The mid-to-late seventies were a great time for punk. An unvoiced rebellion finally found its eloquence wearing ripped denim and filling CBGB & OMFUG (Joey Ramone having convinced the owner to let punk bands play there instead of just country, bluegrass, and blues acts).

Punk was fresh, it was real, and most importantly, no one knew what punk was supposed to sound like yet. Whenever I hear Heart of Glass between Brothers and Allman on the oldies station (my town’s radio stations are weird), I shake my head incredulously muttering, “these guys used to play with the Ramones.” And Television too, but Television isn’t exactly what you think of when you think of punk either.

But back in 1978, Blondie (who was a band, not a singer) was just as much a part of the punk scene as Patti Smith and Talking Heads (the line between punk and new wave was REALLY blurry back then). Even if you weren’t aware of Parallel Lines’ cultural context, there are some clues sprinkled across what might otherwise sound like an excellent pop rock record, like Debbie Harry’s inimitable growl on “One Way or Another”, her purring over a single floor tom on “Fade Away (and Radiate),” and the buzzsaw guitars that run through the excellent opener “Hanging on the Telephone” and the moodswinging “Will Anything Happen?” But just because they were staples at CBGB doesn’t mean they couldn’t play great pop tunes. The album teeters between sarcastic punk sneering and earnest, even gentle pop song, and there isn’t a not-great song on here. “Sunday Girl” is a delightful track that channels early Cars, but no where is Blondie better than on the eternal hit “Heart of Glass” (which I have in my very small collection of singles). Everybody knows how much the punks hated disco, so I don’t think I have to mention how punk rock it was for Blondie to write a disco song that was awesome. And so while now, long past the Refused showed us the Shape of Punk to Come and everyone decided they were right (read: ripped them off), we may not all agree that Parallel Lines is a punk record, but at least we can all agree it is an excellent record.