Rick's Music Trivia

If music be the food of life…Play on!

THE PRETENDERS…CHRISSIE HYNDE AND HER GROUP

February 22, 2018 — Leave a comment

The Pretenders are an English-American rock band formed in Hereford, England, in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion). Following the drug deaths of Honeyman-Scott and Farndon, the band has experienced numerous subsequent personnel changes, with Hynde as the only consistent member, and Chambers returning after an absence of several years.

Hynde, originally from Akron, Ohio, moved to London in 1973, working at the weekly music paper NME and at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s clothes store. She was involved with early versions of The Clash and The Damned and played in short-lived bands such as Masters of the Backside and The Moors Murderers.

The Pretenders formed in 1978 after Dave Hill at Anchor Records heard some demos of Hynde’s music. He arranged a rehearsal studio in Denmark Street, where a 3-piece band consisting of Hynde, Mal Hart on bass (he had played with Hynde and Steve Strange in the Moors Murderers), and Phil Taylor of Motörhead on drums played a selection of Hynde’s original songs. Dave Hill was impressed and arranged a day at Studio 51 to record another demo. Although it was rough, he felt he had seen and heard enough “star potential” to suggest that Hynde form a more permanent band to record for his new label, Real Records.

 
 
 

Hynde then formed a band composed of Pete Farndon (who was later associated romantically with Hynde) on bass, James Honeyman-Scott on guitar, and Gerry Mcilduff replacing Jon Adkin on drums. This band, then without a name, recorded five tracks at Regents Park Studio in July 1978, including “Stop Your Sobbing.” Shortly thereafter, Gerry Mcilduff was replaced on drums by Martin Chambers, and Hynde named the band “Pretenders” after the Platters song The Great Pretender. The first single, a cover of The Kinks song “Stop Your Sobbing”(produced by Nick Lowe and recorded at the July Regents Park sessions) was released in January 1979 and gained critical attention. Then in January 1980 the band got to No. 14 with Brass in Pocket.

Their self-titled debut album was released at the end of December 1979 and was a success in the United Kingdom and the United States both critically and commercially. The second full-length album, Pretenders II, was released during August 1981.

Farndon was fired in June 1982 by Hynde following months of drug abuse. Two days later, June 16, 1982, James Honeyman-Scott died of heart failure as a result of cocaine intolerance. Farndon was in the midst of forming a new band with former Clash drummer Topper Headon (who coincidentally, was battling heroin addiction and left the band, unable to cope), when he was found dead in April 1983 by his American wife, Conover. After taking heroin and passing out, Farndon drowned in his bathtub, leaving the Pretenders with two living members.

Hynde continued with the band. During July 1982, just weeks after Honeyman-Scott’s death, a caretaker team of Hynde, Chambers, Rockpile guitarist Billy Bremner and Big Country bassist Tony Butler was assembled to record the single Back on the Chain Gang. The song was released in October, becoming their biggest success in the US, staying at No. 5 for three consecutive weeks. The single’s B-side, My City Was Gone is now the theme music for The Rush Limbaugh Show.

Hynde then changed the lineup, keeping Chambers and adding professional musicians Robbie McIntosh on guitar and Malcolm Foster on bass. The band’s first album with this lineup, Learning to Crawl, was released during January 1984. Hynde had a daughter with Ray Davies during January 1983, the “kid” mentioned in the song.

 
 
 

There was a hiatus in musical activity for Hynde until 1990, when she hired session players (including one-time Pretenders, Bremner and Cunningham and bassist John Mckenzie) and released Packed! Hynde was the only person pictured anywhere on the album, and was the only official member of the band.

During March 2005, the Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Only Hynde and Chambers attended the ceremony. During her acceptance speech, Hynde named and thanked all the replacement members of the group, then said:

“I know that the Pretenders have looked like a tribute band for the last 20 years. … And we’re paying tribute to James Honeyman-Sco tt and Pete Farndon, without whom we wouldn’t be here. And on the other hand, without us, they might have been here, but that’s the way it works in rock ‘n’roll.”

In February 2011, Hynd e and the Pretenders performed live on CMT Crossroads with Faith Hill and her band, including songs from both catalogs. In September 2012, The Pretenders re-grouped (Hynde, Chambers, Heywood, Welbourne, Wilkinson) as part of the entertainment line-up for the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix.

Here is the flip side of Back on The Chain Gang…. My City Was Gone for you to enjoy (or not). I’m certain some of you won’t be listening to it on Limbaugh’s show. There is also an excellent live version of the song that Chrissie did during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction here. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g9-CUHi4CpA

Rick

facebookShare on Facebook
TwitterPost on X
FollowFollow us
PinterestSave

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *