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The Pretenders

Pretenders, The

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The Pretenders: Sheffield University

Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979

Duty Now For The Past? ...

The Pretenders: Packed

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Q, June 1990

CHRISSIE HYNDE CAN certainly never be accused of flooding the market: barring a Best Of, Packed is only The Pretenders' fifth album in 12 years. ...

Audio interviews

The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde (1986)

Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, October 1986

The Pretenders' frontwoman opines on everything from animal rights to capital punishment. She also talks about music once or twice.

File format: mp3; file size: 84.7mb, interview length: 1h 32' 30" sound quality: ***

The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde (2010)

Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages audio, 22 January 2010

The Pretenders frontwoman on songwriting and songs; being a band member, and an extended exposition on her vegetarianism and the brutality of the meat business.

File format: mp3; file size: 70.8mb, interview length: 1h 17' 22" sound quality: *** (phoner)

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The Pretenders: Moonlight Club, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 10 February 1979

NO APOLOGIES for following Mark Williams' review of the Pretenders at the Moonlight last week with an instant replay. Now is the time to catch ...

Say a Prayer for the Pretenders

Interview by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, 17 February 1979

The way tongues are wagging, though, they might not need them. Mark Williams profiles a Next Big Thing who actually look like delivering. ...

The Pretenders: Moonlight Club, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 February 1979

THE NEWS is already out all over town about this bunch; and while one can only reiterate all the raves (so far usurped principally by ...

Pretenders, Strangeways: the Nashville, London

Live Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 17 March 1979

Paralysed by expectation ...

The Pen Is Mightier As A Chord

Report by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 March 1979

...sometimes. The rock critic as musician. By Sandy Robertson ...

The Pretenders: Let's Pretend…

Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979

"ISN'T IT incredible, my dears, what some people will do when they get a hit? I'm appalled to hear that journalist-for-a-day Chrissie Hynde, lead singer ...

The Pretenders: Lyceum, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 31 July 1979

LESS THAN a year after formation, the Pretenders are already shaping up as one of the most interesting new British bands. Led by Chrissie Hynde, ...

The Pretenders: The Perils of Christine

Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 25 August 1979

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE PICTURE ABOVE. THE PRETENDERS ARE DEPRESSED. MEETING PETE SILVERTON MAKES THINGS WORSE. AND CHALKIE DAVIES DOESN'T HELP MUCH, EITHER ...

The Pretenders: Pretenders (Real Records)

Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980

The pop games people play ...

Only A Hobo Only A Star

Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 26 January 1980

THE PRETENDERS are number one, top of the pops. But where there's 'Brass' there's sadness and Chrissie Hynde regrets some of the changes and new ...

The Pretenders: Hynde Sight

Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 26 January 1980

"I'LL NEVER be a man in a man's world". As the Pretenders' album and single rise in the charts, Chrissie Hynde discusses with old friend ...

The Pretenders: 'The Night I Played Top Of The Pops With No Underwear!'

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 January 1980

I CAN TELL you I was worried about this Pretenders thing. I thought they'd be too much for me – well, not so much 'they' ...

The Pretenders: Talk Of The USA

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 10 May 1980

LAST YEAR'S "next big thing" rarely succeeds in becoming "This year's model" with the ease with which the Pretenders have performed the feat in Britain. ...

Think Fast! It's The Pretenders!

Report and Interview by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, June 1980

DUSK. THE rain falls in a thick gray curtain for as far ahead as we can see through the windshield of the battered compact, crawling ...

The Pretenders: Palladium, New York NY

Live Review by Craig Zeller, New York Rocker, July 1980

DRIVING INTO Manhattan for this shindig, I had (in order of importance) a toothache, a throatache, and a headache. So I decided to get into ...

The Pretenders Stop Our Sobbing

Interview by Susan Whitall, Creem, August 1980

AS LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER"There's something I dread about talking to female musicians," my co-editor DiMartino sighed as we drank beer and worried in the ...

