Blondie Drummer Clem Burke Dies at 70

Every thing modified for Blondie in 1978. Leaning into their punk background, pop hooks, and the playful, far-ranging curiosities that gave their exhibits an edge, Blondie honed in on their sound with Plastic Letters, their sophomore album, in February and landed on U.S. Billboard charts for the primary time. The band’s cultural domination exploded with Parallel Lines in September of that very same yr, with the Mike Chapman-produced album reaching No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and propelling a number of of its singles—together with “Heart of Glass,” “One Approach or One other,” and “Sunday Woman”—to attain the vaulted standing of classics.

Regardless of the Roland CR-78 drum machine kicking off “Coronary heart of Glass” and its opening clicks being pushed to the forefront of the combo at a time when drum machines weren’t dominating fashionable music, Burke didn’t sweat the concept that he may be changed. As a substitute, he loved the problem of bringing vitality and spirit to a static, technology-centered music. “I later started working with Kraftwerk’s German producer Conny Plank when he was producing the Eurythmics, and he actually made a degree of telling me how a lot he loved ‘Coronary heart of Glass’ and listening to the digital affect, as a result of it was very early on that we recorded that with the drum machine and all these type of issues,” Burke later recounted.

Following Blondie’s dissolution in 1982, Burke turned a go-to drummer for a few of the greatest names in music on the time, together with the Who’s Pete Townshend—one in all his private idols—in addition to Bob Dylan, Eurythmics, Joan Jett, Iggy Pop, Nancy Sinatra, Dramarama, and the Fleshtones, amongst many others. Arguably his most well-known sit-in expertise was with the Ramones, who he joined for 2 exhibits in 1987 and was formally named Elvis Ramone. Burke additionally shaped numerous supergroups over time just like the Worldwide Swingers, Slinky Vagabond, and Magic Christian.

Throughout Blondie’s comeback period, Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame with the remainder of the band in 2006. Just a few years later, Burke revealed that he had participated in an eight-year-long examine in regards to the bodily and psychological results of rock drumming at an expert tier, which included taking part in 90-minute units at 100 concert events in a yr. The College of Gloucestershire awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2011 for finishing the venture, and Burke based the Clem Burke Drumming Project to doc the constructive outcomes of the examine and encourage different drummers to take part.

Numerous tributes have rolled in from musicians as they course of the information of Burke’s dying, together with posts from the Kinks’ Dave Davies, Johnny Marr, Blur’s Graham Coxon, Echo and the Bunnymen, Garbage, and Sky Ferreira. “My coronary heart is shattered,” wrote Nancy Sinatra. “Clem turned an icon as a member of Blondie, however he was additionally a necessary a part of my band, the KAB. I used to be blessed to name him my good friend. If I ever wanted him, he was there.”