Everything changed for blondie in 1978. Lacking their punk background, pop hooks and playful and distant curiosities that gave their shows an advantage, Blondie perfected on their sound with Plastic lettersTheir second album, in February and landed on us Display panel graphics for the first time. The group’s cultural domination exploded with Parallel lines In September of the same year, with the album produced by Mike Chapman reaching No. 6 in the United States Display panel 200 and propel several of his singles – including “Heart of Glass”, “One Way or Other” and “Sunday Girl” – to reach the vaulted status of the classics.
Despite the Roland CR-78 rhythm machine which launches “Heart of Glass” and its opening clicks being pushed to the forefront of the mixture at a time when rhythm machines do not dominate popular music, Burke did not sweat the idea that it could be replaced. Instead, he appreciated the challenge of bringing energy and mind to a static song and focused on technology. Later, I got to work with the German producer of Kraftwerk, Conny Plank when he produced the Eurythmics, and he really made it a duty to tell me how much he liked `Heart of Glass ” and hearing electronic influence, because Burke was very early.
After the dissolution of Blondie in 1982, Burke became an essential drummer for some of the biggest names in music at the time, notably the Who’s Pete Townshend – one of his personal idols – as well as Bob Dylan, Eurythmics, Joan Jett, Iggy Pop, Nancy Sinatra, Dramarama and The Chairtones, among others. Without doubt his experience as a more famous sit-in was with The Ramones, which he joined for two shows in 1987 and was officially appointed Elvis Ramone. Burke has also formed a number of supergroups over the years such as international swingers, Slinky Vagabond and Magic Christian.
During the Blondie’s return era, Burke was inducted at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of the group in 2006. A few years later, Burke revealed that he had participated in an eight -year study on the physical and psychological effects of the rocky battery at a professional level, which included 90 -minute series at 100 concerts in a year. The University of Gloucestershire awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2011 for finishing the project, and Burke founded the Clem Burke battery project to document the positive results of the study and encourage other drummers to participate.
Innumerable tributes came from musicians as they deal with the news of Burke’s death, including Dave Davies, Johnny Marr, Graham Coxon, Echo and The Bunnymen, Garbage and Sky Ferreira de Blur. “My heart is broken,” wrote Nancy Sinatra. “Clem has become an icon as a member of Blondie, but he was also an important part of my group, the Kab. I was lucky to call him my friend. If I had needed him, he was there.”
