Rapture

Blondie threw an unexpected curveball into Autoamerican with Rapture. It wasn’t just another new wave track: in 1980, when the album was recorded in Los Angeles, the band fused funk, disco, and something that sounded like the future in New York: rap. The detail that makes it unique lies in that spoken bridge, where Debbie Harry and Fab 5 Freddy trade verses like a street rhyme game. Stein built the foundation with a fast-paced rhythm and tubular bells that give it a mysterious air, as if the song came from another planet—literally, since the chorus mentions a man from Mars. The genre-blending wasn’t accidental: Harry and Stein had spent nights in the Bronx watching MCs freestyle over Chic records, and decided to bring that energy into the studio.

The track was released in January 1981 as the second single from the album, following The Tide Is High. In the United States, it sold a million copies and topped the Billboard Hot 100, a historic feat: it was the first rap-vocals song to reach that position. In the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, it also entered the top 5. The original recording was slower and more minimalist—just bass, drums, and guitar doubling the line—but Stein sped it up, giving it the urgency that still sounds ahead of its time. The video, shot in the East Village, is another key piece: Debbie Harry dances through the streets in a white voodoo suit, while cameos from Fab 5 Freddy, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and even a goat appear. The 7" version for the United Kingdom even used an alternate track, Yuletide Throwdown, with Freddy rapping. In 2021, the band revived that version for an archival project, and in 2022 included it in Against The Odds: 1974–1982.