Chrissie Hynde & The Pretenders

Photo: John Slonaker; CC-BY-SA-2.5

The Pretenders have proven to be one of the most influential and enduring bands of the era, and lead singer Chrissie Hynde is an important, if reluctant, role model for women in rock. A Knight-Ridder newspaper article in 1994 quoted her views on the subject.

“There are a lot of chicks doing it now, so if I’m considered any kind of inspiration that’s fine. But I feel sorry for them if I’m all they have. I have Jimi Hendrix. They have me.”

Although the Pretenders are usually thought of as an English band, Hynde was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1951. She attended Kent State University during the height of the student war protests and the infamous Kent State Massacre. Decades later, she’s still an activist, best known for her involvement with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). She has unconditionally supported their causes, even spending a night in jail in New York after a protest of The Gap’s use of illegal Indian and Chinese leather. Hynde was released in time for her performance the next night, and The Gap changed its policy.

Hynde was heavily influenced by the 1960s “British Invasion,” including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Kinks. By the early 1970s, she had developed a taste for such bands as the Velvet Underground. Moving to London, she found herself in a new British music revolution – punk rock. Punk’s stripped down sound and back-to-basics approach, as well as her friendships with members of such punk pioneers as the Sex Pistols and the Clash, helped form the basis of the Pretenders’ own distinctive sound.

Hynde formed the Pretenders in 1978, along with James Honeyman-Scott, Pete Farndon and Martin Chambers, and the band released their self-titled debut album in 1980. It did well on both the British and U.S. charts, reaching number one in England and climbing into the top 10 in America, and single “Brass in Pocket” remains a classic. The drug related deaths of Honeyman-Scott and Farndon in the early 1980’s almost brought the band to an end, but with Hynde as the only constant, the band continued to record, and released 6 albums between 1981 and 1999. (Martin Chambers has since rejoined the Pretenders.)

The Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.

The Pretenders Discography:

• Pretenders (1980)
• Extended Play (1981)
• Pretenders II (1981)
• Learning to Crawl (1984)
• Get Close (1986)
• The Singles (1987)
• Packed! (1990)
• Last of the Independents (1994)
• The Isle of View (1995)
• Viva El Amor (1999)
• Greatest Hits (2000)
• Loose Screw (2002)
• Break up the Concrete (2008)