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Before “Heart of Glass”, This 1975 Blondie Demo Predicted Their Disco Takeover
“Heart of Glass” is undoubtedly one of Blondie’s biggest hits. The disco-infused anthem of lost love was officially released as a single in 1979 after appearing on Parallel Lines the year before, but its foundations are much older. Tucked away for years, the 1975 demo of the song, then titled “Once I Had A Love (AKA The Disco Song),” eventually resurfaced on a reissue decades after its recording.
The hidden demo, released on the 2001 version of Plastic Letters, offers fans a rare glimpse into the band’s creative evolution. “Once I Had A Love (AKA The Disco Song)” is slower, funkier, and rawer than the polished reinvention, revealing how dramatically Blondie reshaped “Heart of Glass.” The contrast is audibly fascinating, but paints a bigger picture of Debbie Harry’s fearless instincts and embrace of experimentation.
Before “Heart of Glass” Came Blondie’s Lost 1975 Demo: “Once I Had A Love (AKA The Disco Song)”
Debbie Harry and fellow Blondie bandmate Chris Stein actually first wrote what would become “Heart of Glass” in 1974-75. The initial version was recorded as a demo in 1975 and remained a public mystery until 2001, when it was released on a reissue of Blondie’s second studio album, Plastic Letters. The song is featured under its first working title of “Once I Had A Love (AKA The Disco Song),” taken from the lyrics and its musical influences. Harry shared that the eventual “‘Heart of Glass’ was one of the first songs Blondie wrote, but it was years before we recorded it properly. We’d tried it as a ballad, as reggae, but it never quite worked.”
This version, “Once I Had A Love (AKA The Disco Song),” of the future hit is much slower, with a funkier and more straightforward beat than the version we all know and love. Its feature on the 2001 reissue of Plastic Letters was an early display that Blondie’s experimental rearrangements were paying off. Perhaps the starkest difference, though, is the use of an acoustic drum set as opposed to the drum machine in the Parallel Lines version of “Heart of Glass.” The beat from the real instrument rather than its electronic counterpart gives the song a much more relaxed atmosphere and highlights the grooviness of the scattered, almost-reggae-sounding electric guitars in the mix.
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The release of the 1975 demo of “Once I Had A Love (AKA The Disco Song)” on the reissue of Plastic Letters is a true insight into the evolution of Blondie and how they developed their sound as they approached the release of one of their most beloved hits. In sharing “Once I Had A Love (AKA The Disco Song)” with the world, we have been afforded access to the past and how it influenced the future of the band. It really is a gift to Blondie’s fans by allowing them a glimpse into the demo stages and the behind-the-scenes happenings of the mid-1970s.
From Disco To New Wave: How Blondie Reinvented “Heart of Glass”
In 1978, “Once I Had A Love (AKA The Disco Song)” was rerecorded to ultimately be a little more pop-oriented. Guitarist Stein shared that “When we recorded it for Parallel Lines, we were really into Kraftwerk, and we wanted to make it more electronic. We weren’t thinking disco as we were doing it; we thought it was more electro-European.” This redirection also explains why Blondie dropped the parentheses of “AKA The Disco Song.” The development of electronic elements as a diversion from disco to rebrand as “electro-European” is quite ironic. Disco tracks did use drum machines, and Blondie’s version emphasized programmed electronic beats inspired by Kraftwerk, diverging from the 1975 live drum demo. Maybe it’s just me, and Debbie Harry, but you don’t need to camouflage disco as anything else in order for it to be cool. A tune’s a tune.
Speaking about disco and the implied stigma against it, Harry herself said that “It’s commercial, but it’s good, it says something… that’s the kind of stuff that I want to do.” What is so groundbreaking about this statement is that Harry does not make commercial success and good quality music mutually exclusive. Harry perfectly bridged the gap of this, let’s face it, absurd implication and allowed her work to be fun and have artistic integrity. The success of the song only goes to show that sticking to your guns and giving power to your own authenticity often pays off.
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The acknowledgment of the disco influence in the initial title of the song shows how Blondie was never afraid of the genre. The power of the band is their fearlessness and refusal to adhere to any rules. There is great irony in alternative genres like punk, rock, and new wave in that their rebellious existence relies on a set of unspoken rules, guidelines to follow if you want to be part of the club. But Blondie rejected that with “Once I Had A Love (AKA The Disco Song)” by proudly accepting its sonic foundations.
The journey from “Once I Had A Love (AKA The Disco Song)” to “Heart of Glass” captures exactly what made Blondie so compelling: a refusal to stand still. The journey between the two versions doesn’t simply map the song’s evolution but also charts the reshaping of the band’s identity. What began as a shy experiment ended as a cultural phenomenon showing that, when done boldly, reinvention is its own form of authenticity.