Maria - Blondie

What this video is

Released in early 1999, 'Maria' represented one of the most commercially successful band comebacks of the decade. Blondie had been inactive since 1982, and 'No Exit' was their first studio album in 17 years. The video's surveillance-state thriller framing — set on the streets and rooftops of New York City — tapped directly into late-90s anxieties about urban monitoring, privacy, and Y2K-era techno-paranoia, while…

Why it matters

A defining artefact of the late-90s new wave revival, 'Maria' demonstrated that first-generation punk-pop acts could re-enter the mainstream on their own aesthetic terms. Its chart performance — UK #1, European top-10 in multiple countries — validated the commercial viability of post-punk…

The director

Roman François Coppola (born April 22, 1965) is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and music video director. Son of Francis Ford Coppola, he is founder of The Directors Bureau production company, and has directed music videos for Fatboy Slim, The Strokes,…