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Hipgnosis signs Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein

By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 5 August 2020

Those of you trying to fill up your Hipgnosis Songs Fund sticker album are going to have to buy yet another pack of stickers.

Actually, if we are being honest, I don’t think you’re ever going to complete your Hipgnosis Songs Fund sticker album, the speed with which new artists and songwriters are added to its catalogue. Then again, whoever completed any sticker album? Oh, actually, now you mention it, I did. The original ‘Return Of The Jedi’ sticker album. Go me!

Anyway, this is a slightly long-winded way of announcing yet another deal being struck by the Hipgnosis Songs Fund. This time with the rather marvellous Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie fame. The deal covers the duo’s writer royalty share on songs and their performer share of so called neighbouring rights income from recordings.

The real achievement was completing the double sticker shot of the Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker lightsaber fight, because Panini had made sure the world was awash with the left hand sticker but had seemingly only printed nineteen of the right hand one. Imagine the glory that unfolded the day I opened that little packet of stickers and found the right hand lightsaber fight sticker inside.

It’s like Hipgnosis boss Merck Mercuriadis says: “I have followed every move that Debbie and Chris have made since day one. Their singles have been not only massively successful but era and genre-defining. Equally well they have made cultural albums of the greatest importance. I am delighted to welcome Debbie and Chris to the Hipgnosis family and look forward to working with them for years to come”.

I should add I was eight years old when ‘Return Of The Jedi’ came out. That’s the right age to be obsessively trying to fill a pointless Panini sticker album with shitty stickers right? That wasn’t weird? And rest assured, all the other sticker albums that came free with my weekly edition of Look-In magazine never got much of a, well, look in really. Which was kind of ironic.

What do Debbie Harry and Chris Stein think about all that? Well, let’s ask them. “We are so happy to be working with a progressive company”, say they, “and are looking forward to the future with Hipgnosis’ forward-thinking team”.

What the fuck? I don’t think Debbie or Chris have been listening to anything I said. And now I come to think about it, Merck pretty much glossed over my ‘Return Of The Jedi’ sticker book achievements too. Bastards.

Maybe they’re pissed off that I didn’t include any of the 850 words of the press release explaining why Harry, Stein and all things Blondie are brilliant. Although, if you need me to explain that to you, I’m not sure what you’re doing here. Maybe just fuck off and fill up a sticker album instead.