Episode #152 | 11.21.23

Blondie: Punk vs. Disco, Held Hostage by Phil Spector, and Riding with Ted Bundy

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In this episode

Blondie got their start as part of New York’s fertile punk scene in the late ‘70s, a time of great musical innovation. Also a time of great fear. Violent crime had the five boroughs in a stranglehold. Muggers, rapists, thieves, criminal deviants of all stripes ran wild in the streets. Or so they said. True New Yorkers like Blondie were tough, jaded, immune to the fears foisted upon tourists. Blondie’s Debbie Harry, in particular, was not a victim and not a mark. But she nearly became a victim to a soon-to-be infamous serial killer when she accepted a ride from a stranger.

Sources

Face It: A Memoir, by Debbie Harry

Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever, by Will Hermes

The Stranger Beside Me: The Shocking Inside Story of Serial Killer Ted Bundy, by Ann Rule

Defending the Devil: My Story as Ted Bundy’s Last Lawyer, by Polly Nelson

Union ‘Guide’ to ‘Fear City’ Is Banned by a Court Order (NY Times)

Death to Discoshit! (Punk Magazine)

Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.

Credits

Hosted by Jake Brennan.

Written by Zeth Lundy.

Additional writing by Bob Proehl.

Copy edited by James Sullivan.

Scored and mixed by Matt Beaudoin.

Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.

DISGRACELAND theme song, “Crenshaw Space Boogie,” written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava, and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.

*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak