"Atomic" is a song by American rock band Blondie from their fourth studio album, Eat to the Beat (1979). Written by Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri and produced by Mike Chapman, the song was released in February 1980 as the album's third single.
"Atomic" is widely considered one of Blondie's best songs. In 2017, Billboard ranked the song number six on their list of the 10 greatest Blondie songs, and in 2021, The Guardian ranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Blondie songs.
"Atomic" was composed by Jimmy Destri and Debbie Harry, who (in the book 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh) stated, "He was trying to do something like 'Heart of Glass', and then somehow or another we gave it the Spaghetti Western treatment. Before that it was just lying there like a lox. The lyrics, well, a lot of the time I would write while the band were just playing the song and trying to figure it out. I would just be scatting along with them and I would just start going, 'Ooooooh, your hair is beautiful.'" The word atomic in the song carries no fixed meaning and functions as a signifier of power and futurism.
The song was produced as a mixture of new wave, rock and disco which had proven to be so successful in their number-one single from earlier in 1979, "Heart of Glass". It is written in E natural minor. Billboard described "Atomic" as an "electronic enhanced dance number" in which the vocals blend with the instrumental music. Cash Box said that it continues "the rock-dance fission, or rather fusion, with '60s inspired surf guitars and ground zero drumming."
The 1980 single version of "Atomic" was a remix. The original 4:35 version as featured on the albums Eat to the Beat and 1981's The Best of Blondie opens with an intro inspired by the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice" and includes an instrumental break with a bass guitar solo. The 7″ version mixed by Mike Chapman omits the "Three Blind Mice" intro and replaces the instrumental break with a repeat of the verse.
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