Debbie Harry, the Blondie frontwoman, reflected on the music that shaped her during a 2011 appearance on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, revealing the songs from the 1960s that meant the most to her. The interview offers an insight into the influences behind Blondie's blend of pop sensibility and punk edge, tracing Harry's roots back to the New York scene that also produced acts such as The Velvet Underground, Talking Heads and Iggy Pop.

Among her picks, Harry chose The Velvet Underground's 1968 title track "White Light/White Heat", recalling seeing the band perform live in New York with Nico on vocals and Andy Warhol behind the stage design, calling it "an incredible show" that brought back "good memories". She also selected Nina Simone's protest anthem "Strange Fruit", praising the singer's piano playing and her significance to both women's and civil rights movements. Harry told host Kirsty Young that as a child she dreamed her mother was Marilyn Monroe, underlining the mix of glamour and grit that influenced her own persona and Blondie's sound when the band emerged in the late 1970s with albums such as 1978's Parallel Lines.