Early in 1977, Blondie gained massive exposure by opening for David Bowie and Iggy Pop on Pop’s North American tour for The Idiot. Bowie and Pop personally invited the band after hearing their debut record. The band traveled to Los Angeles for a legendary series of shows at the Whisky a Go Go, which prompted the famous 1977 photoshoot beneath the Hollywood Sign.
Captured by music photographer Richard Creamer, the session remains a definitive visual artifact of the late 1970s punk and new wave movement. The shoot took place on the steep, brush-covered hillsides of Mount Lee directly beneath the massive letters. What makes this session visually unique is that the letters were visibly weathered, peeling, and deteriorating, just a year before the original structure was completely demolished and rebuilt in late 1978.
While still largely an underground act in the U.S., Blondie achieved their very first commercial breakthrough in Australia late in 1977. A music television show accidentally played their track “In the Flesh” instead of another song, propelling it and the band to the top of the Australian charts.
The band had released their self-titled debut album, Blondie, in December 1976 via Private Stock Records. However, disappointed by the label’s weak promotion and poor sales, they sought a exit. In September 1977, Blondie bought back their contract and signed a major-label deal with British imprint Chrysalis Records. Chrysalis immediately re-released the debut album in October 1977 to wider distribution.
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