"Heart of Glass" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie, written by singer

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

and guitarist

Chris Stein Christopher Stein (born January 5, 1950) is an American musician known as the co-founder and guitarist of the new wave band Blondie. He is also a producer and performer for the classic soundtrack of the hip hop film ''Wild Style'', and writer ...

. It was featured on the band's third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

, ''

Parallel Lines In geometry, parallel lines are coplanar straight lines that do not intersect at any point. Parallel planes are planes in the same three-dimensional space that never meet. ''Parallel curves'' are curves that do not touch each other or int ...

'' (1978), and was released as the album's third single in January 1979 and reached number one on the charts in several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. In December 2004, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' ranked the song number 255 on its list of

the 500 greatest songs of all time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in ...

. It was ranked at number 259 when the list was updated in April 2010 and at number 138 in their 2021 update. ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yo ...

'' placed it at number 42 on their list of the greatest dance songs of all time and ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' named it the 18th best song of the 1970s. "Heart of Glass" ranked at number 66 in the UK's official list of biggest selling singles of all-time, with sales of 1.32 million copies. It was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

as a recording of "qualitative or historical significance" in 2015. Harry herself stated that "Heart of Glass" was, along with "

Rapture The rapture is an Christian eschatology, eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an Eschatology, end-time event when all Christian believers who are alive, along with resurre ...

," the song she was proudest of having written. Harry and Stein sold their future royalties to the song, and the rest of Blondie's catalog, to

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Hipgnosis Songs Fund is a British Guernsey-registered music IP investment and song management company founded by Merck Mercuriadis and Nile Rodgers in 2018. Focused on songs and associated musical intellectual property rights, it was founded o ...

, in 2020.

Background

and

wrote an early version of "Heart of Glass", called "Once I Had a Love", in 1974–75. This earlier version was initially recorded as a demo in 1975. The song had a slower, funkier sound with a basic

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...

beat. For this reason the band referred to it as "The Disco Song". This original version was inspired by

The Hues Corporation The Hues Corporation was an American pop and soul trio, formed in Santa Monica, California in 1969. They are best known for their 1974 single " Rock the Boat", which sold over 2 million copies. Group name and background Before achieving main ...

's hit disco song " Rock the Boat" (1974). The song was re-recorded in a second demo with the same title in 1978, when the song was made a bit more

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

-oriented. Harry said that "'Heart of Glass' was one of the first songs Blondie wrote, but it was years before we recorded it properly. We'd tried it as a ballad, as reggae, but it never quite worked", and that "the lyrics weren't about anyone. They were just a plaintive moan about lost love." It was only when the band met with producer

Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suz ...

to start work on ''Parallel Lines'' that Harry recalled Chapman "asked us to play all the songs we had. At the end, he said: 'Have you got anything else?' We sheepishly said: 'Well, there is this old one.' He liked it – he thought it was fascinating and started to pull it into focus." Exactly who decided to give the song a more pronounced disco vibe is subject to differing recollections. On some occasions, the producer Mike Chapman has stated that he convinced Harry and Stein to give the song a disco twist. On other occasions, Chapman has credited Harry with the idea. As a band, Blondie had experimented with disco before, both in the predecessors to "Heart of Glass" and in live cover songs that the band played at shows. Bassist Gary Valentine noted that the set list for early Blondie shows often included disco hits such as "Honey Bee" or "My Imagination". In an interview published in the February 4, 1978, edition of '' NME'', Debbie Harry expressed her affinity for the

Euro disco Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is the variety of European forms of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the late 1970s, incorporating elements of pop and rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco ...

music of

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the " Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance music. His work with synthesizers had ...

, stating that "It's commercial, but it's good, it says something... that's the kind of stuff that I want to do". A notable example of this type of musical experimentation occurred when Blondie covered

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her musi ...

