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 Chrissie Hynde
and The Pretenders:
Really Dying, Really Surviving
Nelson Gary
At the end of the seventies, more than any other band The Pretenders were able infuse the Top 40 Pop chart with a string of hits that were a fusion of punk and new wave, but, after original member Pete Farndon got strung out, the band became a straightforward rock band.
Before half of the band died from overdoses (James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon), they recorded their first two albums (The Pretenders I and II).
 Both albums were innovative and influential, full of music that was edgy and raw to abrasive and aggressive, yet melodically hook-laden giving it a mainstream accessibility that most of their contemporaries lacked-not to mention, hit songs.
The musical communication between guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon was unprecedented for a punk/new wave band, combining suspended chords and angular slash and burn guitar licks over a pulse of fat, syncopated rhythms. Charismatic front-woman Chrissie Hynde's lyrics on those first two albums were semi-autobiographical, sexually evocative, feminist, and as full of integrity as they were empty of apology.
For a future women in what can be broadly be termed hard rock, Chrissie Hynde has become an icon to emulate for many reasons that are beyond the scope of this article, but what that is not has been her ability to become a rock for her surviving band members.
After the second...
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