The Pretenders' 10 Best Songs
... 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 ...
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Pretenders
(1978-)
Chrissie Hynde (vocals, guitar) 1978-
Pete Farndon (bass) 1978-1982
James Honeyman-Scott (guitar) 1978-1982
Martin Chambers (drums) 1978-1986, 1993-
Robbie McIntosh (guitar) 1983-1987
Malcolm Foster (bass) 1983-1986
T.M. Stevens (bass) 1986-1987
Blair Cunningham (drums) 1986-1993
Billy Bremmer (guitar) 1990-1993
Dominic Miller (guitar) 1990-1993
John McKenzie (bass) 1990-1993
Adam Seymour (guitar) 1993-
Andy Hobson (bass) 1993-
Artistfacts®: You can leave comments about the artist/band at the bottom of the page.
Hynde has a daughter, Natalie, with Ray Davies of The Kinks. They had a common-law marriage, and tried to get married legally, but the registrar refused to issue them a marriage license because they were arguing.
Hynde is a vegetarian and animal-rights activist. She once joked that McDonalds should be firebombed.
Honeyman-Scott died of a heroin overdose a few days after Farndon was fired from the band for excessive drug use. Farndon died 10 months later of an overdose at age 30.
Hynde was a Freshman at Kent State University in 1970, and was protesting when the National Guard killed 4 students. She left and never went back to college.
Farndon and Hynde were lovers until she kicked him out of the band in 1982.
Hynde grew up in Akron, Ohio, which is where serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was born. She moved to London in 1973.
Hynde left Ray Davis and married Jim Kerr, the lead singer of Simple Minds, in 1984. They have a daughter, Yasmin, and divorced in 1990.
When Hynde first moved to England, she took work as a music journalist. Among the musicians she interviewed were Brian Eno and Suzi Quatro.
Comments:
Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Greg talks about writing songs of "universal truth" for King Crimson and ELP, and tells us about his most memorable stage moment (it involves fireworks).
Kristian Bush of Sugarland
Kristian talks songwriting technique, like how the chorus should redefine the story, and how to write a song backwards.
Annie Haslam of Renaissance
The 5-octave voice of the classical rock band Renaissance, Annie is big on creative expression. In this talk, she covers Roy Wood, the history of the band, and where all the money went in the '70s.