The Pretenders, the English Beat: Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University, Washington DC

Live Review by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 20 September 1980

IF THE Pretenders proved nothing else at their sold-out concert at Lisner Auditorium last night, they did establish that vocalist/rhythm guitarist/songwriter Chrissie Hynde deserves her ...

The Benefits Of Hynde Sight

Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 October 1980

Perched on the edge of a bleak Bronte-like heath overlooking Bradford is the hotel in which The Pretenders are staying. In the forecourt, next to ...

Heatwave Festival: Crouching Towards Bowmanville Or Elvis: What Happened?

Report by Susan Whitall, Creem, November 1980

I MUST confess to hating "rock festivals" with some passion. My response to the rhetorical "Would you have gone to Woodstock?" question has always been ...

Heatwave Festival: Punk Woodstock Meets The Ugly American

Report by Dave DiMartino, Creem, November 1980

JUST OUT of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel, a friend and I are fighting a losing battle. We're trying to take Canada seriously.  ...

The Pretenders: Pretending To Be Different

Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 21 March 1981

I'VE LONGED to say it in print: The Pretenders are, for me, the virtual embodiment of the ideal popular music group. ...

Sequel Excites Pretenders

Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 1981

THE PRETENDERS are gearing up for another assault on the rock world. Things have been fairly quiet in the British quartet's camp since the band's ...

The Pretenders: Let's Pretend

Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, August 1981

Kris Needs talks to Chrissie Hynde about stardom and the new album Pretenders II ...

The Pretenders: Pretenders II

Review by Van Gosse, The Village Voice, 12 August 1981

THIS IS NO FUN. Raves for faves are love letters in the sand. Shoveling poseurs onto the garbage heap is heartwarming. But soaking up and ...

Pretenders

Interview by Peter Silverton, Smash Hits, 20 August 1981

"I must be the most boring person in the world..." sighs Chrissie Hynde. "What on earth is she on abut?" wonders Pete Silverton. ...

Pretenders: The Dreaded Second Album Syndrome

Interview by Chris Salewicz, Creem, November 1981

LATE ONE CLOUDLESS summer afternoon, Chrissie Hynde can be found in the historic English West Country town of Bath. ...

The Pretenders: Pretenders II (Sire)

Review by Jim Farber, Creem, November 1981

WELCOME TO the Pretenders' nightmare — an entire second LP to fill, hopefully living up to a big box office debut, and just about all ...

The Pretenders: Dominion, London

Live Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 2 January 1982

No time to go to sleep ...

James Honeyman-Scott: 1956-1982

Obituary by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 22 July 1982

JAMES HONEYMAN-Scott, the twenty-five-year-old lead guitarist for the Pretenders, died in his sleep in London sometime during the early morning hours of June 16th. The ...

Pretenders Progress Report: Chambers on the Chaingang

Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, June 1983

SENSIBLE. THAT'S the word for Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers. Playing everything from progressive rock to proto-pub-rock professionally since 1967, he's a stolid albeit logical player ...

The Pretenders: Learning To Crawl

Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984

...

The Pretenders: Leather Wears Better Than Dreams

Profile and Interview by Lesley White, The Face, February 1984

In the last two turbulent years, Chrissie Hynde has had a baby by the man who once personified for her the rock and roll myth, ...

The Pretenders: Talkin' to the New Kids In Town

Report and Interview by David Gans, Record, May 1984

SO YOU'RE A rock musician who's had some marginal success and suddenly you're part of a band embarking on one of the most publicized and ...

Spending Time With The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde

Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 24 August 1984

THE PRETENDERS have landed in Pittsburg. It's a Monday night, about 9 pm, and Chrissie Hynde is bored. ...

The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde (1986) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages transcripts, October 1986

This is a transcript of Mat's interview with Chrissie. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Chrissie Hynde: Still spikey after baby

Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 19 October 1986

"PEOPLE OFTEN say to me in interviews: 'You aren't very prolific are you?' The answer is, no I'm not! I could step up my output, ...

