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Led by the charismatic Chrissie Hynde, driven by the hard drums of Martin Chambers, the Pretenders have been one of the
most innovativebands. Their first album was a knocking mix between hard rock, punk attitude and pop hooks. Ranging from
cute love songs to hard rockingangst songs to ballads, they proved that genres were meant to be mixed. The very success
of Pretenders was the sexy, provoking yethumorous tone in Hynde voice and lyrics. In 1980 fans and critics alike were in
favour of the talent of Chambers on drums, Farndon the bass,Honeyman-Scott on guitar and Hynde as the vo ...read more
Led by the charismatic Chrissie Hynde, driven by the hard drums of Martin Chambers, the Pretenders have been one of the
most innovativebands. Their first album was a knocking mix between hard rock, punk attitude and pop hooks. Ranging from
cute love songs to hard rockingangst songs to ballads, they proved that genres were meant to be mixed. The very success
of Pretenders was the sexy, provoking yethumorous tone in Hynde voice and lyrics. In 1980 fans and critics alike were in
favour of the talent of Chambers on drums, Farndon the bass,Honeyman-Scott on guitar and Hynde as the vocalist. The
album did well on the charts, especially in the U.K.
Their second album Pretenders II came in 1981 with more negative reviews after the immediate and blowing success of
their first. Butwith time this album has gained great reviews and is now considered to be one of the best Pretenders albums.
1982 was a very painful yearfor the band. After Chrissie kicked out bassist and ex-husband Pete Farndon for his drug-related
problems, band member James Honeyman-Scott was found dead, related to drug abuse, some days later. While pregnant,
Chrissie Hynde took months off. Hynde gave birth to her childbut within months Pete Farndon was also found dead from an
overdose.
Hynde and Chambers regrouped The Pretenders in 1984 to begin a new phase. New bassist Malcolm Foster and Manfred
Mann's Earth Band'sguitarist Robbie McIntosh joined in to record the 1984 album Learning To Crawl, an emotive lyrically
charged album for Hynde. Withmellow country-like song "Back on The Chain Gang" or nostalgic Christmas song "2000 Miles",
she talks about the tragic loss of her two bandmates. The album was a big success with songs like "Middle of the Road" and
"Thin Line Between Love and Hate" as well as the twoaforementioned songs.
Between then and 1986, the only appearance of The Pretenders was the Live Aid show. Regrouping yet another session of
musicians withRobbie McIntosh from the Learning to Crawl session, she began the project of a new album called Get
Close. This album movedthe band to more of a pop sound with a bit of soul on the side. The album contains a magic
interpretation of Hendrix's "Room Full of Mirrors"as well as a mellow ballad called "Hymn to Her". The first single "Don’t Get Me
Wrong" ignited the top 40 in 1986 with a catchy hook and avideo made as an homage to The Avengers, a British TV
series.
After some 4 years of absence, Chrissie and the band returned with their fifth album Packed. It Failed to chart
whatsoever. The next 4years were to be as bland as the last one for the band, before they returned with new musicians.
Bursting in 1994 with one of their greatest songs called "I'll Stand By You", the Pretenders returned to the top 40. They also
released a"comeback" album, hailed at the time as a return to the roots that made them popular. The album was a mix of
rocking ballads andsentimental songs driven by the powerful voice of Hynde, who was back in top form. Hynde also recorded
some of the most beautiful songsshe composed over the last 15 years in the album The Isle of View, a live acoustic
album.
Since then, the Pretenders hasn’t been very present, releasing Viva El Amor in 1999 to very little attention, despite the
quality of thesong. The last studio album they recorded on Artemis indie label in 2002, Loose Screw, was followed by a
great tour in 2003.
In 2006 Pirate Radio was been released, a four disc box set of greatest hits with lots of rare material, demos, live
versions and songscuts. The band has since released two more studio albums, Break Up the Concrete in 2008 and
Alone in 2016. « hide |
Similar Bands: The Smiths, Chrissie Hynde, Blondie, The Primitives, Joan Jett Contributors: discovolante, Divaman, TwigTW, Minushuman24, Gassman3268, Steeed, Voivod, Mikesn,
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