The Pretenders - Chrissie Hynde - Pictures - CBS News The Pretenders Chrissie Hynde, the lead singer (and the heart and soul) of The Pretenders. The Ohio native who formed the U.S.-U.K. band in the mid-1970s continues to perform both with the group and as a solo artist, and has recently penned a memoir. Credit: Doubleday Return to Akron Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders (with CBS News' Tracy Smith) back in her hometown of Akron, Ohio, where she supports its music scene. "I think money, as anyone would agree, has corrupted the arts and has destroyed what I loved about bands and music," Hynde said. "It was never made for stadiums. It was always a little underground thing, which is what we're trying to bring back here in Akron. Keep it small. Keep it local. And just keep it cool. Not everyone has to know about it. You don't have to be a household name.

I mean, I'm really sorry that I am one, if I am one." Credit: CBS News Akron Christine Ellen Hynde was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1951, the daughter of a secretary and a phone company worker. She was, as she writes in her new memoir, "Reckless: My Life As a Pretender" (Doubleday), a nonconformist before she knew what a nonconformist was. As a teen, Hynde was a self-described rebel - a bored middle-class kid whose only real interests were music and drugs. Credit: Doubleday Akron Her father's musical tastes didn't exactly gibe with Chrissie's. "My dad was of the school of, if he heard Bob Dylan, he'd be, you know, 'Chrissie, he can't even sing!'" she told CBS News' Tracy Smith. "So it really caused a rift with me, and we were all going in different directions." She was, she told Smith, addicted to "going out and seeing bands and getting high." She eventually fell in with a group of outlaw bikers and wound up beaten and raped. "Yeah, of course.

I mean, if you go and hang out with outlaws and criminals, then that's just part of it." Credit: Doubleday "Pretenders" Chrissie Hynde moved to London in 1973, at the dawn of the punk era. After five years of trying to get a band together (and working at Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren's fashion store), Hynde struck lightning, finding three kindred spirits (guitarist/keyboardist James Honeyman-Scott, bass player Pete Farndon, and drummer Martin Chambers) with whom she formed The Pretenders. Their first single was released in 1979, a cover of The Kinks' "Stop Your Sobbing." Their eponymous album, released in December 1979, hit Number 1 on the U.K. charts, featuring the songs "Brass in Pocket," "Precious," "Kid," and "The Wait." Credit: Sire Records "Talk of the Town" "The Pretenders' single, "Talk of the Town," was later released on their second album, "Pretenders II" (1982).

Credit: Sire Records "Pretenders II" "Pretenders II" (1982) featured the songs "Day After Day," "Bad Boys Get Spanked," "The Adultress," and Ray Davies' "I Go to Sleep." Following the release of "Pretenders II," two of the band's founding members - James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon - would be dead of drug overdoses. Credit: Sire Records "Learning to Crawl" Following a hiatus (and a temporary roster recording the single, "Back on the Chain Gang") Hynde and Chambers were joined by guitarist Robbie McIntosh and bassist Malcolm Foster in 1983. Their first album together, "Learning to Crawl," was released in 1984. Tracks included "Back on the Chain Gang," "Middle of the Road," "My City Was Gone" and "Show Me." The band's next album (much of which was recorded with session players) produced yet another change in the band's lineup, as Martin Chambers was fired.

"Get Close" (1986), containing the hit singles, "Don't Get Me Wrong" and "My Baby," would feature Hynde and McIntosh, bass player T.M. Stevens, and drummer Blair Cunningham. Credit: Sire Records Live Aid Chrissie Hynde, lead singer of The Pretenders, performs on stage at the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pa., July 13, 1985, during the Live Aid concert. (AP Photo) Credit: AP The Pretenders By the mid-1990s, Robbie Mctinosh had quit the band, and Martin Chambers was back. New to The Pretenders were Adam Seymour (left, guitar) and Andy Hobson (right, bass guitar). Credit: Sire Records "Last of the Independents" "Last of the Independents" (1994) featured the tracks "I'll Stand By You," "977," "Night in My Veins," and Bob Dylan's "Forever Young." Credit: Sire Records Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders performs at the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday, Sept.

2, 1995, in Cleveland Stadium. Credit: MARK DUNCAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS "Viva el Amor" "Viva el Amor" (1999), The Pretenders' seventh studio album, kept the same roster (Chambers, Hobson, Hynde and Seymour). Singles included "Human" and "Popstar." The foursome would collaborate on the 2003 album, "Loose Screw" (2003). By the time The Pretenders released their final album as a group, "Break Up the Concrete" (2008), Hobson was replaced by bass player Nick Wilkinson, James Walbourne was in on guitar, and Jim Keltner was on drums, with Eric Heywood on pedal steel guitar. Chrissie Hynde would be the only member of the original band to have survived (although Martin Chambers would again rejoin the group for a 2012 concert in Singapore). Credit: Warner Brothers London Singer Chrissie Hynde, lead singer of the Pretenders, during rehearsals at John Henry's Studio in north London, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009.

Credit: Joel Ryan/AP The Pretenders | New Music And Songs | The Pretenders About The Pretenders Over the years, the Pretenders became a vehicle for guitarist/vocalist Chrissie Hynde's songwriting, yet it was a full-fledged band when it was formed in the late '70s. With their initial records, the group crossed the bridge between punk/new wave and Top 40 pop more than any other band, recording a series of hard, spiky singles that were also melodic and immediately accessible. Hynde was an invigorating, sexy singer who bent the traditional male roles of rock & roll to her own liking, while guitarist James Honeyman-Scott created a sonic palette filled with suspended chords, effects pedals, and syncopated rhythms that proved remarkably influential over the next two decades. After Honeyman-Scott's death, the Pretenders became a more straightforward rock band, yet Hynde's semi-autobiographical songwriting and bracing determination meant that the group never became just another rock band, even when their music became smoother and more pop-oriented. Originally from Akron, Ohio Hynde moved to England in the early '70s, when she was in her twenties.

British rock journalist Nick Kent helped her begin writing for New Musical Express; she wrote for the newspaper during the mid-'70s. She also worked in Malcolm McLaren's SEX boutique before she began performing. After playing with Chris Spedding, she joined Jack Rabbit; she quickly left the band and formed the Berk Brothers. In 1978, Hynde formed the Pretenders, which eventually consisted of Honeyman-Scott, bassist Pete Farndon, and drummer Martin Chambers. Later in the year, they recorded a version of Ray Davies' "Stop Your Sobbing," produced by Nick Lowe. The single made it into the British Top 40 in early 1979. "Kid" and "Brass in Pocket," the group's next two singles, were also successful. Their debut album, Pretenders, was released in early 1980 and eventually climbed to number one in the U.K. The band was nearly as successful in America, with the album reaching the Top Ten and "Brass in Pocket" reaching number 14. During an American tour in 1980, Hynde met Ray Davies and the two fell in love.

