The Pretenders -

The Pretenders are an English rock band, formed in London in 1978 by American-expat Chrissie Hynde. They released seven studio albums between 1980 and 1999 and scored hits with “Brass In Pocket,” “Talk of the Town,” “Message of Love,” “Back On the Chain,” and “My City Was Gone.”

The original lineup recorded two albums: The Pretenders and Pretenders II, both comprised of edgy post-punk and emotive ballads. After the deaths of guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon, Chrissie and drummer Martin Chambers lassoed guitarist Robbie McIntosh for the 1984 album Learning to Crawl, a jangly set with upbeat pop (“Middle of the Road”) and refined numbers (“Show Me”).

Chrissie was the only original member by 1986’s Get Close, recorded with studio musicians. After the hits “Don’t Get Me Wrong” and “My Baby,” Pretenders albums slowed in frequency. They scored a comeback with Last of the Independents and the 1994 ballad “I’ll Stand By You.”

Members: Chrissie Hynde (guitar, vocals), Martin Chambers (drums, vocals, 1979-85, 1993-present), Pete Farndon (bass, vocals, 1979-82), James Honeyman-Scott (guitar, keyboards, vocals, 1979-82), Robbie McIntosh (guitar, vocals, 1983-87), Malcolm Foster (bass, vocals, 1983-85, 1987), Rupert Black (keyboards, 1983-85, 1987), T.M. Stevens (bass, 1986-87), Blair Cunningham (drums, 1986-90), Bernie Worrell (keyboards, 1987), Johnny Marr (guitar, 1987-90), Adam Seymour (guitar, vocals, harmonium, 1993-2005), Andy Hobson (bass, 1993-2005)

Chrissie Hynde’s Background

The Pretenders were formed in London by American expat singer/guitarist Chrissie Hynde, born Christine Ellen Hynde in Akron, Ohio, on September 7, 1951. As a teenager, she became enchanted with the rock bands of the British Invasion, particularly The Rolling Stones and The Kinks. Withdrawn from her classmates and preoccupied with concert-going, she dreamed of one day fronting such a band herself.

In 1970, she attended Kent State University, where she played in a band called Sat. Sun. Mat. with art student Mark Mothersbaugh. On May 4, she and classmate Gerald Casale ran for cover across campus grounds as National Guardsmen opened fire on a student antiwar protest. Their friend, Jeffrey Miller, was among four students killed that day. In response to the event, Mothersbaugh and Casale developed the theory of de-evolution, the basis for their future band Devo.

Early London Activity

In 1973, Hynde moved to London and took up with rock journalist Nick Kent of the New Music Express, which employed her as a columnist through 1974. Dissatisfied with the experience, she found work at SEX, an S&M boutique at Worlds End on King’s Road, Chelsea, ran by designer Vivienne Westwood and impresario Malcolm McLaren. On shift, Hynde befriended 19-year-old shop-regular John Lydon, an enthusiast of Captain Beefheart, Hawkwind, and Van der Graaf Generator.

Around the same time (mid-1975), McLaren took garage-rockers The Strand under his managerial wing. That band, which featured SEX clerk Glen Matlock on bass, underwent a lineup overhaul that left them without a frontman. After miming to “I’m Eighteen” by Alice Cooper, green-haired Lydon was hired by the band, which proceeded to crash the local club and college circuit under a new name, The Sex Pistols. In search of her own band, Hynde went to France, where she briefly played with garage-rockers The Frenchies before heading back to England to scope the London scene.

During the first half of 1976, as the Pistols developed a cult around their exclusive aesthetic, McLaren, hoping to spearhead a musical movement, oversaw the formation of similar bands. Hynde got involved in Masters of the Backside, one of multiple outgrowths of Pistols rehearsal-mates London SS, which also spawned The Clash and Generation X. MotB featured Hynde on guitar alongside singer Dave Vanian, bassist Captain Sensible, and London SS alumni Brian James (guitar) and Rat Scabies (drums). After management switched over to SEX accountant Andy Czezowski, they renamed themselves The Damned at the exclusion of Hynde.

Later that year, Hynde answered a musicians-wanted ad in Melody Maker placed by ex-Kilburn & the High Roads guitarist/singer Nick Cash. She, along with fellow respondent and future Edge/Culture Club drummer Jon Moss, were denied spots in Cash’s new band, 999.

In 1977, Hynde played briefly with pub-punks Johnny Moped but grew despondent over her inability to land a permanent gig. Undeterred, she demoed her own material and sang backing vocals on the album Hurt by guitarist Chris Spedding.

