Blondie

Blondie, at their best, were a weird sort of semi-parody band who did all sorts of styles which were driven by New Wave, Punk, and simple Pop. At their worst, they made crappy albums. The singles are what everyone loves, and they could certainly make perfect ones when they wanted to.

Information: The Official Blondie Web Site
Suggested first purchase/best of: Greatest Hits
Suggested first album: Parallel Lines

The Best of Blondie (1981) -- Until The Platinum Collection came out in 1994, this was still the best Blondie greatest hits collection out there... and in 1981, this was an absolutely amazing thing to have come out, compiling all these wonderful songs while still in the band's hey-day (only the crappy The Hunter was left to come out in the 80s, and it would be years before their "comeback"). No one much was without it. Even when The Platinum Collection did come out, this album was still pretty important, since TPC was an expensive two disc set that might have also been too much stuff for a casual fan. It wasn't until Greatest Hits in 2002 that this was improved upon. A

Greatest Hits (2002) -- The Best of Blondie had twelve excellent songs. This was has nineteen excellent songs. And don't think that it's just those twelve essential tracks plus some "bonus" ones thrown in. The songs included are pretty essential as well. There's no reason anyone should do without songs like "X Offender," "Denis," "Union City Blue," "Sunday Girl," or the comback hit "Maria." It's a pretty perfect greatest hits collection. If you want more, you can get The Platinum Collection, but if you want more, you probably just want to buy the albums anyway. A