1976 Debut Single, Originally Given a Risqué Title, Was Released 50 Years Ago Today

In the mid-'70s, Blondie released their debut song, but it wasn't a simple process.

"X Offender" was released on June 17, 1976 and was the track that earned the band their record deal. The song, which was co-written by singer Debbie Harry and bassist Gary Valentine, was originally written about a man sleeping with his underage girlfriend.

"It just came to me one night at Max's [the famed New York City nightclub,]" Valentine said, per Far Out. "I was just sitting there and the melody got into my head so I rushed back to our Blondie loft and picked up a guitar and got it down that night."

Valentine penned the lyrics, and once Harry heard the track, she jumped on board to tweak the lyrics to make the central character a sex worker, flipping the narrative so it was from the female's point of view.

"It was about a teenager coming of age and having to deal with a statutory-rape charge when he was 17 and then turned 18," Harry explained in an interview with Vulture. "It's like one of those catch-22s of law. It didn't have anything to do with selling sex or anything like that. It was a sex offender, but not a sex offender in that he was an aggressive rapist. But he was lumped into this category."

The song's original title was "Sex Offender," but it was changed to "X Offender" after the record label expressed their concerns that it was too vulgar and would cause the band to face radio bans and controversies.

In 2003, late drummer Clem Burke said that "X Offender" was his favorite Blondie song because it "opened up the door" for the band. In the earlier days of their career, Blondie would often close out their concerts with the track.

"I feel we really achieved something with that record," he added. "The first time I heard that on the jukebox at CBGBs was a really elating moment for me, more so than hearing it on the radio," he recalled in a 2003 interview. "Knowing that someone went to the jukebox and played the song and hearing it in the background - I'm big on hearing songs in the background while other things are going on and seeing what it creates."

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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 1:27 PM.