Following a spring 1981 EP, Extended Play, the group released their second album, Pretenders II. Although it fared well on the charts, it repeated the musical ideas of their debut. In June of 1982, Pete Farndon was kicked out of the band due to his drug abuse. A mere two days later, on June 16, James Honeyman-Scott was found dead of an overdose of heroin and cocaine. Pregnant with Davies' child, Hynde went into seclusion following Honeyman-Scott's death. In 1983, two months after Hynde gave birth, Farndon also died of a drug overdose. Hynde regrouped the Pretenders in February 1983, adding former Manfred Mann's Earth Band guitarist Robbie McIntosh and bassist Malcolm Foster; the reconstituted band released "2000 Miles" in time for Christmas. The new Pretenders released Learning to Crawl early in 1984 to positive reviews and commercial success. Ending her romance with Ray Davies, Hynde married Jim Kerr, the lead vocalist of Simple Minds, in May of 1984.

Apart from a performance at Live Aid, the only musical activity from the Pretenders in 1985 was Hynde's appearance on UB40's version of "I Got You Babe." Hynde assembled another version of the Pretenders for 1986's Get Close. Only she and McIntosh remained from Learning to Crawl; the rest of the album was recorded with session musicians. Get Close showed the Pretenders moving closer to MOR territory, with the bouncy single "Don't Get Me Wrong" making its way into the American Top Ten in 1987. Hynde recorded another duet with UB40 in 1988, a cover of Dusty Springfield's "Breakfast in Bed." Hynde's marriage to Kerr fell apart in 1990, the same year the Pretenders released Packed!, which failed to ignite the charts in either America or Britain. She was relatively quiet for the next few years, re-emerging in 1994 with Last of the Independents, which was hailed as a comeback by some quarters of the press.

The album did return the Pretenders to the Top 40, with the ballad "I'll Stand by You." In the fall of 1995, the Pretenders released the live album Isle of View, then remained silent for a few years. Hynde finally returned in 1999 with an album of new material, Viva el Amor. Three years later, the Pretenders left their longtime label for Artemis. The reggae-tinged Loose Screw appeared in November and a tour followed in January 2003. In March 2006, the Pretenders released their first-ever box set, Pirate Radio, via Rhino. The four-disc package included over five hours of music and a DVD of rare performances. Two years later, the Pretenders released Break Up the Concrete, their first album in six years; it debuted at 32 on the Billboard charts and 35 in the U.K. Following the release of Break Up the Concrete, the Pretenders spent the next few years touring, but after 2012, Hynde put the band on hiatus.

In 2014, she released Stockholm, her first ever solo album, which was followed in 2015 by her memoir Reckless: My Life as a Pretender. In 2016, Hynde revived the Pretenders to record a new album with Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach as producer. Alone emerged in October 2016. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi No. 83: The Pretenders, ‘Brass In Pocket’ – Top 100 Classic Rock Songs No. 83: The Pretenders, ‘Brass In Pocket’ – Top 100 Classic Rock Songs By Matt Springer April 3, 2012 2:45 PM REDDIT Sire Records By the time Chrissie Hynde and her Pretenders released their seminal hit (and amazingly obvious Top 100 Classic Rock Songs inductee) ‘Brass In Pocket,’ the band was already on its third lineup… and that’s before they had any chart success. Their third single, ‘Brass’ was their first U.K. No. 1 and reached No. 14 on the Billboard charts.

The brass in the song’s titular pocket is meant to mean “money,” picked up from a bit of Yorkshire slang Hynde heard from a member of another band. Hynde’s vocal imbues that brass with a far greater meaning — it’s an emblem of confidence, a symbol of the certainty the singer feels when she considers what she wants and how she will achieve it. Think about the role of women as band leaders and songwriters in rock up to the arrival of the Pretenders. There were many great female singers, and many great female songwriters, but precious few women who could lead a band and write songs with the same presence as a Dylan or Jagger . Chrissie Hynde almost single-handedly changed all of that. While her contemporary Debbie Harry was putting her own spin on the idea of a female lead singer, Hynde instead proved that a central role in rock’s power and impact — the bandleader, the frontperson, the boss — could just as easily be filled by a woman as a man.

‘Brass In Pocket’ also stands as one of many great singles to emerge from a musical era awkwardly known as “new wave.” It’s awkward because the term inevitably conjures images of synth-drenched pop and Flock of Seagulls haircuts. More than anything else, this new wave was about a level of artistic integrity that vanished in the rock indulgences of the 1970s and was made possible by the deck-clearing ferocity of punk. New wave wasn’t about a sound; it was about a philosophy, and for the Pretenders — just as for XTC, Elvis Costello , Blondie , and countless others — that philosophy meant strong songwriting anchored by pure musicianship. Because at the end of the day, that’s what ‘Brass In Pocket’ is really about. It’s a damn great song.

Profile & Biography of '80s Rock Band The Pretenders 1978 in London, England Original Members: Chrissie Hynde (born Christine Ellen Hynde on September 7, 1951 in Akron, Ohio) - Lead vocals, guitar, primary songwriter James Honeyman-Scott (born November 4, 1956 in Hereford, England; died June 16, 1982 in London, England) - Lead guitar Pete Farndon (born June 2, 1952 in Hereford, England; died April 14, 1983 in London, England) - Bass guitar Martin Chambers (born Martin Dale Chambers on September 4, 1951 in Hereford, England) - Drums Other Key '80s Band Members: Robbie McIntosh (born October 25, 1957 in Sutton, Surrey, England) - Guitar, backing vocals Origins: The Pretenders would never have happened had Chrissie Hynde not crossed the Atlantic in a move to London in 1973.

Initially she wrote music criticism, and in 1976 she was an active observer of the British punk rock explosion. By 1978 she hooked up with Farndon, who helped finalize the band's original lineup by recruiting two Hereford acquaintances, Honeyman-Scott and Chambers. continue reading below our video Great Singers Gone too Soon Although the rest of the band didn't share Hynde's punk leanings, the group forged an intertwined, fresh sound. A Brief Reign for the Pretenders, 1978-1982: In less than four years together, the original quartet was hailed as one of guitar-based rock music's saviors during the chaotic post-punk period. Honeyman-Scott is still widely regarded as one of rock's all-time guitar greats, capable of unbelievably creative and ingenious rhythms and textures in his playing. Farndon and Chambers, meanwhile, formed a highly capable, organic rhythm section that allowed for a give-and-take cohesion among band members rarely seen in any style of rock music.