The Pretenders: Get Close

Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986

PRETENDERS LPs were always crap. Get Close is no exception. Having said that, though I have quite a bit of time for Chrissie Hynde, her ...

The Pretenders: Get Close (WEA)***

Review by Jack Barron, Sounds, 25 October 1986

JUST LIKE nectar poured over old scars, one of rock's most distinctive vocalists, Chrissie Hynde, comes out of hibernation with a miasma of sentimentality, cynicism ...

Chrissie Hynde: We Are All Prostitutes

Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1 November 1986

"I CAN SIT down with someone who is shooting up heroin; I can talk to a woman who is about to have an abortion because ...

Chrissie Hynde: Without Cruelty To Animals

Interview by Deborah Frost, Creem, April 1987

THERE WAS THE time, in 1975, Blue Oyster Cult was trying to have a peaceful dinner in Paris and this chick walked across the tables ...

Chrissie Hynde: "I Want To Die For Something…"

Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, June 1990

CHRISSIE HYNDE tosses her big black cowboy hat on to the hotel sofa, glances around at the foyer's dainty decor with an air of sniffy ...

Chrissie Hynde

Interview by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, October 1994

IT IS JUST POSSIBLE, I SUPPOSE, THAT SOMEWHERE IN Chrissie Hynde's attic, there lurks a portrait of a withered old crone hunched over an electric ...

The Pretenders: Jacob Street Studios, London

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, August 1995

MIDWAY THROUGH, Chrissie Hynde turns to her audience of mainly invited guests and smiles. "This is easy, isn’t it? This is obviously the way to ...

Chrissie Hynde

Interview by Holly George-Warren, Rolling Stone, 13 November 1997

IN 1978, CHRISSIE Hynde, an Akron, Ohio, native living in London, formed the Pretenders. The hand's 1980 debut, The Pretenders, featuring guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, bassist ...

Chrissie Hynde: The Great Pretender

Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 27 April 1999

CHRISSIE HYNDE, wild woman of rock, sits in a private members' club in London's Portman Square in a finely tailored pinstripe suit. Despite the elegance ...

The Backpages Interview: Chrissie Hynde

Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, 23 February 2001

Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders have just finished a fall 2000 U.S. tour opening for Neil Young. Hynde and her group included versions of Young's ...

Chrissie Hynde: Back In The Ring

Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, July 2003

After burying half the original Pretenders, CHRISSIE HYNDE bowed out of the rock'n'roll limelight to bring up her kids. Now she's made her best album ...

The Pretenders: Notes on 15 singles

Sleeve notes by Kieron Tyler, 'Pirate Radio' (Rhino), March 2006

'STOP YOUR SOBBING' The debut single, produced by Nick Lowe, hot from his solo records, work with Elvis Costello and live outings with Dave Edmunds' Rockpile. ...

Farm Aid

Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, September 2008

"THIS IS OUR twenty-third Farm Aid," said John Mellencamp, "and when we started this thing, we were naïve enough that we thought we'd have this ...

The Pretenders: Orpheum, Boston

Live Review by Jim Sullivan, Boston Herald, 6 February 2009

Pretenders the real deal ...

The Pretenders: Chrissie Hynde and the Mystery Achievement

Memoir by Adam Blake, Sound of the World (Charlie Gillett Forum), February 2013

WHAT DID YOU do when you were 18? Me, I played in a rock'n'roll band. As I type that, I'm aware of what an arch ...

The Pretenders: Alone

Review by Stephen Dalton, Classic Rock, 17 October 2016

Chrissie Hynde reveals her rootsy Americana side with help from some Nashville friends ...

Chrissie Hynde

Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 4 August 2018

Still super-hip (and all lip) at 66, the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde tells Event why she swears at fans, enrages sex abuse victims… and has swapped ...

The Pretenders: Hate For Sale (BMG)

Review by David Bennun, Metro, 14 July 2020

CRIKEY. If you didn't know it was 2020 — if there were any way not to know it's 2020 — then the new Pretenders album ...

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