Reviews

Debbie Harry and Blondie: Picture This by Debbie Harry, Mick Rock

carmenere's review against another edition

3.0

For the first 185 pages I thoroughly enjoyed this pictography featuring photos of Debbie Harry circa 1976ish to 1979 with narrative supplied by author/photographer, Mick Rock. I loved reliving the musical exuberance and relative innocence which Blondie exuded in the late 1970's. The photo's are little known shots from photo shoots done by Rock which he sold to magazines.
Sadly, the iconic Parallel Lines album cover was not one of them.
After page 185, the reader is propelled to the future fates of Rock and the diminishing notoriety of Harry. Brought together once again in the early 2000's, one is reminded that sometimes you just can not relive a time gone by and in some respects, no matter how hard one tries, the magic isn't the same.

maggierachael's review against another edition

2.0

The photos in this are gorgeous, and I’m glad I bought it because I adore Debbie with my whole heart, but Rock should’ve stuck to just publishing pictures instead of writing copy. Everything he says about Debbie is leering, creepy, and overtly sexual. I get it, as a photographer one can become very focused on how a person looks because you’re concerned about photos. However, 95% of the copy of this book was just Rock talking about how sexy Debbie was in the 70s as opposed to highlighting literally anything else about her - her brains, her tenacity, her sense of humor, anything. Every sentence was just him sexualizing her. The other 5% of the book was simply him discussing the ridiculous amount of drugs he was on in the 70s, making the copy completely pointless, as it did nothing to supplement the photos. Rock is a great photographer, but he’s always given me whack ass vibes and this book just confirms that. Unless you’re a massive Blondie fan and want the book for the photos, I’d probably stay away from this.