A Legendary Band That Changed Everything: The Pretenders, Part 1
Chrissie Hynde is the definitive rocker chick, but so much more. She and her band briefly stood at the apex simultaneously of rock and roll, punk, and new wave and ended up impacting the direction of all three. Their sound remains unique and instantly recognizable.
All of that does not even take into account what Hynde did for the acceptance of women in rock. She was part of a generation of women who broke the glass ceiling and may have had the biggest impact.
Like many things in our culture, rock was initially reserved for boys. Early female rockers met either violence (Hynde was gang-raped, Jacky Fox was assaulted by her own manager, Tina Turner endured years of domestic abuse even while performing with her husband), or were forced to tart themselves up to get any play.
Some of the early pioneers left performing because of the abuse and sexism (Fox, June Millington, and Cherie Currie are good examples). Women rockers were often condescendingly tolerated because they were “cute.”
Being a trailblazer took guts, and Hynde was as uncompromising as her tough-girl image suggests.
Along with Suzi Quatro, Joan Jett, Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, Pat Benatar, and the Wilson sisters, Hynde broke the mold to found and lead a kick-ass hard-rock band. And not just any band — the Pretenders merged hard rock with the emerging New Wave sound and those gorgeous jangly guitar riffs to make something that’s been widely imitated but has never been replicated.
Like Jett and Quatro before her, Hynde refused to play the T&A game, and she proved it wasn’t necessary. She performed in jeans, kept her hair in a simple shag cut, and never changed her look to meet fashion diktat. She was and is a monument to the idea that women don’t have to tart themselves up or wiggle their private parts at the camera to succeed in popular music. The American music industry has badly regressed in recent years, but if there is any hope for another wave of progress, Chrissie will be its avatar.
She is still going strong, along with Martin Chambers, the only other survivor from the early, drug-crazed days of the Pretenders. Martin was asked what it’s been like working with Chrissie all these years, and he said, “As long as you do what she says, it’s all good.”
In Part 2, I’ll cover a little of the Pretenders’ early history. But now, some of the music.
Early days: “Talk of the Town” (1979)
One of their earliest available videos. They started as a punk band, but their sound rapidly evolved into something much more polished and dark.
Along with Blondie, Grace Jones, the B-52s, and some of the people experimenting with electronica and synth, they set a major change in motion, paving the way for the explosion of New Wave.
The Pretenders released their first two albums in 1979 and 1981, and both were big hits. “Pretenders” is widely viewed as one of the greatest debut albums of all time.
The band were on a rocket ship to superstardom, but by early 1983, guitarist Jim Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon had died of drug overdoses. Hynde and Chambers decided to soldier on and recruited a group of established musicians from other bands to record a song in tribute to their dead bandmates. “Back on the Chain Gang” became, and remains, their biggest hit.
“Back on the Chain Gang” (Live in London)
This is the one song they have performed at every concert for 40 years. It was written and released in 1983 in honor of deceased band members Farndon and Scott. This clip is the best live performance I could find, from around 2010. It features the sixth lineup of the band, Hynde being the constant (Martin Chambers was absent for a few years in the 90s). The lead guitarist is about the same age as her kids. Who wouldn’t have loved to have a mom this cool?
After Pete Farndon's and Jimmy Scott's deaths, the Pretenders went through a long period of constantly changing lineups. Their late 80s and early 90s albums are essentially Chrissie Hynde solo albums, with a rotating cast of band members. But she remained true to her dream of having “a Band” and called all of these variations “the Pretenders.” Through it all, she kept writing and producing great rock music.
I was privileged to see the Pretenders live in 1984. Despite the lineup instability, they gave us a monumental show, and of course, Chrissie was mesmerizing. Her persona is at once both intimidating and vulnerable. Her songs ache with self-doubt, even as she imperiously commands a squad of male band-mates who would seemingly lie down on the train tracks for her.
At the concert's end, this tough-as-nails jeans-clad biker/goth rocker chick was almost buried under flower bouquets from adoring fans. It proves my point that today’s performers who think they have to shake their assets to gain approval have completely lost their way.
Speaking of intimidating and vulnerable, here is my favorite from their 1990 album Packed, “Never Do That.”
Part 2 coming soon.
Sources:
Donnie Sutherland interviews The Pretenders (1982) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek7xsL0DZpc
Studio Q interview with Chrissie Hynde (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKIGY-T4l7A
Chrissie Hynde “Reckless: My Life as a Pretender” (2016, Anchor Books)
Laura Barton “Chrissie Hynde: The Music Industry is yet to have its #MeToo moment” (The Independent UK, Sept 2019) https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/chrissie-hynde-interview-pretenders-new-album-metoo-harvey-weinstein-music-a9103836.html
Kory Grow “The Unsinkable Chrissie Hynde” (Rolling Stone, July 2020) https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/chrissie-hynde-pretenders-new-album-1029689/
The Pretenders web site https://thepretenders.com/Homepage/
My prior columns on Fanny, Joan Jett, the Runaways and Patti Smith
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Thank you, Kevin Alexander, for publishing.
Shout out to: David Acaster; Miss Catherine La Grange, spinster; Nicole Brown; Charlie Cole; Alexander Razin; Terry Barr; Christine Carmichael; Steve Goldberg; Jeffrey Harvey; If Ever You’re Listening.
