Who was better-looking in their prime: Debbie Harry or Madonna?

Debbie Harry--still.

Debbie Harry

Debbie. I don't care for 95% of her material and think she wasted her talent but Deborah Harry was effortlessly stunning. Madonna could be striking but required lighting, costuming, and so on. Deborah Harry could just stand there and draw the eye to her.

Debbie had cheekbones to kill for, but at least Madonna was never a heroin junkie

Debbie.

Worse, R4--she was Madonna. I'll take the "heroin junkie" Debbie ANY DAY. And her music was great, R3.

R3, why don't you like most of her material and why do you think she wasted her talent? Just wondering. Are you just referring to her solo work?

Both equally beautiful

Madonna--beautiful, R8? Hardly.

Debbie Harry

Debbie was voted the most beautiful in her high school class and SHE’S ADOPTED!!!!!!

Madonna was considered the most beautiful woman in the 80's.

R9, what don't you like about Madonna's looks? Just wondering.

I'll vote Debbie, though I honestly don't think either was that great-looking, nor bad looking. Debbie's energy/vibe helped her look better than Madonna who no matter how physically interesting, outrageous, or good she looked, there was just that thirsty/striving energy. Not always a bad thing, but often it was - instead of inviting you to enjoy her looks for whatever reason, she demanded it.

It might be worth noting Debbie was over a decade older than Madonna when each hit it big. Early Madonna had an immaturity about her that the more sophisticated and classier (at least on stage) Debbie did not.

And Madonna was lesser than Debbie Harry in looks, talent, and charm.

R12, no, she wasn't. There were a dozen actresses and models in the 1980s who were far more beautiful, on looks alone.

R12: all these women more far more beautiful than Madonna throughout the 1980s:

Michelle Pfeiffer

Debbie Harry

Brooke Shields

Chrystie Brinkley

Naomi Campbell

Darryl Hannah

Kim Basinger

Iman

To name just a few women who had far more natural beauty than that piece-of-Michigan trash.

This shouldn't even be a question. Deborah Harry is beautiful and Madonna never was. She also had talent and, IMO, Madonna had none.

Madonna I think should be in The Guinness Book Of World Records for the most beautiful woman ever.

Did someone say Deborah Harry was effortlessly stunning? She's prettier than Madonna but effortless she was not. Every pic of her she has an inch of makeup troweled on, five pounds of hair spray, gallons of peroxide and seven different layers of clothes.

They’re both gorgeous, but Debbie has always been prettier to this day, despite being rather older than Madonna, who looks freakish now.

{quote]Every pic of her she has an inch of makeup troweled on, five pounds of hair spray, gallons of peroxide and seven different layers of clothes

No more lip from you, Ms. Ingrate, or we'll send you to Catholic School where you belong!

At least when you look at a picture of Debbie when she was younger, you can tell she's the same woman only older.

I think they were both sexy during their peaks. Madonna much more so when there was still some mystery left. Debbie was rarely overtly sexual, much more smoldering, and contained a kind of presence.

Debbie is an original, Madonna was derivative. I don’t even have an adjective for Madonna now.

Debbie by a mile

Neither

Debbie Harry, far and away a better looking woman then, and especially now.

They're incomparable.

Madonna spent much of her life trying to convince people she was beautiful, which is something you don't do when you're actually beautiful.

Debbie Harry -- wins effortlessly on all fronts.

[Extra points for the keyboardist.]

Here's Debbie in 2008 when she was the same age as Madonna is now. This is what good genes and excellent cosmetic surgery looks like.

Debbie turns 77 in a few months and she's still gorgeous. I shudder to think what Madonna will look like in 14 years.

I think we can all agree both were far more attractive than Lady Fuckface ever has been.

Debbie Harry was stunning. Madonna was cute at one time, nothing more.

Empirically speaking, Debbie Harry was beautiful and Madonna was not. Symmetry, proportions, and all that.

Both had perfect faces

Debbie Harry was classically beautiful while Madonna was always "costumed." Debbie also should have been bigger than she was too - she kind of dropped off the scene.