The First Two Albums: With the unimaginatively titled and , released in 1980 and 1981 respectively, the band both created and confidently occupied a niche in rock music that had long desperately needed to be filled. Hynde's quavering, soulful vocals formed a playful interplay with the jagged yet artfully rendered musical lines supplied by the rest of the band. "Kid," "Message of Love," "Precious," "Tattooed Love Boys" and "Mystery Achievement" are but a few song highlights of the first two albums. Tragedy, Brutal & Abrupt: Before long Honeyman-Scott's heroin use quickly became an obstacle to the band's continued success, and in June 1982 Hynde kicked him out of the band for his increasingly destructive habit. Tragically enough, just days later Honeyman-Scott died of a drug overdose. To prove inevitability as almost natural law in rock and roll, Farndon died of similar causes just 10 months later. At that point, bouncing back from such double devastation seemed far-fetched for even this hardy bunch.

Aggressive, Determined Perseverance of Hynde & the Pretenders: Still, this is Chrissie Hynde we're talking about. Two months before Farndon's death, she had already put together a new version of the band. 1984's featured "Back on the Chain Gang," a haunting tribute to Hynde's fallen bandmates that reached the Top 10 on the pop charts. Hynde pressed on with somewhat of a revolving lineup for the Pretenders' next release, 1986's , dismissing Chambers but still finding chart success with the wonderful "Don't Get Me Wrong." Feminist Icon or Just a Serious Rock Chick?: By the mid '80s it had become pretty clear to everyone that The Pretenders had become essentially a vehicle for the talented Hynde. This continued, intermittently, into and through the '90s. But more than anything else, Hynde has stayed relevant for the ground she's broken for women in rock and roll. Even so, she has been ambivalent at best about such a role or image, focusing instead on continuing to celebrate the accomplishments of the original Pretenders.

Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders' voice and soul - Videos - CBS News Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders' voice and soul Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders' voice and soul September 6, 2015, 3:30 AM | For nearly 40 years Chrissie Hynde has been lead singer of the legendary rock group The Pretenders. In her new memoir she talks about struggling to find her footing in London's music scene, her later success, and her early years in Akron, Ohio, where she returns with correspondent Tracy Smith. The Pretenders facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about The Pretenders Sources As a woman breaking into rock, Pretenders founder and lead singer Chrissie Hynde offered a much-needed upset to the genre’s domination by men. Even as she deplored her perceived lack of commercial “beauty,” she was able to use this ostensible deficiency to her advantage—thus establishing herself as a serious songwriter and musician. She told Fred Schruers in a 1981 Rolling Stone story, “They’re not looking at me like I’m some sex symbol or girl with huge tits bouncing around the stage….

And this thing [her guitar], this isn’t an extension or a phallic symbol.” Hynde has also insisted on being uncompromisingly straightforward in her music. Newsweek contributor Jim Miller noted her attack on the sexism prevalent in rock lyrics: [Her songs] are memorable not only for the skilled way in which Hynde reworks stock riffs, but also for the matter-of-fact, unsentimental manner in which sex is described from the viewpoint of a woman with appetites and a will of her own.

Her best lyrics, at once tender and tough, are a bracing change from rock’s stock erotic fare, which often features a macho stud laying waste to the enemy.” For the Record… Members include Martin Chambers (born September 4, 1951, in Hereford, England ), drums; Peter Farndon (born in 1953 in Hereford; drowned as a result of heroin intoxication, April 14, 1983; replaced by Malcolm Foster [born January 13, 1956, in Hereford]), bass; James Honeyman-Scott (born October 27, 1957, in Hereford; died of cocaine-induced heart failure, June 16, 1982; replaced by Robbie Mclntosh, 1982), lead guitar, vocals, keyboards; Chrissie Hynde (born Christine Ellen Hynde, September 7, 1951, in Akron , OH; daughter of Bud [a telephone company employee], and Dee [a secretary] Hynde; married Jim Kerr (a singer), c.

1984 (divorced, 1990); children: (with Ray Davies [a singer and songwriter]), Natalie, (with Kerr) Yasmin; attended Kent State University, late 1960s to early 1970s), vocals, guitar. Hynde worked for London rock tabloid New Music Express; Honeyman-Scott worked in a music shop; Chambers was a driving instructor; group formed in London, c. 1978; released single “Stop Your Sobbing” and album Pretenders, 1979; signed with Sire Records c. 1980; toured the U.S., 1980. Awards: Gold record for Pretenders; platinum record for Learning to Crawl. Addresses: Record company —Sire Records, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York , NY 10019. Like other pivotal figures in popular music, Hynde did not initially fit neatly into the contemporary music scene, or for that matter, into her own band; while the rest of the original Pretenders were English—the band is known generally as an English one—Hynde was born in Akron, Ohio .

Her upbringing took place against a typical blue-collar, Midwestern backdrop. Hynde’s father, Bud, worked for Ohio Bell; her mother, Dee, worked part-time as a secretary. At an early age, Hynde adopted rock musicians as her idols—proto-punk Iggy Pop, guitarists Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix, English rock pioneers the Kinks, and Brian Jones of the early Rolling Stones; her desire to be in a rock band spawned a fantasy world that became Hynde’s refuge from what she viewed as the static nature of life in Ohio. An Unlikely Frontwoman Despite her early devotion, however, Hynde had to fight her way slowly into the real music world. While male friends were playing in garage bands in Akron and Cleveland , Hynde had to teach herself to sing and play rhythm guitar without the feedback of a band or audience. She wrote songs as a teenager but had no forum for testing them. Shyness further limited her; she retreated to a closet whenever she wanted to sing, even after everyone left the house. Hynde had only one opportunity to play with a band in the U.S.—and that was only for one night, when she performed with a local band, Sat. Sun .

