Editing Parallel Lines (section)

== Reception and legacy  ==
{{Music ratings
| title = Retrospective professional ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Ruhlmann">{{cite web|last=Ruhlmann|first=William|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/parallel-lines-mw0000011984|title=Parallel Lines – Blondie|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=June 30, 2014}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Weiner|first=Jonah|url=http://www.blender.com/reviews/review_1357.html|title=Blondie: Parallel Lines|magazine=[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]|location=New York|access-date=July 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040818044445/http://www.blender.com/reviews/review_1357.html|archive-date=August 18, 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|Christgau's Record Guide]]''
| rev3score = A<ref>{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|chapter=Blondie: Parallel Lines|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=347|access-date=June 30, 2014|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|title-link=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=[[Ticknor and Fields]]|year=1981|isbn=0-89919-026-X}}</ref>
| rev4      = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|chapter=Blondie|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music|location=London|publisher=[[Omnibus Press]]|edition=5th concise|year=2011|isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''
| rev5score = B<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Weingarten|first=Marc|title=Blondie: Blondie / Plastic Letters / Parallel Lines / Eat to the Beat / Autoamerican / The Hunter|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|location=New York|date=September 21, 2001|page=85}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev6score = 9.7/10<ref name="pitchfork">{{cite web|last=Plagenhoef|first=Scott|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12058-parallel-lines-deluxe-edition/|title=Blondie: Parallel Lines: Deluxe Edition|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=August 1, 2008|access-date=July 9, 2012}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev7score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="qmag">{{cite magazine|title=Blondie: Parallel Lines|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]|location=London|issue=182|date=October 2001|page=143}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev8score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="RS2000"/>
| rev9 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev9score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Coleman|first1=Mark|last2=Berger|first2=Arion|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-link=Christian Hoard|chapter=Blondie|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&pg=PA85|access-date=September 23, 2011|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/85 85–86]}}</ref>
| rev10 = ''[[Slant Magazine]]''
| rev10score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name=slant>{{cite web|last=Cinquemani|first=Sal|url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/blondie-parallel-lines/339|title=Blondie: Parallel Lines|website=[[Slant Magazine]]|date=October 7, 2003|access-date=June 30, 2014}}</ref>
| rev11 = ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]''
| rev11score = 10/10<ref>{{cite book|last=Sheffield|first=Rob|author-link=Rob Sheffield|editor1-last=Weisbard|editor1-first=Eric|editor1-link=Eric Weisbard|editor2-last=Marks|editor2-first=Craig|chapter=Blondie|title=Spin Alternative Record Guide|title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|year=1995|isbn=0-679-75574-8|pages=49–50}}</ref>
}}
The album was met with universal acclaim from critics.<ref name="udiscover"/> Writing in ''[[The Village Voice]]'' in 1978, Robert Christgau said although Blondie still could not write a perfect hit single, the record was a consistent improvement over ''Plastic Letters''.<ref name="Christgau">{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv10-78.php|title=Consumer Guide|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|location=New York|date=October 30, 1978|access-date=June 30, 2013}}</ref> Years later, he wrote in ''[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]'' that it was "a perfect album in 1978" and remained so with "every song memorable, distinct, well-shaped and over before you get antsy. Never again did singer Deborah Harry, mastermind Chris Stein and their able four-man cohort nail the band's signature paradoxes with such unfailing flair: lowbrow class, tender sarcasm, pop rock."<ref name="Blender">{{cite magazine|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bl/blondie-08.php|title=Blondie: Parallel Lines|magazine=[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]|location=New York|issue=73|date=September 2008|access-date=June 30, 2013}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' critic [[John Rockwell]] named ''Parallel Lines'' the eighth best album of 1978.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rockwell|first=John|author-link=John Rockwell|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/22/archives/the-pop-life-one-critics-top-10-for-1978.html|title=The Pop Life|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 22, 1978|access-date=May 26, 2020}}</ref> Daryl Easlea from [[BBC Music]], who felt the record combined [[power pop]] and new wave styles, credited Mike Chapman's production and flair for pop songwriting for helping make ''Parallel Lines'' an extremely popular album in the United Kingdom, where it was a number-one hit and charted for 106 weeks during the late 1970s.<ref name=bbc>{{cite web|last=Easlea|first=Daryl|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/mf54|title=Blondie Parallel Lines Review|publisher=[[BBC Music]]|year=2007|access-date=June 30, 2014}}</ref> ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' magazine called the album "a [[crossover (music)|crossover]] smash with sparkling guitar sounds, terrific hooks and [[Thirty-two-bar form#Middle eight|middle-eight]]s more memorable than some groups' choruses."<ref name="qmag"/>