's " I Feel Love" at the Blitz Benefit on May 7, 1978. In his history of CBGB, music writer Roman Kozak described this event: "When Blondie played for the

Johnny Blitz John Madansky, known as Johnny Blitz, is a punk rock drummer from Cleveland, Ohio, best known as being a member of the bands Dead Boys and Rocket From The Tombs. With the Dead Boys he helped pioneer the punk rock sound, look and attitude of th ...

benefit in May, 1978, they surprised everyone with a rendition of Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love'. It was arguably the first time in New York, in the middle of the great rock versus disco split, that a rock band had played a disco song. Blondie went on to record 'Heart of Glass,' other groups recorded other danceable songs, and dance rock was born." The song was ultimately given the disco orientation that made the song one of the best-known Blondie recordings. For the single release the track was remixed by Chapman, with the double-tracked bass drum even more accentuated. In reflecting on the development of "Heart of Glass" from its earliest incarnations until the recorded version on ''Parallel Lines'', Chris Stein noted that the earliest versions had a basic conventional disco beat, but that the recorded version incorporated the electronic sound of Euro disco, stating that "The original arrangement of 'Heart of Glass'—as on the 975Betrock demos—had doubles on the high-hat cymbals, a more straight-ahead disco beat. When we recorded it for ''Parallel Lines'' we were really into

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize t ...

, and we wanted to make it more electronic. We weren't thinking disco as we were doing it; we thought it was more electro-European." The ''Parallel Lines'' version (as well as most others) contained some rhythmic features that were very unusual for the disco context, which typically follows a strict four-beats-per-measure pattern for maximum danceability. The instrumental interludes in "Heart of Glass", in contrast, consist of (seven-beat)

phrases In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...

, with exception to the last phrase and subsequent

reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repe ...

s of each interlude, which resolve back to eight beats per phrase. The song is associated with the

and new wave genres.

Production

"Heart of Glass" was recorded at the

Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blo ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in June 1978. The production of "Heart of Glass" was discussed in detail by Richard Allinson and

Steve Levine Steve LeVine (born in New York) is a journalist. He writes The Electric, new publicationon batteries, electric vehicles, and their impact on society, cities and geopolitics. He is a senior fellow on the Foresight, Strategy and Risk Initiative at ...

on the

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

radio program ''The Record Producers'' that was aired on May 25, 2009. As explained in the program, the production of "Heart of Glass" was built around the use of a Roland CR-78 drum machine. The CR-78 was first introduced in 1978, the same year that ''Parallel Lines'' was recorded, and the use of this device on "Heart of Glass" was, according to the program, among the earliest uses of this device in popular music. As the program explained, it was also very unusual to use a drum machine in the context of a rock band. In deciding to use the CR-78 for "Heart of Glass", the choice was made to combine the sound of the drum machine with the sound of actual drumming. This reflected the hybrid nature of the song, the combination of a drum machine that was typically used in the context of dance music with the actual drum sound that was a traditional aspect of rock recordings. In combining these elements, the sound of the drum machine was first recorded on an individual track. To synchronize the actual drum play with the drum machine, the drums were also recorded on separate tracks, with the bass drum recorded separately from the rest of the drums. Having combined the drums with the drum machine, another important feature of the CR-78 was that it could be used to send a trigger pulse to the early polyphonic synthesizers. This trigger pulse feature was also used on "Heart of Glass". The trigger pulse created by the CR-78 became a distinctive electronic/synth element of the song. The additional

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

portions of the song were played separately. Other

electronic musical instrument An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into ...

s used in the track include the

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

SH-5 and

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first pop ...

synthesizers. Due to the lack of

music sequencer A music sequencer (or audio sequencer or simply sequencer) is a device or application software that can record, edit, or play back music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically CV/Gate, MIDI, or Open Sound Co ...

s, they recorded three different parts using the SH-5 and Minimoog. For the guitars, each guitar part was again recorded on separate tracks. For the vocals, a single track and a double track of Debbie Harry's voice were combined into a single vocal recording. In an interview in the magazine that is part of the collector's edition for the ninth Blondie studio album ''

Panic of Girls ''Panic of Girls'' is the ninth studio album by the American rock band Blondie. It was the band's first album of new material in nearly 8 years, since 2003's '' The Curse of Blondie''. The album was first released digitally on May 30, 2011, follo ...