Mat., whose Mark Mothersbaugh eventually went on to fame with the zany new-wave band Devo. After a few years spent studying art at Kent State University in Ohio—during which she witnessed the fatal shooting of four student anti-war protesters during the infamous National Guard incident of 1970—Hynde left school to try her hand in the Cleveland rock circuit, where for several years she also held a series of odd jobs. Learning of the lively English music scene from the London rock tabloid New Music Express, Hynde decided to seek her fortune in London. She put the $1,000 she had saved as an investment in her future toward the move. Though the relocation was a gamble, she told Schruers, “I would rather have my head blown off than sit… in Akron, Ohio, and watch television or go to the mall.” Most of her early years in London were so lean that she once viewed petty theft as an option. But Hynde did hold some jobs during that time. Writing for New Music Express connected her with several English musicians and producers; she also worked for a while in a small clothing store with Malcolm McLaren, who would figure prominently in the late 1970s punk-rock movement.

Between 1973 and 1978, however, Hynde’s determination to become part of a rock band met with only near misses. Despite invitations to various gigs, during which her peers recognized her as a strong musician and songwriter, none of the men forming bands would accept Hynde as a full-fledged member. After one failed attempt to start a band with guitarist Mick Jones, she reconnected with McLaren, who invited her to join his latest effort, Masters of the Backside. Hynde was a member of that group long enough to rehearse with them, but not long enough to enjoy their success as the noted punk band the Damned. Jones returned to the picture briefly, asking Hynde to play on tour with his new band, the Clash; but the temporary membership proved frustrating as Hynde was again dropped before the band caught on. Teamed With Bassist Farndon In Dave Hill, who had recently formed Read Records, Hynde recognized an opportunity to put together her own band. Hill offered himself as her manager in 1978 and urged her to take her time in recruiting the musicians she needed to record a demo tape. First Hynde heard about a bassist, Peter Farndon, through a friend.

Farndon had been in Sidney, Australia , playing with the Bushwackers, a folk-rock outfit. Back in his hometown of Hereford, he was in the market for a new band himself; with Hynde, he found both the first real musical break of his life and, for a while, a romantic relationship. Farndon described his first impression of Hynde to Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone: “I walked into the pub and there was this American with a big mouth across the other side of the bar…. As soon as we got down to her rehearsal room, which was the scummiest basement I’d ever been in in my life, the first thing we played was ‘Groove Me,‘ by King Floyd…. I’ll never forget it: we go in, we do a soul number, we do a country and western number, and then we did The Phone Call,‘ which is like the heaviest… punk-rocker you could do in 5/4 time. Impressed?

I was very impressed.” Farndon brought in an exceptional lead guitarist, James Honeyman-Scott, who would later be described by Rolling Stone’s James Henke as “the guitarist whose lyrical playing formed the bedrock of the group’s sound.” With Irish drummer Jerry Mcleduff, Hynde, Farndon, and Honeyman-Scott put together a demo featuring a number of cuts that would become Pretenders classics: “Precious,” “The Wait,” and “Stop Your Sobbing.” Singer/songwriter Nick Lowe, one of Hynde’s New Music Express connections, agreed to produce a single of “Stop Your Sobbing” backed with “The Wait.” Hynde’s years of dedication finally began to pay off in January of 1979 when Lowe released the first Pretenders single; “Stop Your Sobbing,” a cover version of a Kink’s tune, was an instant success in the United Kingdom . Solidified Lineup Before cutting the single, however, the band had found a drummer who could produce exactly the sound they were seeking. Martin Chambers beat the skins so much harder than the average drummer, even in rock, that he had a drum kit “specially built to withstand his onslaughts,” reported Rolling Stone’s Loder.

Chambers and Honeyman-Scott had departed their hometown of Hereford some years earlier with a band called Cheeks. Although Cheeks lasted for three years, the band never cut an album, which left the drummer and guitarist without any real musical credits. Honeyman-Scott had been working in a music shop when bassist Farndon contacted him; Chambers was a driving instructor when Farndon and Honeyman-Scott asked him to audition. The singles released after “Stop Your Sobbing” were received with mounting acclaim. In 1980, “Kid,” “Talk of the Town,” and “Brass in Pocket” all reached bestseller status in the U.K. “Brass in Pocket” even claimed the Number One spot on British charts. These scraps of recognition ultimately melded into a sure foundation with the early 1980 release of the first Pretenders album. Titled simply Pretenders, the record’s cover pictured Hynde, Farndon, Honeyman-Scott, and Chambers clad in leather jackets—mostly unsmiling. The cover and music exemplified the unforgiving attitude that the Pretenders’ blend of British punk and American rock brought to the music scene of the early 1980s.

Chris Thomas, who replaced Nick Lowe as the band’s producer, graced the album with the same production values that had helped create the sound of famed British bands the Sex Pistols and Roxy Music. In the U.K., the album instantly shot to Number One. Warm Reception From U.S. Audiences The band’s reputation grew more gradually in the U.S. than in the U.K., but no less steadily. Once Sire Records won the American rights to Pretenders and released it in the U.S., the album’s success led to a gold record and a promotional concert tour. Mikal Gilmore of Rolling Stone explained the band’s appeal: “The Pretenders’ chief strength onstage, as on record, was their rhythmic ingenuity…. Hynde, [Honeyman-]Scott and bassist Pete Farndon wove a taut meshwork of staggered, propulsive rhythms that drummer Martin Chambers would spike with sinewy snare-and-tom bursts. In effect, it was a reversal of rhythmic standards, with the drums, instead of guitar, dictating fierce melodic lines.” Critics and fans received the group’s debut album with considerable excitement, promoting it to the Number Nine position on U.S. charts.

Pretenders was later described, when placed at Number 20 of Rolling Stone’s “Top 100 Albums of the Decade,” as “more diverse than the machine-gun rhythms of punk, because the three Britons were accomplished musicians and Hynde had grown up on a diet of AM radio.” American fans immediately hailed the Pretenders as the embodiment of a no-holds-barred rebellion that they craved. Of their reception at a Los Angeles-area concert, Gilmore concluded, “The point, I gather, was to herald these Anglo-American New Wavers as something like preordained, conquering pop heroes, and in a way, that’s just what they were.” Backstage, the tone of the tour was rebellious as well. Bandmembers drank heavily while reaping the benefits of their burgeoning fortunes. Both Honeyman-Scott and Farndon were able to freely indulge their heroin addictions. Hynde became notorious for kicking out the windows of a police car after being arrested for disorderly conduct. Although the pace of the road took its toll—Chambers eventually collapsed from exhaustion—no one took a break after the tour. Instead, the Pretenders returned to London to immediately begin recording material for their next album.

