The drug interpretation is always the easiest, but I honestly think this song is about the end of disco.
Lots of references to disco culture, and there's a definite disco beat in the song. Debbie Harry got her start in disco, so it's not surprising that she would use a disco beat, but look at the references - sacroiliac is a pelvic joint, finger popping is that infamous disco move Travolta is doing on the cover of Saturday Night Fever, all of the mentions of bars where people meet and dance. Then the stuff about tea-time technology and the digital (ardour or whatever) which is a fun, slightly psychedelic way of saying that new digital technology is moving music forward. "Have your party on TV" refers to how music was getting a huge presence on TV with music videos (remember that MTV was NOT the first channel ever to show a music video, and their first video was "Video Killed the Radio Star", which is ALREADY about the same phenomenon to which Blondie's line refers).
So my interpretation is the end of disco and with it the disco and cruising cultures being "eaten" by our own move forward in tastes and technology.
@supergeekgirl Curious as to how/where you came to the conclusion that "Debbie Harry got her start in disco"! Her first recorded album is with the hippie folk band Wind in the Willows in the 60s (pre-disco). By the time disco was starting (early 70s), she was with Chris and in the Stilettos (bar rock/proto-punk) and various early versions of Blondie. For a band that came out of the hippie era and got its start in the premiere punk bar CBGBs, I'd have to disagree with your statement.
@supergeekgirl Curious as to how/where you came to the conclusion that "Debbie Harry got her start in disco"! Her first recorded album is with the hippie folk band Wind in the Willows in the 60s (pre-disco). By the time disco was starting (early 70s), she was with Chris and in the Stilettos (bar rock/proto-punk) and various early versions of Blondie. For a band that came out of the hippie era and got its start in the premiere punk bar CBGBs, I'd have to disagree with your statement.
I also was lost at your "finger popping is that infamous disco move" line. Finger popping is just snapping your fingers. The dance Travolta did was the Brooklyn Shuffle.
"Have your party on TV" seems to me to be a clear reference to NYC public access show by Paul Tschinkel called Inner-Tube; which Chris and Debbie were on quite a bit and I think even hosted several times.
My general interpretation of the song is that it's about vapid consumerism and the dull conformity of the disco/pop culture itself, not disco music. But, there's also a lot of goofy, throw-away lines just for fun. Maybe none of it is really that deep?
The drug interpretation is always the easiest, but I honestly think this song is about the end of disco.
Lots of references to disco culture, and there's a definite disco beat in the song. Debbie Harry got her start in disco, so it's not surprising that she would use a disco beat, but look at the references - sacroiliac is a pelvic joint, finger popping is that infamous disco move Travolta is doing on the cover of Saturday Night Fever, all of the mentions of bars where people meet and dance. Then the stuff about tea-time technology and the digital (ardour or whatever) which is a fun, slightly psychedelic way of saying that new digital technology is moving music forward. "Have your party on TV" refers to how music was getting a huge presence on TV with music videos (remember that MTV was NOT the first channel ever to show a music video, and their first video was "Video Killed the Radio Star", which is ALREADY about the same phenomenon to which Blondie's line refers).
So my interpretation is the end of disco and with it the disco and cruising cultures being "eaten" by our own move forward in tastes and technology.
@supergeekgirl I like your interpretation. I don’t think that’s what she meant, but I like it.
@supergeekgirl I like your interpretation. I don’t think that’s what she meant, but I like it.
@supergeekgirl Curious as to how/where you came to the conclusion that "Debbie Harry got her start in disco"! Her first recorded album is with the hippie folk band Wind in the Willows in the 60s (pre-disco). By the time disco was starting (early 70s), she was with Chris and in the Stilettos (bar rock/proto-punk) and various early versions of Blondie. For a band that came out of the hippie era and got its start in the premiere punk bar CBGBs, I'd have to disagree with your statement.
@supergeekgirl Curious as to how/where you came to the conclusion that "Debbie Harry got her start in disco"! Her first recorded album is with the hippie folk band Wind in the Willows in the 60s (pre-disco). By the time disco was starting (early 70s), she was with Chris and in the Stilettos (bar rock/proto-punk) and various early versions of Blondie. For a band that came out of the hippie era and got its start in the premiere punk bar CBGBs, I'd have to disagree with your statement.
I also was lost at your "finger popping is that infamous disco move" line. Finger popping is just snapping your fingers. The dance Travolta did was the Brooklyn Shuffle.
"Have your party on TV" seems to me to be a clear reference to NYC public access show by Paul Tschinkel called Inner-Tube; which Chris and Debbie were on quite a bit and I think even hosted several times.
My general interpretation of the song is that it's about vapid consumerism and the dull conformity of the disco/pop culture itself, not disco music. But, there's also a lot of goofy, throw-away lines just for fun. Maybe none of it is really that deep?