Blondie Still En'Rapture'd

05/14/1999 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Lyndsey Parker

(5/14/99, 1 p.m. PDT) - In 1980, new wave pioneers Blondie introduced much of mainstream America to a burgeoning new musical artform called rap, scoring one of the genre's first major hit singles with "Rapture." Almost two decades later, the recently reunited band is still dabbling in hip-hop, performing onstage with members of the Wu-Tang Clan and collaborating with Coolio on the title track of its comeback album, No Exit. Blondie guitarist/ co-founder Chris Stein is proud to say he was a proponent of urban music early on; and now, at the turn of the millennium, he believes rap is more vital and important than ever before. He certainly finds it more valid than today's rock music.

"Over the last four or five months, I'm really trying to figure out this urban-contemporary scene, because rock 'n' roll really seems kind of defunct in a way. Rock 'n' roll has lost so much edge and mystery. I really wonder if I was a young kid if I would be drawn into it at all, because it's so mainstream," he ponders. "Rock 'n' roll has become the background for reality. It's everywhere; it's on milk commercials and everything! The racial aspect makes all this urban music still dangerous to the white suburban majority out there. Which is sad, but racism in this country goes very deep, and God knows how long before that sh-t goes away. You know, a [white] kid comes home dressed like Marilyn Manson, the parents go, 'Ooh, ah, he looks funny!' But if he comes home with a hip-hop outfit on, they start freaking out."

Stein believes it's this element of danger that makes rap "the new psychedelic music. There's a lack of repetition in it that's interesting. I'm seeing a lot of hope for the future in the kids that are in their twenties, as opposed to the ones that are in their thirties and forties. I think if there's any kind of return to '60s sensibilities of social consciousness and revolution, I think it's going to align with the younger kids now."

Speaking of social consciousness, Blondie will play at one of four Tibetan Freedom concerts being held on June 13 (LAUNCH, 4/16). The veteran group will perform at the American concert (simultaneous Tibetan concerts will take place in Tokyo, Sydney, and Amsterdam) at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wis., on a hip-hop-heavy bill that includes the Beastie Boys, Biz Markie, OutKast, the Roots, and Run-DMC.

Features on Blondie, Marilyn Manson, and the Roots are available now on LAUNCH.com. A transcript of an exclusive LAUNCH.com chat with Coolio is also available.

-- Lyndsey Parker, Los Angeles

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