Tensions Mount 1981 saw two more successful albums and more touring. Pretenders II and Extended Play cemented the band’s reputation for skill and hard work. The tenor of the 1981 tour was markedly different from that of its predecessor, however. Chambers and Hynde, in particular, began to “settle down.” The music was hardhitting as ever, but the lifestyle behind it was changing. Chambers had married a woman who worked for Sire, and Hynde had met Ray Davies of the Kinks—one of her childhood idols—in a New York City nightclub. The meeting led to a committed relationship and, in 1983, to the birth of Hynde’s first child, Natalie. Even with the mellowing of Chambers and Hynde, though, the tour presaged difficulties to come. When Chambers cut his hand opening a window sash (Hynde later admitted that a rare fit of temper inspired the drummer to punch a lamp), the injury was so bad that he couldn’t play for a number of weeks. The band decided to postpone the tour rather than replace Chambers.

Meanwhile, Farndon and Honeyman-Scott continued the excesses afforded them by their newfound wealth and fame. The former especially moved farther and farther away from the rest of the band, his heroin addiction increasingly affecting his playing. He became irritable and easily angered, behavior that seemed to intensify when Hynde turned her affections toward Davies. Whatever the source of his demeanor, Farndon finally became so irascible that Honeyman-Scott refused to work with him; although the lead guitarist was also using heroin, he managed to maintain his professionalism. When the band returned to London after the 1981 tour, Hynde made the difficult decision to fire Farndon. Since the remaining trio again wished to begin recording material for their next album right away, Honeyman-Scott suggested his friend Robbie Mclntosh as a replacement for Farndon. But the Pretenders were devastated when—the very next day—Honeyman-Scott died of cocaine-induced heart failure. The group that had come to life as a powerhouse of diligence, pumping out tours, hit singles, and albums at a remarkable pace, took a three-year break between the release of their second album and their third.

Tragedy struck again in 1983; on April 14, Pete Farndon drowned in a bathtub, the result of heroin intoxication. Though his death dealt a severe blow to his former bandmates, the work of preparing a new album was already underway. Chambers and Hynde had put together a temporary band for some early summer recording sessions in 1982. The resulting single was a good omen; “Back on the Chain Gang,” backed with “My City was Gone,” became the Pretenders’ first hit single in the U.S., where it broke the Top Five. Group Picked Up the Pieces Robbie Mclntosh had come in as the Pretenders’ first permanent replacement member—on lead guitar— late in the summer of 1982. He brought in Malcolm Foster for an audition on bass. Forgoing the frantic pace, but with the old Pretenders dedication intact, the band had a strong album ready for release in 1984. Learning to Crawl debuted to critical acclaim in both the U.S. and the U.K., going platinum in the former, despite the inevitable reservations about the absence of Farndon and Honeyman-Scott.

Various attempts to analyze the album in terms of the profound emotions surrounding the birth of Hynde’s daughter and the trauma of Farndon and Honeyman-Scott’s deaths led the Pretenders frontwoman to remark in Rolling Stone, “[It’s] just a collection of ten measly songs. It’s not a real important deal. I hate this sort of romantic or sentimental take people have on it—you know, the tragic demise, the reawakening. It wasn’t like that at all.” Hynde, however, was no longer the defiant punk she had been. After her breakup with Davies, she met and married Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds. Hynde’s second daughter, Yasmin, was born in April of 1985. Her activities during the hiatus between the release of Learning to Crawl and its follow-up, Get Close, cemented Hynde’s growing reputation as a spokesperson for liberal political causes and as a musician who demanded quality. Solitary Core of the Pretenders For Get Close, both Chambers and Foster stepped aside as Hynde brought in a variety of session musicians to work on tracks for the album. Jimmy lovine and Bob Clearmountain replaced longtime producer Thomas. The record emphasized keyboards, and L.

Shankar’s Indian violin even emerged on one song. Get Close, however, was ultimately panned. Critics seemed to feel the release lacked the power of the Pretenders’ first two albums and failed to demonstrate the consistency of Learning to Crawl. Others argued that the album’s format attempted to cover too large a variety of musical styles, and that the production experimented with too many musical effects, detracting from Hynde’s vocals. Nonetheless, the first single, “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” enjoyed Top Ten status. High Fidelity contributor Ken Richardson reported in 1988 that Hynde had put together “an all-new Pretenders band.” Even Mclntosh had vanished from this lineup, which would produce the album Packed! in 1990. As evidenced by their reviews of Packed!, critics had finally accepted that the original Pretenders—and their sound—would never be duplicated. And as it became clear that Packed! was more impressive, track after track, than Get Close —though certainly more mainstream than the group’s earliest work—critics and fans alike seemed to realized that Chrissie Hynde had, in fact, become the Pretenders.

Richardson characterized the duality of the band’s sound thus: “The Pretenders were two different bands: purveyors of top 40 hits and, on their first two LPs, creators of potent new wave, grounded in punk energy.” Best-selling album since 1990: Last of the Independents (1994) Hit songs since 1990: "I'll Stand by You," "Night in My Veins" The Pretenders emerged from the London music scene in the late 1970s with a personalized style encompassing punk angst, reggae grooves, and pop craftsmanship. The principal songwriter and lead vocalist, Chrissie Hynde, led the group with a forceful and self-assured stage presence. After three successful albums, the group incurred the tragic loss of both guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon. Hynde continued to record with various studio musicians and by the mid-1990s had recruited a stable group. In this incarnation, the Pretenders reestablished their hard rock aesthetic with critically acclaimed albums and strong performances at the Lilith Fair festival and on tour with the Rolling Stones.

Hynde grew up in Akron, Ohio, and attended Kent State University for three years. In 1973 she moved to London and worked as a music critic for New Musical Express. Dissatisfied with the job and the music scene, she moved back to Akron and joined the group Jack Rabbit. Hynde returned to London three years later and, through the assistance of Malcolm McLaren (manager for the punk band the Sex Pistols), she was hired to play guitar in Masters of the Backside. Although dismissed, she continued to perform with various bands and honed her songwriting skills, eventually recording a demo tape and signing with Real Records. With the help of producer Nick Lowe, Hynde recruited Farndon, Honeyman-Scott, and session drummer Gerry Mackleduff to form the Pretenders. Their cover version of Ray Davies's (of the band the Kinks) "Stop Your Sobbing" breached the U.K. charts and was followed by the pleasantly melodic "Kid." After the addition of drummer Martin Chambers, the group recorded their eponymous debut album, The Pretenders (1980).

