The best No 1 records: Blondie – Atomic

1980: Upping the ante at the start of the decade were the brightest of the US new wave brigadeSome contend that Atomic is a pallid retread of Blondie's first UK No 1, Heart of Glass. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Both fused rock and dance music, but HoG was a straightforward love song, while Atomic was ambiguous: an outer shell of synth and guitar twang concealing a dark core of sleaze and insinuation. That was my febrile interpretation when I first heard it, anyway, and it has the same effect on me to t...

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