Early the following year, she partook in The Moors Murderers, a rehearsal band assembled by scenester and future-Visage frontman Steve Strange. As an American, Hynde was unaware of the 1965 Moors case and its gripping effect on the British public. Moving on, she sang background vocals on albums by Mick Farren (Vampires Stole My Lunch Money) and Johnny Thunders (So Alone).

Pretenders Formation

In early 1978, Hynde took a demo of her song “The Phone Call” to Dave Hill, the head of WEA-subsidiary Real Records. Hill became Hynde’s manager while she rehearsed with Motörhead drummer Phil Taylor. That spring, she found musical chemistry with bassist Peter Farndon, drummer Martin Chambers, and guitarist James Honeyman-Scott. They named their band The Pretenders, inspired by Sam Cooke’s version of “The Great Pretender,” a 1950s doo wop classic first made famous by The Platters.

Farndon hailed from the unrecorded folk-rock combo Cold River Lady and cut the 1977 album Murrumbidgee with Aussie folksters The Bushwackers Band. Chambers drummed with garage-punks The Vacants on the 1977 album Punk.Rock, issued exclusively in France on Disques Festival. He also drummed on the 1978 album Guitar Star by Ron Warren Ganderto’s Sound Ceremony. Honeyman-Scott notched one prior credit (as Jim Scott) on Fall of Hyperion, the 1974 album by keyboardist, composer, and future Enid founder Robert John Godfrey.

The Pretenders cut multiple demos — including “Precious,” “The Wait,” and a cover of the 1964 Kinks deep-cut “Stop Your Sobbing” — that Hill handed to musician Nick Lowe, who produced the debut Damned album and recent titles by Elvis Costello, Dr. Feelgood, and Graham Parker & the Rumour.

1979 Singles

The Pretenders opened 1979 with a January 2 show at the Paris Theatre in London, where they performed five upcoming singles sides and the anthemic closeout number “Mystery Achievement.”

On February 2, The Pretenders released their first single: “Stop Your Sobbing,” a Kinks cover backed with “The Wait,” a Hynde/Farndon co-write. Lowe produced both sides amid work on his second solo album (Labour of Lust) and Costello’s third (Armed Forces).

The Pretenders mimed “Stop Your Sobbing” on Top of the Pops for the BBC music program’s February 15 broadcast, which also featured in-studio numbers by Generation X (“King Rocker”), Lene Lovich (“Lucky Number”), Skids (“Into the Valley”), and original Animals keyboardist Alan Price (“Baby of Mine”).

“Stop Your Sobbing” reached No. 34 on the UK Singles Chart and earned the respect of Davies, who admired their confidence in one of his early deep cuts. The Pretenders gigged throughout the England and linked with Never Mind the Bollocks producer Chris Thomas, a onetime Procol Harum and Roxy Music soundman who worked on recent titles by Wings and the Tom Robinson Band.

On July 6, The Pretenders released their second single: “Kid,” a lyrical ballad backed with “Tattooed Love Boys,” an uptempo rocker, both Hynde originals. Thomas produced the single and their first three albums. His back-sleeve liner notes state “The Pretenders will be around for a long time, even if I’m not….”

In the “Kid” video, Chrissie sings straight into the camera in a blue blazer while the Covent Garden carousel runs in the background. “Kid” reached No. 33 on the UK Singles Chart.

The Pretenders mimed “Kid” for the July 19 TotP broadcast, which also featured in-studio numbers by The Korgis (“If I Had You”), The Real Thing (“Boogie Down (Get Funky Now)”), Sparks (“Beat the Clock”), and Gary Numan’s Tubeway Army, who had the current UK No. 1 with “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?”

On July 17, The Pretenders played a set for BBC Radio One DJ David “Kid” Jensen, whose early evening broadcast featured in-studio takes of “Mystery Achievement,” “Tattooed Love Boys,” “The Wait,” and two rarities: “I Need Somebody” and “Cuban Slide,” a mid-tempo funk rocker (in G, reminiscent of “I Want You Back”) with shakers and tremolo guitar set to the Bo Diddley beat.

Concurrently, Farndon and Honeyman-Scott played on the Paul Rodgers-produced album Place Your Bets by fellow Real Records recording artist Tommy Morrison. Meanwhile, Hynde sang backup for The Specials on “Nite Club,” included on their Costello-produced debut album.