I remember getting a boy boner watching Debbie Harry sing on The Muppet Show when I was 9 years old!!!

Sadly, that would be the first AND last time my penis would react to a woman!

Debbie Harry…Madonna is not even I’m her league look wise.

Madonna

Did Debbie ever find her real parents?

Is there any doubt? Madonna was always a hag; in the early years, good lighting and makeup made her passable. Debbie was ethereal.

Both pretty but Madonna was more of a natural beauty

Debbie had a better face, better bone structure, more of a cool factor. She didn't seem to be trying as hard as Madonna.

Body-wise, Madonna had a better body. She was in better shape and had some muscularity (talking about before she got really sinewy with the ropy arms).

Another vote for Debbie. Beautiful inside and out.

I know both were voted most attractive in school

Madonna always knew who she was, and what she wanted to be. She was like Nicole Kidman's character in To Die For. Willing to do anything to be famous, or die trying.

Debbie said she didn't know who she was before Blondie, she had to work on building an identity. For many years she was just a stoned (but beautiful) waitress in the Village. For those who remember in the 70s, in some ways Debbie's breakthrough was even more enthralling than Madonna's years later.

Debbie looked "cool" but she wasn't really "good-looking" in a notable way. Not ugly or bad-looking, but just meh. I think people are projecting beauty on her because she's so fucking cool and everyone likes her.

Anyone know why her solo career never took off? I wish it would have...

R3, why do you think she wasted her talent?

Debbie

There's no contest. Madonna was good-looking but Debbie was stunning.

Debbie had three strikes against her. First, she was pushing 40. Second, she was an addict. Third, her collaborative associations had dwindled, due to her band breaking up.

Debbie had talent and was creative, but being together in a band gave them a much bigger pool of resources to draw material from.

Chic seemed like a good fit for her, yet her solo album produced by them was one of their few duds. If Debbie had been like Diana Ross and thrown a huge diva fit when she heard the finished product, demanded that they give it a more polished and accessible sound, then Madonna might not have even happened in the 80s.

DH - she was gorgeous.

But Madge was way more interesting as far as her overall look was concerned.

I stood right next to Debbie at a smalle venue, and she was still very pretty, even if much older. Very sweet lady, too.

R12 is that true though? I remember a straight man I worked with back then saying she was nasty and he wasn't attracted to her at all.

Speaking a gay, I would say Madonna looks much better than Gaga, but not as good as some other female artists. She's somewhere in the middle.

Debbie was so beautiful that I think it got in the way of people realizing what a great band Blondie was.

R52, why didn't you like the final sound of the album? Just wondering

R55, what women do you think look better than Madonna? Just wondering.

Madonna is this generation's Elizabeth Taylor.

Debbie Harry, absolutely.

Tie

R57 The album does not have any hits. The record company should have intervened, and found a bona fide hit song for them to record. Or they should have kept working, or just scrapped the entire project. I think the Debbie Harry/Stein tracks on Koo Koo fared somewhat better, like Chrome which was written as a Blondie song.

Bernard Edwards said he regretted the outcome for Debbie, and would have liked to have gone back and tweaked a few things, if given the chance.

Madonna now looks like an alien. Debbie looks like a woman aging gracefully.

R62, so they were just rushing the album? Anyone else ever publicly regret the outcome of the album?

Both blonde bombshells for their time, they had their moments in the spotlight, times change, we all age and get older, time for new blood, pass the torch, etc. I like them both for different reasons...

Debbie Harry; she was stunning when she was younger.

Madonna, a triumph of makeup. Debbie, a natural beauty, and talented to boot. Madonna was just a fag hag who hung around with the right people to get noticed. And boy did she work it.

I love that OP basically asked for a 2000 word essay and most posters responded with a single sentence

Debbie is Madonna's biggest inspiration as far as female music artists go...

Debbie Harry ( b. 1945) is older than Cher, Dolly Parton, Liza Minnelli, Candice Bergen, and Tyne Daly (all b. 1946).

I think of her as being around the same age as Michelle Pfeiffer and Sharon Stone and not older than the seniors above. Maybe because she didn't hit it big until her 30s. A gorgeous and eternally cool woman.

