Synopsis

Blondie perform "The Hardest Part" in a stark, graffiti-covered setting that turns the song's armored-car-heist imagery into a stylized urban tableau. Debbie Harry, wearing a long dark wig and a dramatic dress, dominates the frame while the band plays around her in tightly framed performance shots. The video favors attitude, texture, and visual contrast over a literal robbery narrative, pairing Harry's cool presence with rough New York street-art imagery and the song's hard-driving funk-rock groove.

Factoids & Trivia

• "The Hardest Part" was one of the 12 videos made for Blondie's 1979 album *Eat to the Beat*. The project was notable as one of the earliest full-length video albums, with a separate visual created for every track.

• The video's setting features graffiti associated with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lee Quinones, and Fab 5 Freddy, connecting Blondie's polished pop image to the downtown New York art and street-culture scene.

• Debbie Harry's long dark wig makes her look deliberately unlike the familiar blonde-haired image most associated with Blondie. Her dress was designed by Anya Phillips, who also created the pink dress Harry wore on the cover of *Plastic Letters*.

• The song itself is built around an armored-car robbery, with lyrics about hardened steel, armed guards, explosives, and a getaway. The video does not stage the narrative literally, instead using performance and graffiti imagery to suggest its toughness and danger.

• "The Hardest Part" was released as a US single in late 1979 and reached No. 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980. It was not issued as a UK single, where other *Eat to the Beat* tracks received that role.

• The song's blend of funk, disco, rock, and new wave reflects the broad stylistic range of *Eat to the Beat*, an album that moved Blondie well beyond a narrowly defined punk or new wave identity.