In a retrospective appraisal of 1970s [[post-punk]] albums, ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' magazine's [[Sasha Frere-Jones]] said ''Parallel Lines'' may have been "the perfect pop-rock record" and Blondie's best album.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Frere-Jones|first=Sasha|author-link=Sasha Frere-Jones|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-qexhnZaukC&pg=PA137|title=Destination Unknown|magazine=Spin|location=New York|volume=17|issue=11|date=November 2001|page=137|issn=0886-3032|via=Google Books}}</ref> Christian John Wikane from ''[[PopMatters]]'' later called it "a creative and commercial masterpiece by Blondie&nbsp;... indisputably one of the great, classic albums of the rock and roll era."<ref>{{cite web|last=Wikane|first=Christian John|url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/blondie-parallel-lines/|title=Blondie: Parallel Lines|website=[[PopMatters]]|date=July 3, 2008|access-date=June 30, 2013}}</ref> In the opinion of ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' critic Scott Plagenhoef, the album popularized "the look and sound of 1980s new wave" with classic songs that showcased the depth and complexity of Harry's sexuality and singing.<ref name="pitchfork"/> Sal Cinquemani from ''[[Slant Magazine]]'' was also impressed by her singing, which he felt varied from "purring like a kitten and then building to a mean growl", and cited "Heart of Glass" as the album's best track because of her "honey-dipped vocal".<ref name="slant"/>

In 2000, ''Parallel Lines'' was voted number 57 in [[Colin Larkin]]'s book ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]''.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=All Time Top 1000 Albums|title-link=All Time Top 1000 Albums|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|edition=3rd|year=2000|isbn=0-7535-0493-6|page=61}}</ref> Three years later, it was ranked at number 140 on ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s list of [[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|the 500 greatest albums of all time]],<ref name="RS500"/> maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, and moved slightly down to number 146 in the 2020 revision;<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/blondie-parallel-lines-2-165743/|title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|location=New York|date=May 31, 2012|access-date=September 18, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/blondie-parallel-lines-3-1063087/ | title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time | magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] | date=December 31, 2023 }}</ref> an accompanying essay said the album was "where punk and New Wave broke through to a mass U.S. audience".<ref name="RS500"/> It has also been placed at number 18 and 45 on ''[[NME]]''{{'}}s 100 Best Albums of All Time (2003)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timepieces.nl/chart/18863/2003-nme-writers-all-time-top-100-albums|title=NME Writers' All Time Top 100 Albums|website=timepieces.nl|date=March 2003|access-date=July 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140917003950/http://timepieces.nl/chart/18863/2003-nme-writers-all-time-top-100-albums|archive-date=September 17, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]] (2013) lists,<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.nme.com/photos/the-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-100-1-1426116|title=The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 100–1|magazine=[[NME]]|location=London|date=October 25, 2013|access-date=October 19, 2020}}</ref> respectively; number 7 on ''Blender''{{'}}s 100 Greatest American Albums of All Time;<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.blender.com/photos/55659/100-greatest-american-albums-all-time.html|title=100 Greatest American Albums of All Time|magazine=[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]|location=New York|access-date=July 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101112105049/http://www.blender.com/photos/55659/100-greatest-american-albums-all-time.html|archive-date=November 12, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> number 94 on [[Channel 4]]'s 2005 list of the 100 greatest albums of all time;<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/radiohead-top-c4-albums-poll/027921|title=Radiohead top C4 albums poll|magazine=[[Music Week]]|location=London|date=April 18, 2005|access-date=January 13, 2014}}</ref> and number 76 on ''Pitchfork''{{'}}s list of the best albums from the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/5932-top-100-albums-of-the-1970s/?page=3|title=The 100 Best Albums of the 1970s|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=June 23, 2004|access-date=August 22, 2017|page=3}}</ref>

===Accolades===
In 2024, "Parallel Lines" was selected for preservation in the [[National Recording Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{Cite web| title=National Recording Registry Inducts Sounds of ABBA, Blondie, The Cars, The Chicks, Juan Gabriel, Green Day, The Notorious B.I.G. and Lily Tomlin| url=https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/national-recording-registry-inducts-sounds-of-abba--blondie--the-cars--the-chicks--juan-gabriel/s/29ee4224-3060-4247-a7a4-7deea2c2f816 |access-date=2024-04-16 |website=LOC.gov |publisher=Library of Congress}}</ref><ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/abba-blondie-notorious-big-national-recording-registry/ ABBA, Blondie, The Notorious B.I.G. among 2024's additions to National Recording Registry - CBS News]</ref><ref>[https://the1a.org/segments/the-sounds-of-america-blondies-parallel-lines/ The Sounds of America: Blondie's 'Parallel Lines'|1A]</ref>