The first single, "Brass in Pocket," was an immediate success and hit number one in the United Kingdom and number fourteen in the United States . The song begins with a hypnotic guitar riff in a languid tempo that gradually builds to the chorus. The lyrics present a self-assured woman in pursuit of a man: "I'm gonna have some of your attention. Give it to me." The accompanying music video, which depicts Hynde as a waitress in a diner, was placed in constant rotation by MTV and gained the group a wide American audience. Due to heavy demand, the group quickly released the aptly titled Extended Play EP (1981) with its single, "Talk of the Town." After a busy touring schedule, the Pretenders moved to Paris and recorded their second album, The Pretenders II (1981). On June 14, 1982, Farndon was asked to leave the group due to his constant use of heroin and cocaine. In a strange twist of fate, Honeyman-Scott died of a drug overdose two days later. The remaining members, Hynde and Chambers, rallied together and produced the wistful "Back on the Chain Gang," dedicated to Honeyman-Scott.

Before this album could be completed, the group suffered the news of Farndon's drug-related death in April 1983. Crawling through the 1980s Learning to Crawl, which alludes to Hynde's infant daughter with Ray Davies and the band's tentative activity after the tragedies, was finally released in 1984. The album went platinum and featured the raucous "Middle of the Road," with its incendiary guitar and harmonica solos. During this time, Hynde married Jim Kerr of the pop group Simple Minds and gave birth to her second daughter. The relationship soon dissolved and Hynde eventually married Colombian sculptor Lucho Brieva in 1997. After the album release the group was effectively dismantled and Hynde enjoyed success on her own, recording a cover of Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" with UB40. The next two albums were released under the Pretenders moniker but were largely solo efforts by Hynde with uneven results.

In 1994 the group was reinvented with the addition of guitarist Adam Seymour and bassist Andy Hobson, and the subsequent album, Last of the Independents, was hailed as the return of the Pretenders. While songs such as " Hollywood Perfume" and "Rebel Rock Me" recalled the energy of their earlier efforts, the album was significantly marred by innocuous ballads. "Night in My Veins" exhibits a pleasant harmonic progression with a steady drum groove. Although the melody is shapeless, Hynde's performance is memorable with the rapid line, "Even if it's," followed by "just the night in my veins." The surprise hit from the album was the ballad, "I'll Stand by You," with its piano introduction, predictable melodic phrasing, and backing gospel choir. Renewing Their Rock Aesthetic The Pretenders released the acoustic live album, The Isle of View (1995), with imaginative arrangements of previous material. With ¡Viva El Amor! (1999), the Pretenders reasserted their rock aesthetic with the biting commentary of "Popstar" and the rugged energy of "Legalize Me" with guitarist Jeff Beck.

Hynde reveals outstanding vocal prowess in "One More Time" and a supple intimacy in Silvio Rodriguez's "Rabo de Nube." The ballad, "From the Heart Down," exhibits some of Hynde's most poignant lyrics: "You sink into my flesh like a knife," and "Longing hurts the teeth like something sweet." Although this album went largely unnoticed, it represents one of the band's strongest releases. In 1999 the group performed at the Lilith Fair, a festival centered around female musicians. As an outspoken crusader for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), Hynde was arrested in March 2000 in a protest against the Gap clothing store. Although she spent a night in jail, the protest was a success, with the Gap changing its policy toward illegal leather products. The Pretenders' next album, Loose Screw (2002), highlights the group's signature rock sound merged with reggae beats and textures. The album features imaginative bass lines, varied sonic textures, and an overall clean production. "You Know Who Your Friends Are" begins with a rollicking bass line and guitar delay, sliding subtly into the chorus.

The vocal line is relaxed and conversational with gentle melismas. The reggae-saturated single, "Complex Person," exhibits a hypnotic melody centered around certain key notes and concludes with an unexpected harmonic change. The confessional "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" wistfully describes the complications of human relationships: "I want you more than before, so I conceal it." During this time, the Pretenders reached another milestone by performing with the Rolling Stones in their U.S. concerts. Hynde's innovative songs fueled the Pretenders through various incarnations. The original quartet presented edgy rock songs coupled with a remarkably melodic approach. With the tragic loss of Honeyman-Scott and Farndon, the group sputtered in the late 1980s and early 1990s, only to reemerge with a powerful new lineup in the mid-1990s. While Hynde generally eschewed the designation of female rock star, she undoubtedly challenged the orthodoxy of rock gender roles through her stalwart persona and performances.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY: The Pretenders (Sire, 1980); Extended Play EP (Sire, 1981); The Pretenders II (Sire, 1981); Learning to Crawl (Sire, 1984); Get Close (Sire, 1986); The Singles (Sire, 1987); Packed! (Sire, 1990); Last of the Independents (Warner Bros., 1994); The Isle of View (Warner Bros., 1995); ¡Viva El Amor! (Warner Bros., 1999); Loose Screw ( Artemis , 2002). WEBSITE: Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde criticised for rape remarks Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde criticised for rape remarks August 31, 20155:11am ‘Reckless’ ... Chrissie Hynde includes an account of her own rape by members of an Ohio motorcycle gang when she was 21 in her memoir.

Picture: AP/Joel Ryan Network WritersNews Corp Australia Network Share Email a friend PRETENDERS lead singer Chrissie Hynde has drawn criticism for her comments on women who are behaving “provocatively” risking sexual assault. Hynde, who herself has been raped, told London’s Sunday Times: “If I’m walking around and I’m very modestly dressed and I’m keeping to myself and someone attacks me, then I’d say that’s (the attacker’s) fault. “But if I’m being very lairy and putting it about and being provocative, then you are enticing someone who is already unhinged — don’t do that. Come on! That’s just common sense.” ‘Taking responsibility’ ... Chrissie Hynde has revealed an attitude of self-blaming in an interview about her past.Source:News Limited The 63-year-old was being interviewed about her memoir Reckless, which includes an account of her rape by members of an Ohio motorcycle gang when she was 21, Sky News reports . The rock star was driven to an abandoned house by the men, who then forced her to perform sex acts.

In her book she writes: “Now let me assure you that, technically speaking, however you want to look at it, this was all my doing and I take full responsibility. “You can’t f--- about with people, especially people who wear ‘I heart rape’ and ‘on you knees’ badges.” A rock and roll life ... Chrissie Hynde and members of her band The Pretenders. Picture: SuppliedSource:News Limited To this day, Hynde declines to condemn the perpetrators. “They’re motorcycle guys,” she told the Times. “If you play with fire, you get burnt. It’s not any secret, is it? “I don’t think I’m saying anything controversial.” Sarah Green of End Violence Against Women Coalition called Hynde’s self-blaming stance “simple psychological behaviour” that helps victims to think they are able to prevent future attacks. “Victims will often have a need to tell themselves: ‘It won’t happen again because I won’t do the things that made it happen in the first place’.” Chrissie Hynde is wrong. 100% of rapes have in fact been caused by rapists, not clothes.

