Ticket 2 Ride

It’s hard to believe The Pretenders have been around since 1978. Their debut album, The Pretenders, landed at an interesting time for music. The Pretenders had a hard edge, yet very melodic, jangly guitars and a powerful rhythm section. They weren’t blues rock, New Wave, punk, a hair band or synth pop. The closest they are to a label is post-punk and future indie rockers.

My choices were one song from each of the first five studio albums. These are not necessarily my favorite songs or even the best songs, but the are five very good songs.

“Mystery Achievement” Pretenders (1980) While there are several singles from the album, I chose the album’s closer, a tough, hard rocker, that displays the band’s music chops. Written by Chrissie Hynde. The band’s lineup of Hynde, Martin Chambers, Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott was the best. This lineup existed through the release of Pretenders II.

“Day After Day” Pretenders II (1981) The follow-up album was good, but not as strong as the debut. “Day After Day” was written by Hynde and Honeyman-Scott, and it’s as fine as anything on the album, but it’s also representative of the slickness of the album. The debut was less polished, and more reflective of the band’s willingness to experiment and be a little funkier. Nothing on this album really rocks out, but it’s quite listenable.

“Middle of the Road” Learning to Crawl (1984) After the departure of Farndon and the death of Honeyman-Scott, the band regrouped. Producer Chris Thomas was still in the control room, but there was a new bass player, Malcolm Foster, and guitarist, Robbie McIntosh. Billy Bremer (Rockpile) also contributed assorted guitars to the album. A top twenty charting single in the U.S., the song is solid and was written by Hynde, who wrote nine out of the album’s ten songs.

“Don’t Get Me Wrong” Get Close (1986) Hynde mixed it up a bit, using three different producers on the album. Jimmy Iovine, Bob Clearmountain and Steve Lillywhite, three of the hottest producers of the era lent their skills and ears to this album. Chambers was out, replaced by Blair Cunningham on drums, T.M. Stevens was now on bass, and McIntosh was still on guitar. Bernie Worrell (Funkadelic, Takking Heads) contributed keyboards. “Don’t Get Me Wrong” is an uptempo song of urgency. It’s jangly or jaunty, whichever one applies, very inviting and a big win for songwriter Hynde. It was a top ten charting hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

“Sense of Purpose” Packed! (1990) Hynde changed gears again, using Mitchell Froom (Crowded House, Bob Dylan, Suzanne Vega) to handle the production of Packed! Cunningham was still on-hand behind the drums, Bremer on the guitars, John McKenzie on bass, and Froom on keyboards. Hynde was the only original member left. This isn’t an album I’ve spent a lot of time with, many of the songs aren’t very memorable, but “Sense of Purpose” is well-written and very much in the Hynde mid-tempo wheelhouse. It’s not a great song, but it’s no throwaway either.

Final Thoughts…

The Pretenders really functioned as Hynde’s backup band at this point, and heavily relied on her songwriting and leadership for ongoing success. Chambers would return on occasion, but the success of the band was really during the 1980s. With the exception of Packed!, it was easy to find songs to consider for this blog, but tough to pick. Those first four albums are really good.