On November 12, 1979, The Pretenders issued their third single: “Brass In Pocket,” an emotive Hynde/Honeyman-Scott number backed with “Swinging London” and “Nervous But Shy,” both group-credited exclusives.

B1. “Swinging London” (1:45)
B2. “Nervous But Shy” (1:40)

The Pretenders first mimed “Brass In Pocket” for the November 22 TotP broadcast, which aired the song four times amid holiday numbers by Amii Stewart (“Paradise Bird”), The Beat (“Tears of a Clown”), Dexys Midnight Runners (“Dance Stance”), Madness (“My Girl”), New Musik (“Living by Numbers”), Positive Force (“We Got The Funk”), Sad Café (“Strange Little Girl”), Sister Sledge (“Got to Love Somebody”), and The Tourists (“I Only Want To Be With You”).

On December 28, The Pretenders played at London’s Hammersmith Odeon as part of Concert for the People of Kampuchea, a charitable event for the war-torn nation. Paul McCartney organized the event, which spanned four nights with sets by Queen, The Who, Wings, Rockpile, Matumbi, The Clash, The Specials, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, and Ian Dury & The Blockheads. The Pretenders performed five songs slated for their upcoming album: “Brass In Pocket,” “Private Life,” “The Wait,” “Precious,” and “Tattooed Love Boys” — the last three included on the 1981 two-record document of the event. James Honeyman-Scott joined McCartney’s all-star Rockestra for the final set comprised of rock big-band renditions of “Lucille,” “Let It Be,” and Paul’s “Rockestra Theme.”

1980

Through the 1979/80 holiday season, “Brass In Pocket” scaled the UK chart with its slick jangle-funk arrangement and rising “I’m special” refrain. On the week of January 19, 1980, “Brass In Pocket” reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, where it ousted “Another Brick In the Wall” by Pink Floyd and reigned for two weeks, then bowed to The Specials with their Too Much Too Young EP. “Brass In Pocket” also went to No. 1 in Sweden and peaked at No. 2 in Australia and New Zealand.

Pretenders

The Pretenders released their self-titled debut album on January 19, 1980, on Real Records (UK, Europe) and Sire (North America, Australia).

The album features their three pre-released a-sides (“Stop Your Sobbing,” “Kid,” “Brass In Pocket”) and first two b-sides (“The Wait,” “Tattooed Love Boy”) and six additional Chrissie Hynde originals: “Precious,” “The Phone Call,” “Up the Neck,” “Private Life,” “Lovers of Today,” and the setlist favorite “Mystery Achievement.” Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott contributed “Space Invader.”

Hynde shares rhythm guitar with Honeyman-Scott, who plays lead and keyboards.

1. “Precious” (3:36)
2. “The Phone Call” (2:29)
3. “Up the Neck” (4:27)
4. “Tattooed Love Boys” (2:59)
5. “Space Invader” (3:26)
6. “The Wait” (3:35)
7. “Stop Your Sobbing” (3:26)

8. “Kid” (3:06)
9. “Private Life” (6:25)
10. “Brass in Pocket” (3:04)
11. “Lovers of Today” (5:51)
12. “Mystery Achievement” (5:22)

Apart from the late-1978 recordings with Nick Lowe (“Stop Your Sobbing,” “The Wait”), sessions occurred between the spring and fall of 1979 in London at AIR and Wessex Studios. Producer Chris Thomas and engineer Bill Price worked on The Pretenders in sequence with Empty Glass, the third non-Who album by Pete Townshend.

The Pretenders features front- and back-cover photography by Chalkie Davies, whose images also grace 1978–80 covers for The Boomtown Rats, Gary Moore, Judie Tzuke, Thin Lizzy, and Zaine Griff. The inner-sleeve features monochrome live shots and an illustration of a child in a space-age headpiece with a toy robot.

The Pretenders reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 2 in New Zealand and Sweden. The album peaked at No. 6 in Australia and No. 14 in the Netherlands. Real Records lifted “Precious” as a single in Spain (b/w “Stop Your Sobbing”) and the Netherlands (b/w “The Phone Call”).

In April 1980, The Pretenders embarked on their first tour of North America, where “Brass in Pocket” (b/w “Space Invader”) reached No. 5 in Canada and No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Sire followed the single with stateside issues of “Stop Your Sobbing” (May, b/w “The Phone Call”) and “Kid” (August, b/w “Tattooed Love Boys”). The Pretenders reached No. 5 in Canada and No. 9 on the Billboard 200.