— Antony Holt (@Hasselschmuck) August 30, 2015 Chrissie Hynde’s comments on rape are really disheartening. She’s really gone down in my estimations. pic.twitter.com/EvbCCUG4MC — Dylan H Morris. (@dylanhm) August 30, 2015 “Victims of sexual violence should never feel or be made to feel that they were responsible for the appalling crime they suffered — regardless of circumstances or factors which may have made them particularly vulnerable,” says Lucy Hastings, director of the charity Victim Support. While some commenters on Twitter expressed anger, others were sympathetic to Hynde being a victim, if not to the gist of her comments. People criticising Chrissie Hynde for her comments are overlooking that she is a victim and this is self blame. I feel v sorry for her tbh.

The 10 Best Pretenders Songs - Stereogum The 10 Best Pretenders Songs Timothy Bracy And Elizabeth Bracy | December 14, 2012 - 5:37 pm Share < br />this article: CREDIT: The Pretenders If there had never been such a thing as Chrissie Hynde someone would certainly have needed to invent her: The Ohio born singer-songwriter and frontwoman of the Pretenders emerged from the teeming hothouse of late 1970’s London like Athena cracked forcefully from the skull of Zeus. Hynde the writer and performer was fully formed and completely wonderful — a distinctly feminine (and feminist) counterpoint to the nearly overwhelming crush of alpha-male performers ranging from Elvis Costello to Joe Strummer to Nick Lowe to the still-looming presence of ex-Pistol John Lydon, beginning the first stages of rebuilding his caustic social critique as Public Image Limited. Into this fraternity strode Hynde and her Pretenders, every bit as tough and self-possessed as their peers and taking a backseat to no one in terms of talent.

[1] On the heels of her fantastic Lowe-produced cover of the Kinks’ classic “Stop Your Sobbing” (released as a single), Hynde proceeded to issue Pretenders, which remains to this date one of the most audacious and fascinating debuts in rock music history. That album established Hynde’s bonafides as a staggeringly artful tunesmith with a remarkable gift for pulling indelible choruses seemingly out of thin air, as well as burnishing an intelligent, pugnacious and utterly fearless “fuck with me at your peril” persona. Her lyrics were tough, funny, and intelligent, co-mingling the personal and political in a manner both deeply coded and highly sophisticated. A central tension in her writing emerged: Hynde did not gladly suffer fools, but the music industry was awash in a sea of capricious idiocy. Then there is the matter of Hynde’s singing. Gifted with a keening alto and a uniquely brilliant flare for phrasing, she might not have even needed to be a great songwriter to be a great success.

Hynde’s capacity to persuasively run the gamut from nails tough to crushingly vulnerable, sometimes in the span of a few seconds, places her in rarefied company amongst vocalists in the rock tradition. One could argue the list goes: Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Alex Chilton, Chrissie Hynde, and everyone else. The Pretenders, in their first iteration, were musically inventive and dexterous, capable of easily switching gears from the charged up, angular attack of “Tattooed Love Boys” to the neo-soul of the hit single “Brass In Pocket.” Ballads like the gorgeously longing “Lovers Of Today” mixed intoxicatingly with mechanical-sounding and sexually frank tracks like “Up The Neck.” The following year’s Pretenders II was not as consistent start to finish but featured some of Hynde’s most memorable songs, and arguably the highs were higher than anything on the debut. On the basis of this two album opening salvo, the band appeared to be on a limitless trajectory. Would the Pretenders eventually be discussed in the same conversation with the Beatles or the Velvets? Nothing seemed impossible. This promise would go regrettably unfulfilled.

The lineup turned out to be as ill-starred as they were gifted — guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon would both be dead by 1983 as a consequence of various drug related misadventure. Understandably devastated, Hynde went about the gradual process of rebuilding a new lineup, working with stalwarts like the great former Rockpile guitarist Billy Bremner, Big Country’s Tony Butler, and Robbie McIntosh from Manfred Mann, and released 1983’s Learning to Crawl. The first half of that album was a magnificent tour de force — the equal of anything in the catalog. The fact that the second half founders a bit does little to mitigate Hynde’s remarkable achievement in picking up the pieces of a broken band and making it great again (also amidst a deeply charged and complicated series of events concerning her relationship with the Kinks’ Ray Davies, with whom she has a child). The first side of Learning To Crawl brings together, and arguably brings to a close, a lot of Hynde’s major thematic preoccupations.

Songs like “Middle Of The Road,” “Time The Avenger” and “Show Me” brilliantly thread together the competing anxieties of professional ambition and integrity, romantic longing and estrangement, and the responsibilities of motherhood juxtaposed with the demands of an industry that seemingly mandates recklessness as a work requirement. After Learning To Crawl, Hynde seemed in some ways to fade away, or at least that the 200-watt intensity that informed her early work was replaced by something a little less likely to burn down whole villages. 1986’s Get Close featured the terrific single “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” but little else up to her established standard, and after four more years Packed! was a solid, workmanlike effort led by the similarly good single “I’d Never Do That,” but it seemed fairly clear at this point that Hynde had largely chosen a path of stability as opposed to the debasements of life on the road. What we are left with in the main is a relatively small catalog from one of rock and roll’s greatest voices, both literally and figuratively.

It is no genius assertion to suggest that women in rock and roll face a unique challenge from an industry and critical community only too quick to slot them into convenient categories and stereotypes: the hyper feminist activist, the coquettish pin up, the beautiful, fractured lost soul who needs so badly to be saved, the manic pixie dream girl. In becoming not only one of the crucial female voices, but one of the crucial voices overall in the history of rock and roll, Chrissie Hynde somehow achieved the seemingly impossible, navigating these insane cultural pit falls by sheer dint of will and transcendent talent. Chrissie Hynde can be mean without being cruel, sentimental without being trite, desperate without being crazy. She can express Mick Jagger-like appetites without seeming sensational. She can express the overwhelming love borne from motherhood in one sentence, and the overwhelming lust borne from being a grown woman with a sex drive in the next. She is a hero and an inspiration for all that alone, to say nothing for the fifteen or so stone classics she entered into the canon. Here’s ten of them. Many of these are rock radio staples and for good reason — they were brilliant when they were released and have only grown more wonderful with vintage.

