It mixed punk, disco and radio-friendly FM rock with nostalgic influences from 1960s girl groups, AM pop and surf rock and by embracing the diversity of New York City's varied music scenes, this 1978 album embodied the social conflicts that played out between fans of disco, pop, punk and mainstream rock. Kembrew McLeod's critical account of Blondie's rise also doubles as an alternative history of 1970s American popular music. It challenges the conventional wisdom that dismissed disco as fluffy (and implicitly feminine) prefab schlock, while at the same time recuperating punk's much less hip bubblegum influences.