“Talk of the Town”

In March 1980, The Pretenders released their fourth UK single: “Talk of the Town,” a lyrically Chrissiei Hynde original backed with “Cuban Slide,” the long-elusive setlist number co-written by James Honeyman-Scott.

A. “Talk of the Town” (3:13)
B. “Cuban Slide”

In the desaturated, high-contrast video, The Pretenders perform on a multi-level soundstage bedecked in vertical and horizontal stripes. The camera pans slowly from side-to-side on Chrissie (leather jacket, lavender ascot) who follows the lens with her eyes. They filmed the clip with director David Mallet, who also directed Blondie‘s Eat to the Beat video album and recent clips for David Bowie (“DJ”) and Peter Gabriel (“Games Without Frontiers”).

Chris Thomas produced “Talk of the Town” in France at Pathé-Marconi Studios, the Paris EMI facility used recently for albums by Cliff Richard (Rock ‘n’ Roll Juvenile) and The Stranglers (The Raven).

“Talk of the Town” reached No. 14 in Ireland and No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart. Sire withheld the single in North America to avoid interference with the roll-out of singles from the just-released Pretenders album.

1981

On February 6, 1981, The Pretenders released their fifth UK single: “Message of Love,” a raunchy lyrical rocker with a windy harmonized refrain. Chrissy Hynde wrote the song and its exclusive b-side, “Porcelain.”

The video takes place in a small black rehearsal room with white pegboard dividers. Chrissie (white ruffly shirt) strums at a microphone with her bandmates seated nearby. Farndon shines with joy on each delayed bass lick. The camera slow-pans Honeyman-Scott’s sunburst Rickenbacker and Chamber’s kickdrum, emblazoned with the two-tone Pretenders logo. In an alternate clip, the aforementioned scenes appear between a one-by-one member reveal (dark into light) and a cloudy ascent during the wordless vocal refrain.

“Message of Love” reached No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 15 in Australia.

In March, both sides appeared in the US on Extended Play, a five song EP with both sides of the UK “Talk of the Town” / “Cuban Slide” single, plus a live version of The Pretenders opener “Precious,” recorded August 30, 1980, in Central Park, New York.

On August 1, 1981, the video to “Message of Love” aired four times during the first broadcast day of MTV, which thrice aired “Talk of the Town” and slotted single airings of “Kid” and “Tattooed Love Boys.” Of the five Pretenders videos shown that day, “Brass In the Pocket” aired during the first hour as the cable channel’s seventh-ever clip, between videos by Cliff Richard (“We Don’t Talk Anymore”) and Todd Rundgren (“Time Heals”).

Pretenders II

The Pretenders released their second album, Pretenders II, on August 7, 1981 on Real Records and Sire. It features eleven Chrissie Hynde originals, including the two prior UK a-sides, “Talk of the Town” (edited) and “Message of Love,” both repeated in the US from the Extended Play EP.

James Honeyman-Scott co-wrote “Pack It Up” and “Day After Day.” Side A, contains their second Ray Davies cover, “I Go to Sleep,” a 1965 obscurity not recorded by The Kinks. Pretenders II closes with “Louie Louie,” a Hynde original titled after a much-covered rock standard.

Hynde and Honeyman-Scott split lead and rhythm guitar parts, backed by Pete Fardon and Martin Chambers. This would be the last Pretenders album with the classic original four-piece lineup. Musical guests include onetime Juicy Lucy/Keef Hartley saxophonist Chris Mercer and Ark/Coley trumpeter Henry Lowther.