'', Debbie Harry explained that band members Chris Stein and Jimmy Destri had purchased the CR-78 from a music store on 47th Street in Manhattan, and that this is how the device had become part of the production of "Heart of Glass": "Chris and Jimmy were always going over to 47th Street where all the music stores were, and one day they came back with this little rhythm box, which went 'tikka tikka tikka'... And the rest is history!" Stein also credited Destri with influencing the song's sound, saying he "had a lot to do with how the record sounds... It was Jimmy who brought in the drum machine and a synthesiser. Synchronising them was a big deal at the time. It all had to be done manually, with every note and beat played in real time rather than looped over."

Release

A 5:50 version of "Heart of Glass" was first released as a

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

in December 1978. Some radio stations in the United States were reluctant to play the song because of the "pain in the ass" lyric, so an edited 7-inch single was released in January 1979. The original album version was released as a single in the UK where the BBC bleeped out the word "ass". Debbie Harry told ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', "At first, the song kept saying: 'Once I had a love, it was a gas. Soon turned out, it was a pain in the ass.' We couldn't keep saying that, so we came up with: 'Soon turned out, had a heart of glass.' We kept one 'pain in the ass' in – and the BBC bleeped it out for radio." The single reached number one on the singles charts in the US and the UK. In the US, the single was certified Gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

in April 1979, representing sales of one million copies. In the UK, it was certified Platinum by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

in February 1979, also for sales of one million copies. It was also certified double platinum in Australia. Despite its overall popularity, "Heart of Glass" was not a hit in

's traditional

discothèques A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gene ...

such as

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater w ...

Xenon Xenon is a chemical element with the symbol Xe and atomic number 54. It is a dense, colorless, odorless noble gas found in Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts. Although generally unreactive, it can undergo a few chemical reactions such as the ...

and

Crisco Disco The Crisco Disco was a New York City discotheque notable in the history of modern dance, LGBT and nightclub cultures. The venue was an important gay club located at 15th Street and 10th Avenue in the "Meatpacking District", a neighborhood in M ...

, and reached only No. 58 in ''Billboard''s Disco Top 80 chart. One of the first rock/

fusion hits, it was more popular in rock-oriented nightclubs such as Hurrah and the

Mudd Club The Mudd Club was a nightclub located at 77 White Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It operated from 1978 to 1983 as a venue for underground music and counterculture events. It was opened by Steve Maas, Die ...

. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' said it is a "synthesizer-based song" that should get Blondie recognized and that "Deborah Harry's vocals are shimmering and inviting." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'', '' Paste'' and ''

'' all named "Heart of Glass" as Blondie's best song. Blondie re-recorded the song for the 2014 2-disc set '' Blondie 4(0) Ever''.

Controversy

At the time, Blondie was one of the bands at the forefront of New York's growing

new wave music New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. Lat ...

scene and were accused of "

selling out "Selling out", or "sold out" in the past tense, is a common expression for the compromising of a person's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles by forgoing the long-term benefits of the collective or group in exchange for personal g ...

" for releasing a disco song. According to Harry, "Heart of Glass" made the band pariahs in the eyes of many of their fellow musicians in the New York music scene. The band was accused of pandering to the mainstream that many punk/new wave bands at the time were actively rebeling against. She also said, "People got nervous and angry about us bringing different influences into rock. Although we'd covered '

Lady Marmalade "Lady Marmalade" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, originally for Nolan's disco group. The song is famous for the repeated refrain of " ''Voulez-vous coucher avec moi''?" in French as part of the chorus, a sexually suggestive line t ...

' and ' I Feel Love' at gigs, lots of people were mad at us for 'going disco' with 'Heart of Glass'...

Clem Burke Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...

