成人快手

With the likes of Take That, James Blunt, Rick Astley and Shania Twain all on the bill, the line-up for Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park on Sunday 10th September is looking legendary.

One of the most thrilling acts set to perform is Blondie, who are returning to Radio 2's "festival in a day" after releasing a brilliant new album earlier this year. It set us off thinking - are there any bands with cooler credentials than Blondie? Even in their fifth decade, we'd say they still trounce most of the opposition in the cred stakes. Here are just some of the reasons why...

Debbie Harry had already worked as a waitress, a Playboy Bunny and a go-go dancer by the time she co-founded Blondie with guitarist Chris Stein, back in 1974.

With her insouciant pout, wild vocals and an icy air of mildly amused detachment, the beautiful singer-songwriter has always been Blondie's magic ingredient. Now 72, Debbie has inspired reverent armies of platinum haired, leopard print clad imitators, and paved the way for strong female artists from Madonna to Shirley Manson of Garbage (who recently went on tour with Blondie.)

"I find it strange to be considered any kind of role model," Debbie told the Mail on Sunday in 2014. "I certainly wasn’t the first female singer to have an attitude and do my own thing. But there was definitely a shift around the time of punk and I was part of that shift. Along with Patti Smith and Siouxsie Sioux, I was changing the way women in bands were perceived. It was a whole new era and we were like warriors. I wasn’t going to be told by my record company how to look."

Blondie made a number of classic albums, but their third record Parallel Lines is something truly seminal. A UK No.1 in 1979, the LP featured the huge pop hits Hanging on The Telephone, Heart of Glass and One Way Or Another.

Recorded in just six seemingly rather tumultuous weeks with producer Chris Chapman, the album saw Blondie rocket from the underground to the big time, marking the moment that punk and new wave sounds hit the mainstream.

Blondie started out in the 1970s New York punk and new wave scene, but they soon became known for fearless musical experimentation.

In 1980 Call Me saw them working with iconic Italian disco producer Giorgio Moroder, while their classic reggae cover The Tide Is High also topped the charts. In the same year, Rapture became the first US No.1 single to feature rap, with lyrics namechecking hip-hop pioneers Fab 5 Freddy and Grandmaster Flash.

Their genre-bending 2017 album Pollinator shows Blondie are still musical innovators.

For their latest album Pollinator, Blondie hooked up with the coolest names in the music industry to create a collaborative sound that's fresh and modern - but unmistakably, classically Blondie at the same time. TV on the Radio's David Sitek, Johnny Marr, Sia, Charli XCX and Dev Hynes were all involved.

“Their material is part of us and we are part of them”, Debbie said about the band's collaborators, at the announcement of the record. “It’s a celebration of recycling!”

Rubbing shoulders with the likes of The Ramones, Talking Heads and Andy Warhol (who famously made artwork featuring Debbie), Blondie were at the forefront of a 1970s downtown New York music and pop culture scene so edgy and cool it obsesses us to this day.

New York at the time was crime-riddled, dangerous and run-down, but an underground art and music scene was swelling. The band played at the famous hardcore club CBGB, where anything-goes nights at the grungey venue would go on to become legendary.

We all love a survivor, and Blondie have well and truly been through the mill - but made it out triumphant the other side. They first split up back in 1982, but came back in 1997, and have now enjoyed a far longer second round of success than they ever experienced in the first place. In 1999 their song Maria hit the UK No.1, exactly 20 years after Heart of Glass.

Before the split and in the intervening years, the band went through drug abuse, in-fighting and financial difficulties. Chris was diagnosed with the life-threatening auto-immune skin disease pemphigus vulgaris, with then-girlfriend Debbie putting her career on hold to care for him, but has since recovered.

While some former members have left Blondie, Debbie, Chris and original drummer Clem Burke are all still part of the gang. Meanwhile Debbie and Chris, who were romantic partners for many years but are now a creative team and the best of friends, are model examples of how to get on with (and even work with!) your ex.

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You can watch Radio 2 Live In Hyde Park 2017 both during the event and afterwards on the Radio 2 website, or through the red button.