Blondie Chinn's involvement in production was always minimal and Chapman continued to produce alone after moving to the U.S. in 1975. He produced
Nick Gilder's
City Nights album in 1978 (which yielded the "
Hot Child in the City" hit) with Peter Coleman, his long-time recording engineer and in May the same year began working with Blondie to record their third album in New York. Chapman was a fan of their music but was dissatisfied with the production of their albums. He bluntly told the band that he would make them a hit record and he was right:
Parallel Lines turned the band into an international success and became arguably the pinnacle of his own career. notes that in November 1978, 13 record companies were engaged in a fierce bidding war for the band's services, with
Capitol Records finally signing the band. Producers clamoured to offer their services and even
Phil Spector was anxious to participate. The website says: The album and the single "
My Sharona" hit No. 1 in the US and sold millions around the world. Its follow-up
...But the Little Girls Understand was less successful. Featuring a producer credit as "Commander Chapman" and
liner notes in which Chapman boasted, "This record is very dear to me and my bank manager", it prompted a bitter falling-out between band and producer. Chapman claimed the album cost him his reputation. In the book
Off the Record, Chapman said he and the band made the second album under the heady impression that they could do no wrong. He accused singer and guitarist Doug Fieger of being deluded with notions he was
Jim Morrison or
Buddy Holly ... "there was nothing he could do that wouldn't work". Fieger, in a 1994 interview, responded: "Mike Chapman is one of the bigger assholes that you'll ever meet on the planet. Unfortunately, Mike Chapman was not in any psychological or physical shape to produce that second album when we really needed a producer."
Blondie again Chapman produced three more
Blondie albums –
Eat to the Beat,
Autoamerican and
The Hunter – and most of
Def, Dumb and Blonde, a
Deborah Harry solo album. In an article in
Creem magazine
Chris Stein marvelled at Chapman's attention to detail, noting that the percussion for "The Tide Is High" also included "eight tracks of drum sticks tapping on a piano bench." He said: ==Writing technique==