, our drummer, refused to play the song live at first. When it became a hit, he said: 'I guess I'll have to.'" Chris Stein was unrepentant about the song's disco sound, saying, "As far as I was concerned, disco was part of R&B, which I'd always liked." Despite the controversy, the song was a huge hit and helped propel Blondie from cult group to mainstream icons. The band itself has acknowledged the success of the song in helping their careers and has downplayed criticism of the song, pointing out that they always experimented with different styles of music and that "Heart of Glass" was their take on disco. The band itself has jokingly taken to referring to the song as "The Disco Song" in interviews. The band also credits the TV sitcom about a radio station, ''

WKRP in Cincinnati ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working ...

'', which played the song on one of their episodes and gave it critical exposure. In gratitude, the band gave the series' producers a

Gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

for the song and it can be seen in the bullpen scenes from the second season to the series' conclusion.

Music video

The "Heart of Glass" promotional video was directed by

Stanley Dorfman Stanley Dorfman (born 24 November 1927) is an English music television director, producer, and painter. He is known as the co-creator and original producer and director of the world's longest running music television series, ''Top of the Pops'' ...

. Contrary to popular belief, it was not filmed at the

nightclub; Chris Stein said that "in the video, there's a shot of the legendary Studio 54, so everyone thought we shot the video there, but it was actually in a short-lived club called the Copa or something". The video begins with footage of

at night before joining Blondie on stage. Then, the video alternates between close-ups of Debbie Harry's face as she lip-syncs and mid-distance shots of the entire band. Harry said, "For the video, I wanted to dance around but they told us to remain static, while the cameras moved around. God only knows why. Maybe we were too clumsy." In the video Harry wears a silver asymmetrical dress designed by Stephen Sprouse. To create the dress, Sprouse photo-printed a picture of television scan lines onto a piece of fabric, and then, according to Harry, "put a layer of cotton fabric underneath and a layer of chiffon on top, and then the scan-lines would do this op-art thing." The popularity of the song helped Sprouse's work earn a lot of exposure from the media. Harry also said that the T-shirts used by the male members of the band in the video were made by herself. "Draped in a sheer, silver Sprouse dress," Kris Needs summarized while writing for ''Mojo Classic'', "Debbie sang through gritted teeth, while the boys cavorted with mirror balls". Studying Harry's attitude in the "effortlessly cool" video, musician and writer Pat Kane felt she "exuded a steely confidence about her sexual impact... The Marilyn do has artfully fallen over, and she's in the funkiest of dresses: one strap across her shoulder, swirling silks around about her. Her iconic face shows flickers of interest, amidst the boredom and ennui of the song's lyrics." Kane also noted that the band members fooling around with disco balls, "taking the mickey out of their own disco fixation." Reviewing the '' Greatest Hits: Sound & Vision'' DVD for ''

'', Jess Harvell wrote that while "owning your own copy of 'Heart of Glass' may not seem as cool nymore.. there's the always luminous Deborah Harry, who would give boiling asparagus an erotic charge, all while looking too bored to live."

Track listings and formats

;UK 7" (CHS 2275) #"Heart of Glass" (

) – 4:12 #"Rifle Range" (Stein, Ronnie Toast) – 3:37 ;UK 12" (CHS 12 2275) #"Heart of Glass" (Disco Version) (Harry, Stein) – 5:50 #"Heart of Glass" (Instrumental) (Harry, Stein) – 5:17 #"Rifle Range" (Stein, Toast) – 3:37 ;Italy 12" (9198 107) #"Heart of Glass" (Long Disco-Version) (Harry, Stein - edited by R. Thorpe) – 9:00 #"Heart of Glass" (Vocal) (Harry, Stein) – 5:50 #"Heart of Glass" (Instrumental) (Harry, Stein) – 5:20 ;US 7" (CHS 2295) #"Heart of Glass" (Harry, Stein) – 3:22 #"11:59" ( Jimmy Destri) – 3:20 ;US 12" (CDS 2275) #"Heart of Glass" (Disco Version) (Harry, Stein) – 5:50 #"Heart of Glass" (Instrumental) (Harry, Stein) – 5:17 ;US 1995 Remix CD (7243 858387 2 9) #"Heart of Glass" (Diddy's Remix Edit) – 3:57 * #"Heart of Glass" (Original Single Version) – 4:12 #"Heart of Glass" (MK 12" Mix) – 7:16 #"Heart of Glass" (Richie Jones Club Mix) – 8:42 #"Heart of Glass" (Diddy's Adorable Illusion Mix) – 7:33 ;UK 1995 Remix CD (7243 882236 2 1) #"Heart of Glass" (Diddy's Adorable Edit) – 3:57 #"Heart of Glass" (Diddy's Adorable Illusion Mix) – 7:33 #"Heart of Glass" (Richie Jones Club Mix) – 8:42 #"Heart of Glass" (MK 12" Mix) – 7:16 #"Heart of Glass" (Original 12" Mix) – 5:50 ** *This mix is identical to the UK ''Diddy's Adorable Edit''. **This is the original 1979 ''Disco Version''.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