Debbie by a wide, wide margin.

Neither

Both

Both

Deborah Harry was alway a million times better looking than Madonna. Madonna was never good looking. Harry had beauty. Madonna did not.

R75, what don't you like about Madonna's face? Just wondering.

Who is this fucking moron always asking how an average looking Madonna compares to great beauties? I tell you how she compares: poorly.

R77, who are great beauties to you?

R67 Debbie is the antithesis of a natural beauty. She cakes on the makeup. That's not to say Madonna is natural, but let's get real.

[quote] what don't you like about Madonna's face? Just wondering.

Without tons of makeup it was nothing. Most women look better with makeup, but it's evident when someone has good features without it. Without makeup Madonna's features were nothing.

As for Deborah Harry, she DID have the good facial features. Much better ones than Madonna. Her bone structure and lips and eyes and nose were definitely superior..

Debbie looked best in Rapture

Madonna has such coarse vulgar features.

Debbie Harry had more heart and soul in her pinky toe than Madonna ever had in her life. Madonna is Mammon, Debbie Harry is a human being.

Madonna is sweeter

Equal

Debbie, no question. I always found Madonna vaguely repellant. Debbie Harry was breathtaking in her late 1970s/ CBGB-era days.

Here's an example.

Oops. Here.

Debbie

"know both were voted most attractive in school"

Debbie was, Madonna wasn't

Debbie's high school pic

Madonna high school yearbook photo

R92, they lookalike

wang dang it, I still prefer Cyndi Lauper.

Madonna has no friends, no self-awareness, no class, no grammar/spelling skills, and no beauty left.

Liz Rosenberg must roll over in her grave every time Madonna takes a selfie.

Tied

Debbie and it's no contest

Debbie

don't think so

Stevie.

Kidding, it was Debbie, but Madonna had her moments.

R100, what don't you like about Madonna's looks in that video?

r102 she had a rather masculine face, the bone structure is quite severe. There's certain poses she's quite cute in but most of the time she looks like she's in early transition or a drag queen. There's only a handful of positions she could hold without looking basic.

Later in the 80s, the shoulder length, wavy brunette hair worked better but still, her choice of makeup often washed her out.

They have similar structure but Debbie had a fuller face, a little puffy and not as severe, so, it softens her features along with the contouring. Though she retain that as her signature style for too long. She really needed to mix it up a bit. But overall, she's more physically attractive.

I think of it in the way of caricatures. . . Madge's fetures would end up more exaggerated and harsh looking, like that jawline and chin. If Madge had been a little more rubenesque.. it likely wouldn't be quite so severe, albeit, I know she came up as a dancer and the ana/mia face goes with the territory.

Debbie. There are few humans on earth who would turn this away.

Debby Harry is/was a gorgeous woman and Madonna is ...meh To be fair, Madonna has pretty eyes but that about it. Debby Harry was sexy and Madonna exudes no sex appeal because she tries to hard.

Oh I think Madonna is gorgeous, and have nothing but respect for how she steered her career. Madonna is not for the faint of heart. In terms of flat out gorgeous at their peak, it goes to Debbie.

Definitely Debbie was way more beautiful. Madonna’s looks made her seem more accessible in style and look hence the “wannabes.”

Debbie by a mile.

R103 and R105, what do you think of Madonna's nose? Just wondering.

R107, what do you mean by Madonna's looks being more accessible? Just wondering

Madonna by a slight margin

They both lookalike to me

The “just wondering” queen needs to f off.

Anna Nicole Smith

I mean Madonna was pretty in a very average way. So, other young women felt like they could look like her or at least as good as she did. Debbie’s looks were much more exceptional. She has the face of a model:

Bebe Buell

Neither

Bofe

Both lookalike

Speaking as a straight man: I would've banged the shit out of Madonna at several phases in her career, particularly during the 90s but starting in '87 with Who's That Girl when she started working out and her body got hard and sexy. When did that Sex book come out; she looked seriously fuckable at that time, too. I wouldn't do Debbie Harry at any of the phases in her career -- big lollipop head and no body, no tits, no nothing.