can't stand 'em.

yeah, i have no use for them. i'm sure i will when i grow up.

KPH

you won't believe what the pretenders were saying about you

i totally agree...can't stand 'em.

although billzebub put a pretenders song on one of his mixes he sent me (can't remember the name, and it's at home now), and it was actually really good. didn't sound like what i think of when i think pretenders.

Wow you guys are weird.

people always go off on how Chrissie Hynde is rock royalty or whatever and she always seems to be included in those seminal lists of important crap that british mags publish once a month. i just don't get it.

it might be the timing. If they were huge when i was in high school or something perhaps, but as it is i just don't get it. Is it because all the guys were British? Weren't they all in Katrina & the Waves? wtf?

Pretenders II is really not a bad record, but anything past that is really awful. "Back on the chain gang" always makes me wonder what the A&R people were thinking when that was a single.

(said like rosie o'donnell)
<<<< and me are gonna kick your ass.

That's my girl.

No Cotton, they weren't in Katrina and the Waves. lol James Honeyman-Scott, may he rest in peace, was one of the coolest and best guitarists back in the early 80's. Chrissie is rock royalty for the fact that she pulls no punches, she doesn't cop to the whole sexuality bullshit that most women do in this business, she's an incredible musician who writes all of her own songs, and her voice is amazing. She's probably the most respected female artist by her peers, especially those who've been around for a long ass time to know something.

Yeah the last couple albums were nothin specia but her earliest work, the band's that is, stands out.

Sorry but she's a rock goddess to me. I grew up on The Pretenders.

I think the Pretenders are great, but I can see how someone's view of them would be different, depending on how you get exposed. If you grew up hearing their first couple albums, they are an excellent, powerful band. If you grew up hearing their later stuff on the radio, they could come across pretty lame.

Chrissie kicks ass either way though.

Chrissie's pretty cool. A real rock grrl.

AND
she got really drunk at some affair honoring joni mitchell and when mitchell took the stage chrissie heckled her. loudly.
i like joni mitchell a lot but this shit is just funny.

Everything said about Chrissie Hynde could be applied to Patti Smith, but the difference is Patti's records really matter.

disagree.
patti smith is a rock god.
this doesn't diminish chrissie at all and the pretenders first few albums matter. then there's the cuban slide....

my bad it's the Soft Boys that were in Katrina & the Waves

I guess I don't really know their early stuff...

but what always struck me about them was the fact that everything I read about Chrissie Hynde is that she's so tough and rock and/or roll, etc... but her music always sounded pretty soft to me---glossy production and not much in the way of real rock.

That said I actually have quite a liking for that later single "Night in my Veins". I like her cool delivery.

She certainly looks cool.

On another note... while I'm very hesistant to get into the "compare the female musicians like they are essentially the same person" thing... I think it's safe to say that Patti Smith could kick her ass.

Good God... I was going to try to find a cool pic of Chrissie but found the following instead... which must be posted immediately.

[img][250:270]http://www.jemiah.com/eno/enobelly.gif[/img]

Who... consequently could quite easily get his ass kicked by either of the above mentioned ladies. My poor, dear, Brian.

i don't think patti smith could kick michael stipes ass.

I'm just saying, it would appear that she is pretty influenced by Patti Smith, and Patti stands for the ideals that people seem to attach to Hynde. Patti Smith kicks the ass of most people.

Agreed. 8)

nice pic polly.

yes, patti smith could kick chrissie's ass.

but could chrissie kick madonna's ass?

and my five year old nephew could kick michael stipe's ass.

next...

All I know about this is my mom bought Pretenders and Whitney Houston records in the early 80's. Love my mom, but her musical taste is pretty lame.

First THREE Pretenders albums are great. Yes, I am including Waiting To Crawl. And, it might be nostalgia talking, but "Back On the Chain Gang" IS a great song and WAS a great single.

It was at that moment that I fell in love with Chrissie Hynde.
My first celebrity crush.

I can see being ambivalent about them but I don't really know what there is to hate about them. I guess you had to live through when they were an **important** band to get why they are so revered. A lot of those bands -- the Police, U2, Violent Femmes, early REM, etc -- probably don't resonate as much for people who first listened to them 15 to 20+ years later.

I don't think the Pretenders aged particularly well. I've sold off all I owned from them but the Singles album and only really keep that for sentimental reasons.

As far as Chrissy being tough, I can say at least that she used to hang out at all the punk shows in London before punk really hit and was good friends with Johnny Rotton and Sid Vicious (before the Pretenders existed). She's mentioned quite a bit in Rotton's autobiography and is one of the few people that Johnny never seems to have a bad thing to say about.

np: Slave "Best of"

i was indifferent about them till I saw em live with my dad a few years ago, and then i was slightly less indifferent.