¹Remix

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

Remixes and samplings

The first official remix of "Heart of Glass", by

Shep Pettibone Robert "Shep" Pettibone (born 10 July 1959) is an American record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. Career Shep Pettibone surfaced after his work with Arthur Baker on Afrika Bambaataa & the Jazz ...

, appeared on the 1988 Blondie/Debbie Harry

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

compilation '' Once More into the Bleach'' and was a single in some territories. A 1995 remix by Diddy, from the Blondie compilation '' Beautiful: The Remix Album'', reached no. 15 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Picking up on their similarities, the Hood Internet's ABX created a

mashup Mashup may refer to: * Mashup (culture), the rearrangement of spliced parts of musical pieces as part of a subculture * Mashup (education), combining various forms of data and media by a teacher or student in an instructional setting * Mashup (m ...

of "Heart of Glass" and Arcade Fire's new wave-infused " Sprawl II" of 2010. (Harry later joined Arcade Fire in live performances of both songs at the

Coachella Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. It ...

.) Blondie rerecorded the song for the 2014 compilation album ''Greatest Hits Deluxe Redux'', part of the two-disc set '' Blondie 4(0) Ever'', which marked the 40th anniversary of the band forming.

Associates version

In 1988, singer

Billy Mackenzie William MacArthur Mackenzie (27 March 1957 – 22 January 1997) was a Scottish singer and songwriter, known for his distinctive high tenor voice. He was the co-founder and lead vocalist of post-punk and new wave band the Associates. He also h ...

delivered ''The Glamour Chase'', the fourth studio album by the Associates to his record company WEA/Warner who rejected the record. However, they decided to release Mackenzie's cover of "Heart of Glass" as a single. It reached number 56 on the UK Singles chart and was put on ''Popera: The Singles Collection''.

Chart performance

Crabtree Remix (The Handmaid's Tale)

by Daft Beatles (mashup producer Jonas Crabtree) titled "Crabtree Remix" was issued as a single in 2016. It combines elements of "Heart of Glass" and the

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

recording of the second movement of the Violin Concerto by

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive ...

Elisabeth Moss Elisabeth Singleton Moss (born July 24, 1982) is an American actor. She is known for her work in several television dramas, earning such accolades as two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, which led ''Vulture'' to name her the ...

said in an interview for

Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Vice Media. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Refinery29 ...

that she discovered the "Crabtree Remix" while making a playlist to prepare for the role and played it to the show's director Reed Morano. "Reed decided to put in the show during the protest scene, which is the perfect place for it. That song gives me chills just talking about it." The series' costume designer Ane Crabtree also cites the "Crabtree Remix" as an inspiration for creating the iconic Handmaid's look: "Lizzy Moss introduced me to the Philip Glass/Blondie mashup 'Heart of Glass' by Daft Beatles. Listening to it over and over again led to me designing the head gear for the Handmaids".

