntable in the very early 00s. I had just started driving, and frequently drove over to the Salvation Army on K-7. I got this and Devo's “Uncontrollable Urge.” I'd always heard that Blondie was somehow associated with punk rock, which I very much loved at the time, and it was the only other coolish thing there besides Devo, so that's why I have this. And it's kind of rad. Well, it would be rad had I not heard it in a million movies, movie previews, and TV commercials thus making it really fucking annoying. Oversaturation sucks, and I really can't think of why I'd go out of my way to listen to this song when I can just turn on the TV and wait for the next Swiffer commercial or whatever. Thus, Blondie wasn't really punk rock at all, but the kind of right place at the right time New Wave that grafted itself so easily to the mainstream. Maybe Debbie Harry was just too pretty, because really, she is. I see the cover to Parallel Lines at work pretty often, and I'm always amazed by how good looking she is. The b-side, “Just Go Away,” is well, it's fucking great and gritty and fun and not at all oversaturated. Not that that makes it better. If I took both songs and played them for someone who had never heard them, that person would immediately be like “'One Way Or Another' is so much better!” but in this universe, where “One Way or Another” is totally fucking lame and obnoxious because it's so frequently associated with some horribly un-engaging (is that a word? Disengaging? That doesn't sound right either) film protagonists running from something in a montage. “Just Go Away” rocks and is practically soulful, though, so this 45 earns its keep in the record collection.