Debbie Harry gives rapturous approval to Jenson Ackles' Blondie cover in The Boys

By Jonathan Selzer
published

Blondie icon Debbie Harry gives the thumbs up to Jenson Ackle's take on Rapture in superhero gorefest The Boys

Jenson Ackles and Debbie Harry
(Image credit: Getty)

Actor Jenson Ackles’ rendition of Blondie’s early '80s hit Rapture on violent TV superhero satire The Boys hasn’t gone unnoticed by the queen of new wave herself, Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry.

In Season Three of The Boys, now airing on Amazon Prime, Ackles plays Soldier Boy, a hyper-patriotic superhero – and possible answer to the question: what if Ted Nugent had become Captain America? – created during WWII to fight Nazis, who’s gone missing after a disastrous mission in Nicaragua in the 80s.

In episode four, Glorious Five Year Plan, he’s seen in flashback, performing a version of Rapture on the TV show Solid Gold, a genuine, US syndicated chart show that ran from 1980-1988 and counted soul superstar Dionne Warwick, comedian Arsenio Hall and singer and younger brother of the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb amongst its hosts.

Rapture itself has been credited as the first rap song to have been broadcast on MTV, and Soldier Boy’s comedically stiff rendition on The Boys is shot in retro, VCR-quality style, complete with screen distortion and true-to-the-show backing dancers. The lines about a ‘man from mars’ eating bars and cars could well be taken as reference to the relentless nature of the series lead superhero and villain, Homelander.

After the full version of the song was posted on the official The Boys Twitter accounts, Debbie Harry was clearly impressed, relying “Holy sh*t!! Epic” and then later, “Speechless!”

Antony Starr, who plays Homelander then responded “Epic indeed!! The version you never knew you needed” to which Debby Harry replied “Homelander lazer us!!!” in reference to the character’s habit of severing people in half with his laser eyes.

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Rapture is one of a host of songs to feature on season three of The Boys, alongside the original tracks, Chimps Don’t Cry and Not Without My Dolphin, but now with an official endorsement, Soldier Boy’s take on Blondie’s classic, which reached No.5 in the UK chart and hit No.1 on the US Billboard chart in 1981, offers hope that a Blondie/The Boys crossover will happen for season four.

Jonathan Selzer
Jonathan Selzer

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.