A1. “The Adultress” (3:55)
A2. “Bad Boys Get Spanked” (4:04) opens on a fast, galloping rhythmic pattern (in A), joined by whip cracks and distant, chorused guitar echoes. Sly vocals reverberate amid heightened tension across the chorus line (E…G…) and moaning melodic refrain (1-3-4-5/G→1-2-3-5/Em). The narrator assumes the maternal role over a slightly younger man in a game of sexual roleplay. She juggles her attraction to opposing male archetypes: authority figures and rebels. Despite her better judgement (“Don’t be a punk all your life, someone’s gonna sort you out… make a man out of you”) she gives into the latter (“You deliberately defy the rules, ’cause the law’s upheld by fools”).
A3. “Message of Love” (3:26) opens on a snare/kick beat with a semi-tone bar-chord riff and counter 3rds (A-B♭ [DD] G-A♭ [CC]). Chrissie’s voice swings and swoons to the rhythm as her message culminates on the jumbled “Over and over and over” and “I love you, I love you, I love you” vocal refrains that signal the airborne “Talk to me darlin'” chorus (in Cmaj7 and B♭). She celebrates community and love (“the reason we’re hear, as man and woman, is to love each other”) as rites of passage despite common difficulties shared “in the streets, in the bars” where “we are all of us in the gutter but some of are looking at the stars” — a quote from Irish playwright Oscar Wilde about hope in the face of meager circumstances (from his 1892 play Lady Windermere’s Fan).
A4. “I Go to Sleep” (2:55) originated as a July 1965 piano/vocal demo by Ray Davies, whose publisher pitched the song to Peggy Lee, whose lounge version inspired covers by The Applejacks and Cher.
A5. “Birds of Paradise” (4:14) has a medium-slow ethereal pattern (G…Dm…C…D…) with faint, jangly polymeter accents (3/4 on 2/4). Chrissie sings out to someone from the distant past. They now lead drastically different lives (“me in my hotel room, you in you home”) but the subject lingers in her mind (“I thought about you in Stockholm and Rome”). She’s written unsent letters to this individual and retains souvenirs from their time together. She hopes they’ll reunite in a “dream of paradise.”
A6. “Talk of the Town” (2:45)

B1. “Pack It Up” (3:50)
B2. “Waste Not Want Not” (3:43)
B3. “Day After Day” (3:45)
B4. “Jealous Dogs” (5:36)
B5. “The English Roses” (4:28)
B6. “Louie Louie” (3:30) This is not the 1956 Richard Berry song popularized in 1963 by The Kingsmen.

Aside from the earlier Paris session for “Talk of the Town,” sessions spanned autumn 1980 through spring 1981 at London’s Wessex Studios, where Chris Thomas produced Pretenders II in sequence with albums by Elton John (The Fox) and ex-Winkies frontman Philip Rambow. Bill Price engineered the first two amid work with Ellen Foley, Mickey Dread, and Steve Swindells.

Pretenders II displays a posed medium shot of the band in Edwardian attire, photographed by Gavin Cochrane, whose photos grace concurrent covers for Gillan and rockabilly revivalists The Shakin’ Pyramids and Stray Cats. Associate Wendy Dancey took the monochrome back-cover and inner-sleeve pics, which capture the band on tour.

Real lifted “Day After Day” as the sixth UK Pretenders single, backed with “In The Sticks,” a non-album Chambers idea. The “Day After Day” video consists of road footage and empty stadium rehearsals, followed by concert footage.

Meanwhile, Sire issued “Louie, Louie” as the fifth US Pretenders single, also backed with “In the Sticks.” On September 18, The Pretenders performed “Louie, Louie,” “The Adultress,” and “Message of Love” on the ABC late-night sketch comedy show Fridays, guest-hosted by Andy Kaufman.

On November 6, Real lifted “I Go to Sleep” as the seventh UK Pretenders single (b/w “The English Roses”). “I Go to Sleep” reached No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 9 in the Netherlands.

Pretenders II reached No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart, No. 10 on the US Billboard 200, and No. 18 on the Australia Kent Music Report.

1982–84

Throughout 1982, Chrissie Hynde was in an on-off romantic relationship with the author of The Pretenders’ two non-originals, Kinks frontman Ray Davies, one of her longtime musical idols. They talked of nuptials and by spring, she was expecting.

In the lead-up to a new album, tensions arose with Pete Farndon, whose drug problems alienated his bandmates. Purportedly, James Honeyman-Scott made an ultimatum but was overseas when matters came to a head in June. Chrissie discussed the issue with Martin Chambers and summoned Honeyman-Scott, who was in Austin, Texas, producing a never-released album by local guitarist Stephen Doster. After a June 14 group meeting, they dismissed Farndon from the band.

Honeyman-Scott mentioned his friend: guitarist/bassist Robbie McIntosh (b. October 25, 1957), a Sulton, Surrey, native who cut two albums in 1979/80 with Night, an LA-based transatlantic AOR band formed by Chris Thompson, the on-off singer of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. Night scored a minor US hit with the Walter Egan cover “Hot Summer Night” but didn’t gain enough traction for Thompson to quit his Earth Band gig.

However, only two days after Farndon’s termination on June 16, 1982, James Honeyman-Scott died of heart failure caused by cocaine intolerance. He was 25 years old.

