Music sample
"Atomic"
Alternative cover
European edition of the "Atomic" single with the famous picture of Debbie Harry wearing her "Andy Warhol's BAD" T-shirt, in 1981 used for the free fold-out poster that came with the hits compilation The Best of Blondie.

"Atomic"

Single by Party Animals

from the album Party@worldaccess.nl

Released

May 10, 1997

Genre

Happy Hardcore, Gabber

Length

3:27

Label

Mokum Records

Writer(s)

Debbie Harry, Jimmy Destri

Producer(s)

Flamman & Abraxas

Party Animals singles chronology

"We Like to Party"
(1997)

"Atomic"

"My Way"
(1997)

"Atomic" is a hit song by the American new wave band Blondie, written by Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri and produced by Mike Chapman. It was released as the third single from the band's Platinum-selling 1979 album Eat to the Beat.

Atomic was composed by Jimmy Destri and Debbie Harry, who (in the book "1000 UK #1 Hits" by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh) stated "He was trying to do something like "Heart of Glass", and then somehow or another we gave it the spaghetti western treatment. Before that it was just lying there like a lox. The lyrics, well, a lot of the time I would write while the band were just playing the song and trying to figure it out. I would just be scatting along with them and I would just start going, 'Ooooooh, your hair is beautiful.'" The word atomic in the song carries no fixed meaning and functions as a signifier of power and futurism. The bridge to, and the break in the melody before "Atomic" is spoken, is heavily influenced by the bridge in the song "I'm on my way" by Dean Parish.

The song was produced as a mixture of new wave, rock and disco which had proven to be so successful in their No.1 hit from earlier in 1979, "Heart of Glass". It is written in E natural minor ("Call Me" is written in E♭ natural minor).

The 1980 single version of "Atomic" was a remix. The original 4:35 version as featured on the albums Eat to the Beat and 1981's The Best of Blondie opens with an intro inspired by the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice" and includes an instrumental break with a bass guitar solo. The 7" version mixed by Mike Chapman omits the "Three Blind Mice" intro and replaces the instrumental break with a repeat of the verse.

The song became the band's third number one in the UK Singles Chart, where it held the top spot for two weeks. It reached the Top 40 in the US in Spring 1980.

...
Wikipedia