Gisele and Bob Sinclar version

Background

In 2014, the Brazilian supermodel

Gisele Bündchen Gisele Caroline Bündchen (, , born 20 July 1980) is a Brazilian fashion model. Since 2001, she has been one of the highest-paid models in the world. In 2007, Bündchen was the 16th-richest woman in the entertainment industry and earned th ...

went into the recording studio with French music producer and DJ

Bob Sinclar Christophe Le Friant (; born 10 May 1969), better known by his stage name Bob Sinclar (), is a French record producer, DJ and remixer. He is the owner of the record label Yellow Productions. Musical career A native of Paris, Le Friant began DJ ...

to record a cover version of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" for H&M. She is credited on the single by her mononym Gisele. The song is Gisele's and Sinclar's charity single for the H&M 2014 campaign. Bündchen spoke to the fashion

trade magazine A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry. The collective term for t ...

Women's Wear Daily ''Women's Wear Daily'' (also known as ''WWD'') is a fashion-industry trade journal often referred to as the "Bible of fashion". Horyn, Cathy"Breaking Fashion News With a Provocative Edge" ''The New York Times''. (August 20, 1999). It provides inf ...

'' about the opportunity of working with Sinclar on "Heart of Glass" stating: "I never in a million years thought that I would record a song and to work with a producer like Bob." A year earlier, she had recorded and released a cover version of

the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhyt ...

' " All Day and All of the Night" as her contribution to the H&M 2013 charity campaign.

Reception

The "Heart of Glass" single was issued on the

Ultra Records Ultra Records is an American record label formed in New York City in 1995 by former PolyGram and Virgin Records executive Patrick Moxey. As of December 23, 2012, Ultra entered a global partnership with Sony Music, giving its artists access to ...

label and was officially released on April 29, 2014. The new version turned out to be an international hit charting in a great number of European singles charts including France at number 31, reaching number 73 in Germany, peaking at number 28 in Poland, number 27 in Spain, number 31 in Hungary, number 63 in Austria and at number 16 in Belgium. All proceeds from the song are to go towards helping to raise funds for

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to c ...

. The radio edit single version is available on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

Music video

The "Heart of Glass" music video by Gisele and Bob Sinclar shows her dancing on a beach. The video also features Bündchen's vocal rendition of the song as the supermodel poses in sexy beachwear. The music video made its premiere on the morning television show ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

''.

Track listings and format

;US Digital #"Heart of Glass" (Radio Edit Version) (Debbie Harry, Chris Stein) – 3:04 ;US Digital (UL5303) #"Heart of Glass" (Club Extended) (D. Harry, C. Stein) – 4:16

Chart performance

Miley Cyrus version

American singer

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip hop ...

performed a cover of the song at the 2020 iHeartRadio Music Festival on September 19, 2020. The live performance was released as a single on September 29, 2020, following a high demand from fans. "Heart of Glass" was included on her seventh studio album ''

Plastic Hearts ''Plastic Hearts'' is the seventh studio album by American singer Miley Cyrus. It was released on November 27, 2020, by RCA Records, and was her final album with the label; she signed with Columbia Records in early 2021. Marking a departure fro ...

''.

Reception

Hunter Harris of ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'' called the performance "a throaty, formidable delight". The cover elicited praise from Blondie themselves, with them stating "We think Miley Cyrus nailed it" on their social media.

Track listing and formats

Chart performance

Certifications

References

External links

* (2007) * {{authority control 1978 songs 1979 singles 2014 singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Blondie (band) songs Bob Sinclar songs Cashbox number-one singles Charity singles Chrysalis Records singles Disco songs Miley Cyrus songs Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Switzerland RCA Records singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Songs written by Chris Stein Songs written by Debbie Harry Song recordings produced by Mike Chapman UK Singles Chart number-one singles Ultra Music singles

Background

Production

Release

Controversy

Music video

Track listings and formats

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

Remixes and samplings

Associates version

Chart performance

Crabtree Remix (The Handmaid's Tale)

Gisele and Bob Sinclar version

Background

Reception

Music video

Track listings and format

Chart performance

Miley Cyrus version

Reception

Track listing and formats

Chart performance

Certifications

See also

References

External links