Despite the sudden loss of her most like-minded bandmate, Chrissie pressed ahead to honor the band name she and Honeyman-Scott built together. Within a month, she returned to the studio with Chambers makeshift group with McIntosh and Rockpile guitarist Billy Bremner, a favorite player of Honeyman-Scott.

“Back on the Chain Gang”

On September 17, 1982, The Pretenders released a standalone single: “Back on the Chain Gang,” a jangly mid-temp number about longing and perseverance, backed with “My City Was Gone,” a downbeat look at Chrissie’s once-beloved hometown.

A. “Back On the Chain Gang” (3:49)
B. “My City Was Gone” (4:21)

Chris Thomas produced both sides in late July at Wessex Studios, where Chrissie, Martin, and the makeshift Pretenders — McIntosh, Bremner, and Big Country bassist Tony Butler — recorded the backing tracks in close quarters with loudspeakers for a “live” sound. Butler’s involvement occurred by chance because his band booked Wessex on the same week for their debut single, “Harvest Home.”

“Back On the Chain Gang” appeared in an illustrated sleeve with the in memoriam “Dedicated to Jim Honeyman-Scott (1956–1982).” The single reached No. 11 in Australia. No. 14 in New Zealand, and No. 17 on the UK Singles Chart.

“Back On the Chain Gang” became their biggest hit in North America where it reached No. 5 in Canada and the US Billboard Hot 100 and Cashbox Top 100. The video received high MTV rotation while the b-side gained steady airplay.

New Lineup

In January 1983, Chrissie Hynde and Ray Davies ended their on-off romance just as she bore his daughter, Natalie Rae Hynde.

Hynde and Martin Chambers retained Robbie McIntosh for a new Pretenders lineup with bassist Malcolm Foster, Robbie’s onetime bandmate in the Foster Brothers, a soft-rock band that cut the 1977 album On the Line for Elton John’s Rocket Record Company.

Elsewhere, Pete Farndon assembled a new wave supergroup with original Police guitarist Henry Padovani, recent Blockhead (and onetime Skip Bifferty) organist Mickey Gallagher, tenured Clash drummer Topper Headon, and recent Original Mirror (and onetime Deaf School) singer Steve Allen. Before the project got underway, Farndon died in his bathtub of a heroin overdose on April 14, 1983. The bassist was two months shy of his 31st birthday.

In May 1983, The Pretenders played the US Festival, a three-day event arranged by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak at Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino, California, with sets by The Beat, The Cars, The Clash (their final show with Mick Jones), A Flock of Seagulls, INXS, Judas Priest, Men at Work, Oingo Boingo, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Triumph, Van Halen, and Wall of Voodoo. The Pretenders appeared on Day 3 (Monday, May 30, Rock Day), which also featured Berlin, David Bowie, Joe Walsh, Missing Persons, Quarterflash, Stevie Nicks, and U2.

As the new Pretenders album finished post-production, Real Records issued an advance UK/European single: “2000 Miles,” an emotive, jangly Chrissie ballad backed with “Fast or Slow (The Law’s the Law),” a Chambers exclusive. In the Christmas-themed “2000 Miles” video, Chrissie walks about the fragments of a snowed-over village. “2000 Miles” reached No. 13 in the Netherlands and No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart.

In North America, Sire issued “2000 Miles” as the b-side of “Middle of the Road,” an uptempo pop-rock number with a prominent vocable hook. “Middle of the Road” reached No. 2 on the US Mainstream Rock Chart while the dance hall video received high MTV rotation.

Learning to Crawl

The Pretenders released their third album, Learning to Crawl, on January 13, 1984, on Sire.

The album contains nine Chrissie Hynde originals, including both sides of the late 1982 single “Back on the Chain Gang” / “My City Was Gone” and the two recent a-sides, “2000 Miles” and “Middle of the Road.” The ballad “Show Me” became a subsequent single and radio staple.

Learning to Crawl is the only Pretenders album with the Mk II lineup of Hynde, co-founder Martin Chambers, and new members Robbie McIntosh and Malcolm Foster.

Rockpile guitarist Billy Bremner played on the two earlier sides and “Thin Line Between Love and Hate,” a Persuaders cover recorded with Rumour bassist Andrew Bodnar and recent Squeeze (and onetime Ace) keyboardist Paul Carrack. Foster plays on all non-Bremner cuts.

