"Atomic" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band Blondie from their fourth studio album, ''

Eat to the Beat ''Eat to the Beat'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Blondie, released on September 28, 1979, by Chrysalis Records. The album spent a year on the US ''Billboard'' 200, peaking at , and was one of ''Billboard''s top 10 albums ...

'' (1979). Written by

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 (band), Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1 ...

and

Jimmy Destri Jimmy Destri (born James Mollica, April 13, 1954) is an American musician, and the original and longest-serving keyboardist for the band Blondie. Background Destri is of Italian descent. His father was a novelist who also wrote screenplays an ...

and produced by Mike Chapman, the song was released in February 1980 as the album's third single. "Atomic" is widely considered one of Blondie's best songs. In 2017, ''

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 advertis ...

'' ranked the song number six on their list of the 10 greatest Blondie songs, and in 2021, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' ranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Blondie songs.

Composition

"Atomic" was composed by

and

, who (in the book ''1000 UK #1 Hits'' by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh) stated, "He was trying to do something like ' Heart of Glass', and then somehow or another we gave it the

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

treatment. Before that it was just lying there like a lox. The lyrics, well, a lot of the time I would write while the band were just playing the song and trying to figure it out. I would just be scatting along with them and I would just start going, 'Ooooooh, your hair is beautiful.'" The word ''atomic'' in the song carries no fixed meaning and functions as a signifier of power and

futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...

. The song was produced as a mixture of new wave,

and

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

which had proven to be so successful in their number-one single from earlier in 1979, "Heart of Glass". It is written in E natural minor. ''

'' described "Atomic" as an " electronic enhanced

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

number" in which the vocals blend with the instrumental music. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is 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 online ...

'' said that it continues "the rock-dance fission, or rather fusion, with '60s inspired surf guitars and ground zero drumming." The 1980 single version of "Atomic" was a remix. The original 4:35 version as featured on the albums ''

'' and 1981's '' The Best of Blondie'' opens with an intro inspired by the nursery rhyme "

Three Blind Mice "Three Blind Mice" is an English nursery rhyme and musical round.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 306. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3753. ...

" and includes an instrumental break with a bass guitar solo. The 7″ version mixed by Mike Chapman omits the "Three Blind Mice" intro and replaces the instrumental break with a repeat of the verse.

Release and reception

The song was released in February 1980 and became the band's third number one in the UK Singles Chart, where it held the top spot for two weeks. ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' called it an "electronic dancer." It reached the Top 40 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in Spring 1980. The B-side was "Die Young, Stay Pretty", also from the album ''Eat to the Beat'', a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

-influenced track, a style the band would perform again in their global chart-topper "

The Tide Is High "The Tide Is High" is a 1967 rocksteady song written by John Holt, originally produced by Duke Reid and performed by the Jamaican group the Paragons, with Holt as lead singer. The song gained international attention in 1980, when a cover versi ...

". The UK 12" single contained a live cover version of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's " Heroes" featuring

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is an English musician, composer, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session mu ...

on guitar recorded at

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Hammersmith Odeon The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...

just a month before. The track was included on 1993's rarities compilation, '' Blonde and Beyond''. "Atomic" was remixed and re-released in the UK in September 1994 where it peaked at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart. The subsequent April 1995 US release reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Dance/Club Play Chart. The 1994 remix was included on the compilations '' The Platinum Collection'', '' Beautiful - The Remix Album'' and '' Remixed Remade Remodeled - The Remix Project''. The track was remixed again four years later for the UK compilation '' Atomic - The Very Best of Blondie'' and the '98 Xenomania mix was later included on the first '' Queer as Folk''

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

album. In 2014, Blondie re-recorded the song for their compilation album ''Greatest Hits Deluxe Redux''. The compilation was part of a 2-disc set called '' Blondie 4(0) Ever'' which included their tenth studio album, '' Ghosts of Download'', and marked the 40th anniversary of the forming of the band. In 2017, ''Billboard'' ranked the song number six on their list of the 10 greatest Blondie songs, and in 2021, ''

'' ranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Blondie songs.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Atomic" depicts the band performing on stage at what looks like a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

in which Debbie Harry is wearing a garbage bag as a punkish futuristic costume. The audience at the club are also dressed in suitably futuristic costumes, and footage of a horseman with the "Blondie: in the disco" New Year's concert advertisement.* The billboards show as following: (in Thai) (Green Spot logo) กรีนสปอต และ ไนท์สปอต ขอเชิญชม BLONDIE IN THE DISCO ณ คอนแวนชั่นฮอลล์ โรงแรมแอมบาสเดอร์ วันที่ 31 ธ.ค. - 1 ม.ค. (1978) จองบัตรได้ที่ ไนท์สปอต ถนนวิทยุ - โรงแรมแอมบาสเดอร์ and an atomic explosion are also intercut. The video features late supermodel Gia Carangi dancing. The horse "valet" seen in the opening is played by

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

Track listing

* UK 7" (Chrysalis CHS 2410) * US 7" (Chrysalis CHS 2410) # "Atomic" (7" Mix) ( Deborah Harry,

) – 3:48 # "Die Young Stay Pretty" (Deborah Harry,

Chris Stein Christopher Stein (born January 5, 1950) is an American musician and songwriter 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 St ...

) – 3:27 * UK 12" (Chrysalis CHS 12 2410) # "Atomic" (7" Mix) (Deborah Harry, Jimmy Destri) – 3:48 # "Die Young Stay Pretty" (Deborah Harry, Chris Stein) – 3:27 # " Heroes" (Live) (

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

) – 6:28 (Recorded live at The

, on January 12, 1980. Produced by C. Stein, J. Destri and P. Maloney.) * UK 1994 Remix CD1 (7243 8 81661 2 6) #"Atomic" (Diddy's Edit) – 4:10 #"Atomic" (Diddy's 12" Mix) – 6:54 #"Atomic" (Diddy's Push The Button Mix) – 6:06 #"Atomic" (Boom Mix) – 5:49 #"Atomic" (New Disco Mix) – 7:56 * UK 1994 Remix CD2 (7243 8 81662 2 5) #"Atomic" (Diddy's Edit) – 4:10 #" Sunday Girl" – 3:01 #" Union City Blue" – 3:18 #"Atomic" (Original 1980 7" Edit) – 3:50 * US 1995 Remix CD (7243 8 58340 2 8) #"Atomic" (Diddy's Remix Edit) – 4:10 * #"Atomic" (Original Single Version) – 3:50 ** #"Atomic" (Diddy's 12" Mix) – 6:54 #"Atomic" ( Armand's Atomizer Mix) – 9:00 #"Atomic" (Explosive Ecstasy Mix) – 5:50 #"Atomic" (Beautiful Drum and Bass Mix) – 7:43 #"Atomic" (New Disco Mix) – 7:56 #"Slow Motion" (Stripped Down Motown Mix) – 3:30 (* Identical to the UK ''Diddy's Edit'' version.) (** Identical to the UK ''Original 1980 7" Edit'' version.)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Party Animals version

"Atomic" was covered by Dutch group Party Animals and released as the fifth single from their second album, ''[email protected]'' (1997). The song was released in 1997 and was a minor success in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. The song is a cover version of the Blondie song recorded with a

gabber Gabber ( ; ) is a style of electronic dance music and a subgenre of Hardcore (electronic dance music genre), hardcore, as well as the surrounding subculture. The music is more commonly referred to as hardcore, and is characterised by fast beats ...

beat. The song peaked at number 8 in the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...

Track listing

# "Atomic" (Flamman & Abraxas radio mix) – 3:31 # "Mocht Ik onder het Hakkûh Bezwijken" – 5:32 # "Atom-X" – 4:52 # "Total Smash" – 5:15

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In other media

The song was also covered by the British rock band Sleeper which was featured in the ''Trainspotting'' soundtrack.

References

External links

* Allmusic.com ''Eat to the Beat'' article
Blondie discography
* Garry Mulholland, ''This is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles since Punk and Disco'' Cassell Illustrated 2004 page 116 {{authority control 1979 songs 1980 singles 1997 singles Blondie (band) songs Party Animals (music group) songs UK singles chart number-one singles Songs written by Debbie Harry Songs written by Jimmy Destri Song recordings produced by Mike Chapman Chrysalis Records singles

Composition

Release and reception

Music video

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Party Animals version

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In other media

See also

References

External links