Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde, James Honeyman-Scott, Pete Farndon, and Martin Chambers.
10. Night In My Veins (1994)
When Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders wanted to write a hit song, she called on the songwriting team of Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly for help. Steinberg and Kelly had already written many hits, including "True Colors" and "Eternal Flame." Over a two week period, Kelly, Steinberg and Hynde wrote this song along with "I'll Stand By You," "Love Colors Everything," "977" and "Hollywood Perfume." Says Steinberg, "'Night In My Veins' really felt like a great Pretenders rocker, 'I'll Stand By You' felt a little generic. I know that Chrissie felt that way too to some extent."
The music video for the song is a tribute to the British 1960s TV spy series The Avengers, with Chrissie Hynde playing Emma Peel searching for John Steed (Patrick Macnee appears in the original series' footage, with Hynde superimposed) while being diverted by body doubles and rival agents. Two edits to the video were made, the second edit adds alternate shots (including a scene of one of the body doubles being revealed to be a woman) and inserts footage of the band performing in a red and blue studio.
When Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders wanted to write a hit song, she called on the songwriting team of Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly for help. Steinberg and Kelly had already written many hits, including "True Colors" and "Eternal Flame." Over a two week period, Kelly, Steinberg and Hynde wrote this song along with "I'll Stand By You," "Love Colors Everything," "977" and "Hollywood Perfume." Says Steinberg, "'Night In My Veins' really felt like a great Pretenders rocker, 'I'll Stand By You' felt a little generic. I know that Chrissie felt that way too to some extent."
9. Tattooed Love Boys (1979)
This was part of the first Pretenders album, which many count among the greatest debuts in rock. It was most successful in the UK, where Hynde formed the band after moving there from America in 1973. The big hit from the album was "Brass In Pocket," which went to #1 in the UK and became a mainstay in America, thanks in large part to the video. The album also hit #1 in the UK.
Following their debut album, Pretenders released two singles in the UK, Talk Of The Town and Message Of Love before Pretenders II arrived, with the former reaching #8 and the latter #11 in the UK singles charts. The appetite in the US maintained too, with Pretenders releasing an EP in the interim named “Extended Play”, containing five tracks that would later be on the Pretenders II album. With a clamoring for more Pretenders material, Pretenders II was released on 15th August 1981 to great fanfare.
8. Day After Day (1981)
7. Don't Get Me Wrong (1986)
6. Back On The Chain Gang (1982)
"Back on the Chain Gang" was recorded after James Honeyman-Scott, the Pretenders guitarist, died of a drug overdose at the age of 25 on June 16, 1982. This came two days after the Pretenders fired their longtime bassist Pete Farndon because of his drug problem. On July 20, 1982, the band began recording the song at AIR Studios in London. At that time, only two Pretenders were left: singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde, who was about three months pregnant with her first daughter, and drummer Martin Chambers.
"My Baby" is a love song to Hynde's baby daughter. Vic Garbarini of Musician magazine also suggested that the song is about the baby within Hynde herself, in the sense of "something being born" into a "new life. Allmusic critic Matthew Greenwald describes the acoustic guitar melody that begins the song as sounding like an Irish folk song. He describes the rest of the melody as having a "folk-rock groove," applying a two-chord pattern that he describes as "ingenious." He describes the lyrics as Hynde expressing her "near-overflowing affection in her literate, conversational style.
According to drummer Martin Chambers, the song was largely formed in the studio based on a rough sketch presented by Hynde. Chambers explained, "We never really got into the studio without any rehearsal and record[ed] a song, [but] we have done that once and that was 'Message of Love'. ... [Hynde] likes to come to [the band] when she has [a song] finished in her mind ... but this time she hadn't really finished it and so we just ... rehearsed it already set up in the studio and it was on tape in two hours, basically."
5. My Baby (1986)
"My Baby" is a love song to Hynde's baby daughter. Vic Garbarini of Musician magazine also suggested that the song is about the baby within Hynde herself, in the sense of "something being born" into a "new life. Allmusic critic Matthew Greenwald describes the acoustic guitar melody that begins the song as sounding like an Irish folk song. He describes the rest of the melody as having a "folk-rock groove," applying a two-chord pattern that he describes as "ingenious." He describes the lyrics as Hynde expressing her "near-overflowing affection in her literate, conversational style.
4. Message Of Love (1981)
3. Brass In Pocket (1979)
Hynde got the idea for the song's title when, during an after-show dinner, she overheard someone enquiring if anyone had, "Picked up dry cleaning? Any brass in pocket?" Of the song's reference to "bottle," Hynde explained, "Bottle is Cockney rhyming slang. It means bottle and glass. The way Cockney rhyming slang works is the word you're really saying rhymes with the second word. So bottle and glass rhymes with ass. In England, to say somebody has a lot of ass they have a lot of funk. So you say, 'That guy has a lot of bottle.'
2. Middle Of The Road (1983)
Singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde has stated that "Middle of the Road" refers to Tao Te Ching, which she interprets as "the middle way."According to Charles M. Young of Musician, the song is about "getting out there and mixing it up with the world." The song lyrics include observations about the difference between wealth and poverty that Hynde had observed. The lyrics also refer to autobiographical details (i.e., the lyric “I got a kid, I'm thirty-three” although Hynde turned 32 shortly before the single was released). Hynde plays the harmonica solo near the end of the song.
"Talk of the Town" was inspired by a fan Chrissie Hynde had encountered on the band's first tour. She explained in a BBC Songwriters' Circle special, "I had in mind this kid who used to stand outside the soundchecks on our first tour... I never spoke to him. I remember that the last time I saw him I just left him standing in the snow, I never had anything to say to him. I kind of wrote this for him, so, in the unlikely event that you're watching this, I did think about you. "It was also rumored that the song was written about Kinks frontman Ray Davies, whom Hynde would date and have a child with. The title itself was inspired by a London nightclub of the same name.
Singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde has stated that "Middle of the Road" refers to Tao Te Ching, which she interprets as "the middle way."According to Charles M. Young of Musician, the song is about "getting out there and mixing it up with the world." The song lyrics include observations about the difference between wealth and poverty that Hynde had observed. The lyrics also refer to autobiographical details (i.e., the lyric “I got a kid, I'm thirty-three” although Hynde turned 32 shortly before the single was released). Hynde plays the harmonica solo near the end of the song.
1. Talk Of The Town (1980)
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