When did he say he hated Blondie? I keep track of everything he does, can't remember him saying anything, uhum, one way or another. They're not stadium rock, so that's a plus, they have guitars (not like Motown), so that's another one and Herr Westheimer has always been gentle on Punk and New Wave. Blondie don't even have loud keyboards (he doesn't like those either, except when Fats Domino plays them).
They never did much for me, Debbie Harry was a media package, a counter-culture icon, had a great image (if too artificial for my taste), I just never thought that she sang particularly well or with particular emotion and expression. It was oh-kay, nothing less, nothing more. The appeal of her voice was probably that it was edgier than most pop, not powerful enough for rock (like Ann Wilson or Pat Benatar), not pure like a folk singer's and largely uninfluenced by the great black voices - as such it sort of defied categorization and could be combined with different styles of music (you can't say that Blondie - the band - wasn't versatile as they gradually reduced their rock/new wave content more and more).
Now not every chick fronting a band has to have great pipes, I'm fine with Chrissie Hynde and Patti Smith who are both not exactly Aretha Franklin or Janis Joplin either.