A few are lesser known but would be worthy of a similar esteem. Only one dates past Learning To Crawl, but don’t discount the possibility of Hynde surfacing with a late career masterpiece or two. Or that is, bet against her at your own risk. [1] The sense that Hynde emerged out of nowhere was palpable but largely illusory. She had been kicking around the London scene for years, playing in certain bands and even scoring a gig writing for NME. At one time she nearly formed a band with eventual Clash Guitarist Mick Jones — the mind reels uncontrollably at the possibilities. 10. “Don’t Get Me Wrong” (from Get Close) A vintage sounding holdover from Hynes’s middle-period record Get Close, “Don’t Get Me Wrong” remains an impeccable confection featuring a quasi-Bo Diddley riff and a lilting melody over which Hynde sings with heartening optimism: “Don’t get me wrong / If I’m looking kind of dazzled / I see neon lights / whenever you walk by.” This is the starry-eyed romantic counterpoint to Hynde’s caustic inner cynic, a unique duality that has long heightened the intrigue of her writing. 9.

“Time The Avenger” (from Learning To Crawl) The overlooked third track on the Pretenders Learning to Crawl is a bass-driven cousin to the first album’s “Mystery Achievement,” a slow-burning critique of the corrupt and privileged meeting their final reckoning. The exhilarating ersatz funk is not too terribly far from the Attractions hyper-caffeinated take on Motown circa Get Happy, but best of all is the lyrics, which lay out a veritable Biblical plague of cruel outcomes to the song’s unfortunate target, before exploding into a glorious chorus delighting in the karmic vengeance soon to be meted out. 8. “Pack It Up” (from Pretenders II) By the time she recorded “Pack It Up,” Hynde had essentially come to know all of the ugly compromises and hypocrisies inherent in fellow artists, industry hands and other scenesters on the make.

And though none were mentioned by name, few were spared in this crushing, unforgettable critique of the music world she was once a part of: “I see your dog got shot / well, hell never mind / That’s show biz big boy / You’ve got to be cruel to be kind.” This was perhaps the first explicit indication that Hynde could not see herself deeply involved in the music industry cesspool too much longer. “I’m burning every bridge,” she promises, and on the hilarious outro she sounds pretty damned determined on that point: “Furthermore, I don’t like your trousers / your appalling taste in women / and what about your mind? / and your insipid record collection.” One of rock music’s most brutal dressing downs this side of “Positively 4th Street.” 7. “2000 Miles” (from Learning to Crawl) Most people think of Christmas as a time when families and friends come together to share a mutual experience of community and happiness. “2000 Miles” is not a song for these folks. This is a song for those people who, for reasons within or without their control, are estranged from the ones that they love best.

Even worse, they have to make the most of a sad Christmas when, for all of the wishing in the world, everyone won’t be together. It’s a remarkably heartrending song, with an aching Johnny Marr-esque riff which Hynde makes ever more poignant in her lyrical reading — a tiny self-portrait hanging in a house in the loveliest, most melancholy of snow globes. 6. “Kid” (from Pretenders) The devastating “Kid” combines a gorgeous Roy Orbison-style melody with a complicated narrative seemingly addressing at first a lover in distress and later Hynde’s actual child, whose beautiful insolence has sadly brought the singer’s hand. There is arguably no precedent in rock and roll to this painful admission of the terrifying perplex that is the oppositional world of motherhood and rock stardom. 5. “Middle Of The Road” (from Learning to Crawl) The lead track from Learning To Crawl is a killer garage style rocker in which Hynde makes utterly apparent that she has lost nothing off her fastball in the period required to reconstitute the Pretenders.

To the contrary, this is one of the great rockers in the catalog — a litany of the villainous industry flacks who would compel Hynde both into a more radio friendly (MOR) sound as well as into their chosen lifestyle of excess fueled decadence. Hynde, for the record, will have nothing to do with it: “I’m not the kind I used to be / I gotta kid / I’m 33″ she memorably avers, shaking off her previous party girl image with the assurance of one who knows that edgy and grown up are not mutually exclusive propositions. 4. “Mystery Achievement” (from Pretenders) Amongst the superior highlights of the extraordinary first Pretenders album, “Mystery Achievement” is a bass-driven marvel that resolves almost startlingly into one of the most addictive rock choruses ever heard. It’s a bit like going from the majestic black and white of first hour of The Wizard of Oz only to arrive at the magnificent color of the second act. There are few things more exciting in the experience of rock music fandom than hearing Chrissie Hynde slowly turn a seemingly pedestrian melody into something you will never forget.

“Mystery Achievement” is the apotheosis of this strange alchemy; the kind of trick that Robert Pollard at his absolute best can carry off, and very few others. 3. “Back On The Chain Gang” (from Learning to Crawl) In the run up to Learning to Crawl, the magnitude of loss in Hynde’s life is difficult to calibrate. Fraught personal relationships alongside the death of two of her former bandmates made for an atmosphere of mourning and profound regret. “Back On The Chain Gang,” nominally an ode to James Honeyman-Scott, weds an unforgettable melody and a gorgeous, chiming Byrds-style riff to one of the saddest meditations on loss in the rock music tradition. “I saw a picture of you,” she reflects to her long gone friend, “those were the happiest days of my life.” 2. “Tattooed Love Boys” (from Pretenders) The frenetic, angular guitar driven “Tattooed Love Boys” is a singular moment in British new wave, even as rendered by a tough girl from Ohio. Everything here is surprising.

The off-kilter rhythms, the offhand references to casual sex (“You showed me what that hole is for”) and perhaps most importantly the vicious dismissiveness with which Hynde’s seemingly regards her erstwhile paramours. Thirteen years after “Under My Thumb,” here finally is the female rebuke, a mocking, triumphal song essentially reducing the titular Tattooed Love Boys to objects of whimsy and pleasure. 1. “Talk Of The Town” (from Pretenders II) The moving centerpiece of the second Pretenders album is a strikingly lovely commingling of fear, gossip, hopeful ambition and longing despair all played out over an unforgettably efficient two minutes and 43 seconds of near perfect melodicism and surpassing craft. Beginning with the great opening epigram “Such a drag / to want something sometimes” this is an anthem of restrained yearning and interrupted love — providing a nearly Victorian anxiety to the repressed feelings of adoration that cannot be given full voice. When Hynde sings “you’ve changed / your place in this world” over a soaring chorus, it feels at once triumphant and defeated. She may be addressing herself, her estranged lover or both.

Either way, the poignant hitch in her voice suggests that the changes in question may well be necessary but will not be experienced without a great deal of grief as part of the transition.

Question: Who was lead singer with the group 'The Pretenders'?
Answer: Chrissie Hynd