[5] "Atomic" was composed by Jimmy Destri and Debbie Harry, who (in the book 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh) stated, "He was trying to do something like 'Heart of Glass', and then somehow or another we gave it the Spaghetti Western treatment.

The original 4:35 version as featured on the albums Eat to the Beat and 1981's The Best of Blondie opens with an intro inspired by the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice" and includes an instrumental break with a bass guitar solo.

[citation needed] The song was released in February 1980 and became the band's third number one in the UK Singles Chart, where it held the top spot for two weeks.

The B-side was "Die Young, Stay Pretty", also from the album Eat to the Beat, a reggae-influenced track, a style the band would perform again in their global chart-topper "The Tide Is High".

The UK 12" single contained a live cover version of David Bowie's "Heroes" featuring Robert Fripp on guitar recorded at London's Hammersmith Odeon just a month before.

The track was remixed again four years later for the UK compilation Atomic - The Very Best of Blondie and the '98 Xenomania mix was later included on the first Queer as Folk soundtrack album.

The compilation was part of a 2-disc set called Blondie 4(0) Ever which included their tenth studio album, Ghosts of Download, and marked the 40th anniversary of the forming of the band.

[14] The accompanying music video for "Atomic" depicts the band performing on stage at what looks like a post-apocalyptic nightclub in which Debbie Harry is wearing a garbage bag as a punkish futuristic costume.

The audience at the club are also dressed in suitably futuristic costumes, and footage of a horseman with the "Blondie: in the disco" New Year's concert advertisement.