"Strike Me Pink" | ||||
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Single by Deborah Harry | ||||
from the album Debravation | ||||
Released | 1993 | |||
Recorded | 1993 | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Length | 4:02 | |||
Label | Chrysalis Records (UK) | |||
Songwriter(s) | Deborah Harry, Anne Dudley, Jonathan Bernstein | |||
Producer(s) | Anne Dudley | |||
Deborah Harry singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
Strike Me Pink |
"Strike Me Pink" is a song by American singer-songwriter Debbie Harry, released in 1993 as the second single from her fourth solo album, Debravation (1993). The song was written by Harry, Anne Dudley and Jonathan Bernstein, and produced by Dudley.
"Strike Me Pink" peaked at #46 on the UK Singles Chart in September 1993, [1] and #136 on the Australian ARIA singles chart. [2]
The accompanying promo video for the single was controversial because it depicted Harry watching a man drown in a tank. The video was banned from several music television channels. [3]
The single also marked Harry's final release with Chrysalis Records and the end of her long tenure with the company (she had originally signed with Chrysalis in the mid 1970s as part of Blondie). This would also be Harry's last solo single for fourteen years until she released "Two Times Blue" in 2007.
In a review of Debravation , The Advocate selected "Strike Me Pink" as "the best cut by far", adding that it evokes Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time". Entertainment Weekly picked the song as one of the album's "gems", [4] while the Chicago Tribune highlighted it as an example of one of the album's "light and airy" tracks. [5]
In a review of the song's UK single release, Alan Jones from Music Week gave it three out of five, writing, "Strangely redolent of Liza Minnelli's "So Sorry, I Said", "Strike Me Pink" is all muted horns, swirly synths and dreamy vocals. Melodic, with a pleasing lilt of a chorus repeated at regular intervals. How can it miss?" [6] John Harris of NME criticized it as "an insipid dance-ballad that sounds like one of the songs they used to play in Miami Vice when Don Johnson got laid". [7]
In the 1997 book The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock, author Ira A. Robbins described the song as "mushy elegance". [8] In their 2012 book Blondie: Parallel Lives, authors Dick Porter and Kris Needs described the song as an "emotive keyboard and sax-infused ballad". [3] JT Griffith of AllMusic criticized the song for being "bland" and "not a strong track from [Harry's] weak solo effort". [9] Kris Needs of Record Collector felt it was "haunting", with Dudley "lending her cinematic sheen" to the song. [10]
Chart (1993) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [2] | 136 |
UK Singles (OCC) [1] | 46 |
Blondie is an American rock band co-founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein in 1974. The band was a pioneer in the American new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York City. Their first two albums contained strong elements of punk and new wave, and although highly successful in the UK and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the US until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next four years, the band released several hit singles including "Dreaming", "One Way or Another", "Heart of Glass," "Call Me," "Atomic," "The Tide Is High," and "Rapture". The band became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles, also incorporating elements of disco, pop, reggae, and early rap music.
"Call Me" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie and the theme to the 1980 film American Gigolo. Produced and composed by Italian musician Giorgio Moroder, with lyrics by Blondie singer Debbie Harry, the song appeared in the film and was released in the United States in early 1980 as a single. "Call Me" was No. 1 for six consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it became the band's biggest single and second No. 1. It also hit No. 1 in the UK and Canada, where it became their fourth and second chart-topper, respectively. In the year-end chart of 1980, it was Billboard's No. 1 single and RPM magazine's No. 3 in Canada.
"Denise" is a song written by Neil Levenson that was inspired by his childhood friend, Denise Lefrak. In 1963, it became a popular top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, when recorded by the American doo-wop group Randy & the Rainbows. A cover version by the American new wave group Blondie, re-titled "Denis", hit number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in 1978. Dutch actress and singer Georgina Verbaan covered "Denis" in 2002 and reached number 30 on the Dutch Singles Chart.
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"Atomic" is a song by American rock band Blondie from their fourth studio album, Eat to the Beat (1979). Written by Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri and produced by Mike Chapman, the song was released in February 1980 as the album's third single.
Autoamerican is the fifth studio album by American rock band Blondie. It was released in November 1980 and reached No. 3 in the UK charts, No. 7 in the US, and No. 8 in Australia. The album spawned two singles from this album, "The Tide Is High" and "Rapture". "The Tide Is High" hit number one in several countries, including the US and the UK. "Rapture" became the first rap song ever to reach number one on the singles chart in the US. It also reached number five in the UK and number four in Australia.
Rockbird is the second solo studio album by American singer Debbie Harry. It was released in November 1986 by Geffen Records in the United States and Chrysalis Records in the United Kingdom.
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"Free to Fall" is a song by American singer Debbie Harry from her second solo studio album, Rockbird (1986). It was released as the second single in the United States and the United Kingdom. Suffering from lack of record company promotion, the single failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 or any other significant U.S. chart, and peaked at number 46 on the UK Singles Chart. The B-side to the single, "Feel the Spin", was a previous U.S. dance hit from the soundtrack to the film Krush Groove.
"Backfired" is the debut solo single from American singer and Blondie vocalist Debbie Harry. Released in 1981, it was taken from her debut solo studio album, KooKoo.
"Dreaming" is a song by American new wave band Blondie. Released in 1979, the song was the opening track from their fourth album Eat to the Beat. Written by guitarist Chris Stein and singer Debbie Harry and partially inspired by ABBA's "Dancing Queen," the song also features an active drum performance by drummer Clem Burke, who did not expect the final recording to feature his busy drum track.
Debravation is the fourth solo album by American singer Deborah Harry, released in July 19, 1993. It was the final album Harry made whilst signed to the Chrysalis label, thus ending a successful partnership that began with her time as a member of Blondie and had endured for over 15 years. The album reached No. 24 in the UK Albums Chart.
The Complete Picture: The Very Best of Deborah Harry and Blondie is a greatest hits album released on March 4, 1991, by Chrysalis Records. It contained all of Blondie's highest-charting singles such as "Heart of Glass", "Sunday Girl", "The Tide Is High", "Atomic", and "Call Me", as well as some of Deborah Harry's solo singles, including the UK top-10 single "French Kissin' in the USA".
"Picture This" is a 1978 song by the American rock band Blondie, released on their third album, Parallel Lines. Written by Chris Stein, Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri, the song features evocative lyrics that producer Mike Chapman surmised were written by Harry about Stein.
"I Can See Clearly" is a song by American singer Debbie Harry, released in June 1993 as the first single from her fourth solo album, Debravation (1993).
Most of All: The Best of Deborah Harry is a compilation album of recordings by Deborah Harry, released by Chrysalis Records in 1999.
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Deborah Ann Harry is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached No. 1 on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
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