Face It: A Memoir
by Debbie Harry (HarperCollins, 2019)
audiobook read by Debbie Harry (Jammer Audiobooks, 2020)
Like many memoirs, this focusses disproportionately on the early years—particularly the New York punk scene of the 1970s, for which Harry has a nostalgic fondness (without romanticising). Her account reveals a learn-as-you-go approach to life, reflected upon without pretence or dissembling.
Blondie: Against the Odds
by Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti; ill. Montos (Z2 Comics, 2023)
A trippy graphic-novel biopic one-sixth showcasing the squalor of 1970s New York and then the early lives of Debbie Harry and Chris Stein (ignoring the other band members), and five-sixths devoted to imaginative if highly tenuous explorations of fourteen famous Blondie songs.
Russian Doll, Season 1
(Netflix, 2019)
Groundhog Day meets Sliding Doors, only darker. Russian Doll is jarringly self-indulgent in the early episodes but comes into its own once the glorification of New York eases off (allowing for a proper exploration of concept). Natasha Lyonne rocks the lead role.
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (Libretto)
by Peter Gabriel (1974)
Lyrically obscure, Genesis’ double LP concept album required explication; yet Gabriel’s sleeve notes (including perversely rhymed mood digressions) are themselves abstruse and only through resolute scrutiny reveal anything of the young Puerto Rican Rael’s surreal nightmare of discovery within New York City.
Flight of the Conchords, Season 1
(HBO, 2007)
Centred around the eponymous New Zealand comedy duo’s fictionalised (non-)attempts to crack New York’s music scene, Flight of the Conchords evoked The Goodies (but with deadpan drollery), or Spinal Tap (with real musicians), quickly earning cult status… if only in real life.