A1. “Middle of the Road” (4:08)
A2. “Back on the Chain Gang” (3:44)
A3. “Time the Avenger” (4:47)
A4. “Watching the Clothes” (2:46)
A5. “Show Me” (4:00)

B1. “Thumbelina” (3:12)
B2. “My City Was Gone” (5:14)
B3. “Thin Line Between Love and Hate” (3:33) was a 1971 Billboard No. 15 hit for The Persuaders; co-written by producer brothers Richard and Robert Poindexter with Robert’s wife, Jackie Members.
B4. “I Hurt You” (4:27)
B5. “2000 Miles” (3:30)

Chris Thomas produced the Wessex Bremner sessions after Pete Townshend’s solo album, All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes. Thomas produced the balance of Learning to Crawl at AIR Studios, London, between the 1983/84 Elton John albums Too Low for Zero and Breaking Hearts.

Onetime Deaf School soundman Steve Churchyard engineered Learning to Crawl amid work on 1983 titles by Classix Nouveaux, Cliff Richard, Status Quo, The Stranglers, and the Warner release Chosen People, the third solo album by Natalie Rae’s uncle, Kinks guitarist Dave Davies.

Learning to Crawl features an overhead-side shot of The Pretenders by photographer Paul Cox, who caught the two new members looking off to the corner while the two original members stare stern into the lens. Cox images also appear on 1983 sleeves for The Bluebells, Culture Club, Tears for Fears, and Thompson Twins.

In February, “Middle of the Road” became the third UK single (b/w “Middle of the Road”).

In March 1984, “Show Me” became the third US b-side, backed with the non-album UK b-side “Fast or Slow (The Law’s the Law).” The song reached No. 8 on the US Mainstream Rock chart.

In May, “Thin Line Between Love and Hate” became the fourth UK single (b/w “Time the Avenger”).

Learning to Crawl reached No. 11 on the UK Album Charts and No. 18 on the Australian Kent Music Report. In the US, the album reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and went Platinum.

’84 Tour

On January 28, 1984, The Pretenders appeared in Gosford, Australia, for the Nara Festival, a three-day weekend outdoor event at Somersby with sets by Avion, Celibate Rifles, Def Leppard, Eurythmics, Eurogliders, The Expression, Mondo Rock, Real Life, and Simple Minds. The Pretenders appeared on Day 2 (Saturday), which also featured INXS, Hoodoo Gurus, Kids in the Kitchen, Machinations, Mental As Anything, The Models, QED, Sandii & the Sunsetz, and Talking Heads. Chrissie Hynde started dating Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr.

The Pretenders launched the first US leg of their 1984 tour on March 17 at the Civic Center in Portland, Oregon. The ten-week trek included stops in Dallas (3/17: Bronco Bowl), New Orleans (3/21: Sanger Theatre), Lafayette (4/3: Purdue Uni), Boston (4/27: Orpheum Theatre), and New York City, where that wrapped the leg on May 3 at Radio City Music Hall. Keyboardist Rupert Black supplemented the Hynde, McIntosh, Chambers, Foster lineup.

On July 27, they launched a second US leg at the Cumberland County Civic in Portland, Maine. This leg circled the Northeast, Midwest, and Southwest, where the tour concluded on September 4 at the Pacific Ampitheatre in Costa Mesa.

1985–86

In 1985, Chrissie Hynde dueted with UB40 singer Ali Campbell on “I Got You Babe,” a cover of the 1965 Sonny & Cher classic. The Ali/Chrissie version reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and appeared on UB40’s sixth album, Baggariddim, and its North American EP distillation, Little Baggariddim.

On Saturday, July 13, 1985, The Pretenders played Live Aid, a globally telecast, two-stadium charity concert event organized by Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof for Ethiopian famine relief. Starship singer Grace Slick introduced The Pretenders set at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, where Chrissie and her band took the stage at 4:40pm ESD and played “Time the Avenger,” “Message of Love,” “Stop Your Sobbing,” “Back on the Chain Gang,” and “Middle of the Road.” The Pretenders played between JFK sets by Simple Minds and Santana (with Pat Metheny).

The Pretenders commenced work on a new album at AIR Studios with Steve Lillywhite, a prior U2 and Ultravox soundman with recent credits behind Big Country and Simple Minds. Lillywhite produced The Pretenders cover version of “Room Full of Mirrors,” a late-period Jimi Hendrix song. With one track down, Hynde fired Chambers, whose drum skills declined in the absence of his original bandmates. Bassist Malcolm Foster, accustomed to Martin’s rhythmic pace, left in solidarity.

Sessions resumed in the US with serial producer Bob Clearmountain (Bryan Ferry, Hall & Oates) and industry heavyweight Jimmy Iovine, a onetime Patti Smith soundman who steered Stevie Nicks to solo stardom. Hynde recorded the new album with Robbie McIntosh and multiple sessionists, including Attractions bassist Bruce Thomas, Simple Minds drummer Mel Gaynor, and Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell. As sessions continued, she stabilized the lineup with serial R&B bassist T.M. Stevens and former Haircut One Hundred drummer Blair Cunningham.

Get Close

The Pretenders released their fourth album, Get Close, on October 20, 1986, on Sire.

The album contains eight Chrissie Hynde originals, including the hits “Don’t Get Me Wrong” and “My Baby.” She recorded the album with three producers and nineteen session players.

Get Close contains the Jimi Hendrix cover “Room Full of Mirrors,” the only song recorded with the prior Pretenders lineup. Meg Keene (a high school friend of Hynde) wrote “Hymn to Her,” a UK hit. Contributor Carlos Alomar (a longtime Bowie sideman) co-wrote “Light of the Moon” with another client act.

Hynde and Robbie McIntosh play guitar throughout, backed primarily by Bernie Worrell (six tracks), Colombian bassist Chucho Merchán (even-numbered tracks), and late-session rhythm recruits T. M. Stevens and Blair Cunningham, heard on “Light of the Moon,” “Dance!” and the interior of Side B. Veteran English drummer Simon Phillips (Chopyn) plays on “When I Change My Life,” “Hymn to Her,” and “Tradition of Love,” which also features onetime Shakti violinist L. Shankar.

A1. “My Baby” (4:07)
A2. “When I Change My Life” (3:38)
A3. “Light of the Moon” (3:57) is co-credited to Alomar, Genevieve Gazon, and Wayne Ragland.
A4. “Dance!” (6:46)
A5. “Tradition of Love” (5:27)

B1. “Don’t Get Me Wrong” (3:46)
B2. “I Remember You” (2:38)
B3. “How Much Did You Get for Your Soul?” (3:48)
B4. “Chill Factor” (3:27)
B5. “Hymn to Her” (4:58)
B6. “Room Full of Mirrors” (4:44) is one of the final songs Hendrix introduced before his death in September 1970.

Chrissie recorded the balance of tracks in New York at Power Station, Right Track, and Bearsville Studios. Brothers In Arms soundman Bruce Lampcov engineered Get Close in sequence with titles by Lone Justice, Peter Gabriel, Steve Winwood, and ‘Til Tuesday.

Get Close features cover photography by Richard Haughton (Dalbello, Everything But the Girl) and design by Helen Backhouse, whose blue-tinted monochrome imagery also graces 1985/86 sleeves for Suzanne Vega and Perils of Plastic.

“Don’t Get Me Wrong” appeared in mid-September as a lead single (b.w “Dance!”). It reached No. 4 in Ireland, No. 8 in Australia and Belgium, and No. 10 on the UK Singles Charts and US Billboard Hot 100. “Don’t Get Me Wrong” also reached No. 1 on the US Mainstream Rock Chart.

In November, “Hymn to Her” became the second single (b/w “Room Full of Mirrors”). It reached No. 7 in Australia and No. 8 in the UK, Ireland, and South Africa.

In March 1987, “My Baby” became the third Get Close single, backed with an extended remix of “Tradition of Love.” It reached No. 1 on the US Mainstream Rock Chart.

Get Close reached No. 13 in New Zealand, No. 12 in Australia, No. 9 in Canada, and No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart. In Europe, Get Close reached No. 2 in Iceland, No. 6 in Sweden, No. 7 in Finland, and No. 18 in Norway.

Chrissie added Worrell to the Pretenders touring lineup with McIntosh, Stevens, and Cunningham. They embarked on a winter/spring 1987 tour, supported by Iggy Pop, then supporting his album Blah-Blah-Blah and its hit cover of the Johnny O’Keefe rockabilly classic “Real Wild Child.”

The tour criss-crossed the US with shows in Austin, Oakland, Providence, Columbus, Detroit, and Chicago. On Sunday, March 15, they played a semi-filled amphitheater in Worcester, Massachusetts. Halfway into the tour, Hynde realized that the R&B-based backing players were too-far removed from the British rock base of Pretenders music. She fired Stevens and Worrell and summoned back Malcolm Foster and Rupert Black. When the tour wrapped, McIntosh left the band.

Discography: