The 500 - #155 - Self Titled (Debut) - The Pretenders

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by New York-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #155
Album Title: Self-Titled (Debut)

Artist: The Pretenders

Genre: New Wave, Rock, Punk Rock

Recorded: Wessex & Air Studios, London, England

Released: January, 1980

My age at release: 14
How familiar was I with it before this week: Quite

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at #152, rising 3 spots
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Precious

In the mid-70s, as I was beginning to chart the course of my musical identity, the female voices that dominated my radio speakers were smooth, melodic, and bathed in a soft-focus glow. Olivia Newton-John sang with a breezy sweetness, and Anne Murray’s voice on Snowbird was maple-syrup smooth. Toni Tennille had a rich, theatrical warmth, while ABBA’s Agnetha and Frida's shimmering harmonies glittered like a disco ball. They were also beautiful, so I didn’t just enjoy their singing, I also felt the tug of prepubescent crushes wrapped in every catchy melody.

Olivia Newton-John, one of my adolescent crushes.

However, as the ‘70s became the ‘80s and my teen-age years arrived, something shifted. Deborah Harry of Blondie exploded on the scene with the hit single Heart of Glass from the record Parallel Lines (#140 on The 500). In 1979, it was Pat Benatar's debut single, Heartbreaker, and her voice was a revelation -- a classically trained mezzo-soprano with the firepower of a rock goddess. Her debut album In the Heat of the Night introduced a vocal style that was both technically precise and emotionally raw. She could soar with operatic clarity one moment and snarl with gritty defiance the next. In both cases, another teen-age crush was formed.

Pat Benatar's debut record, In The Heat Of The Night.

Then, in 1980, the first album from The Pretenders, a British band featuring American singer Chrissie Hynde hit the airwaves. I was immediately taken by the first single I heard on Detroit radio, Brass In Pocket. It was a blend of rock, pop and soul but was also part of the new wave sound that had been crossing over to mainstream audiences in recent years.

When Ms. Harry, Ms. Benatar and Ms. Hynde hit the scene, they didn't just sing -- they commanded attention. They brought grit, attitude and a sense of ownership to their music; their image felt radical. These women weren’t just fronting bands, they were leading them -- writing the songs, shaping the sound, and refusing to be boxed in by industry expectations. They weren’t just eye candy, they were a force. Listening to The Pretenders’ debut album, I remember feeling that shift viscerally. It wasn’t simply a new sound; it was a new stance. Chrissie Hynde didn’t ask for permission to be there. She just was. And that presence -- cool, tough, unapologetically female -- redefined what a woman in rock could be.

The Pretenders, (l-r) James Honeyman-Scott (guitar), Chrissie Hynde (guitar, vocals),

Pete Farndon (bass), and Martin Chambers (drums).

Of course, looking back now, I recognize that this shift I felt so viscerally wasn’t new. It was just new to me. There had already been powerful, ground-breaking women challenging the norms of the music industry long before these ‘70s rockers hit the stage. Artists like Janis Joplin, with her raw, soul-baring vocals, and Patti Smith, who fused poetry with punk and refused to be categorized, were already tearing down walls in the late '60s and early '70s. Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane brought a fierce, psychedelic edge to rock. Joni Mitchell and Carole King redefined what it meant to be a singer-songwriter, writing deeply personal, complex music that stood on its own artistic merit. Tina Turner, even before her solo resurgence, was a powerhouse performer who brought fire and grit to every stage she stepped on. Collectively, those women, only a few of many I could mention, have nine records on The 500.

Canadian treasure Joni Mitchell, whose album Blue is at #30 on The 500.

The Pretenders were formed in Herefordshire, England, in 1978. Hynde grew up in Akron, Ohio, and was raised on rock and roll radio from the ‘50s and ‘60s. However, she longed for more than a small town in the American midwest could offer. She moved to London in 1973, and became enmeshed in the burgeoning punk scene. She worked as a music journalist with the New Musical Express (NME) Magazine and spent time at Malcom McLaren and Vivien Westwood's fetish boutique SEX.

Westwood and McLaren outside the SEX boutique.

While in London Hynde became entrenched in the "scene" and played guitar for a number of failed bands while being romantically linked to Sex Pistol's members Steve Jones and Sid Vicious, as well as Ray Davies of The Kinks. She nearly joined several bands, including The Damned and The Slits, and even had a failed project with Mick Jones of The Clash. She once joked that she "tried to get a band together for three years and was fired from every one".

Hynde in London, 1977, before The Pretenders.

Eventually, the stars aligned and she connected with the line-up that  became The Pretenders and they began playing locally, while working on songs that were destined to become their debut release.

The Pretenders, performing live.

The group has persisted for nearly 50 years and released 12 studio records, including their most recent, Relentless, in 2013. Hynde has been the only consistent member, although drummer Chambers was only absent between 1986 and 1994. The other original members, Honeyman-Scott and Farndon died in 1982 and 1983 respectively. Both deaths were the result of drug use. Honeyman-Scott suffered heart failure, brought on by cocaine use at age 25. Farndon died at 30, a year later, drowning in a bathtub after a heroin overdose.

Honeyman-Scott gravestone. 

The Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. Hynde and Chambers continue to perform, with Chrissie not only maintaining her legacy as a rock icon but also as a passionate advocate for animal rights. A committed vegetarian, she was arrested in New York during a protest against the use of Indian leather in Gap products -- a campaign that ultimately led the retailer to halt leather sourcing from India.

This marked a significant victory for behind the shiny consumer façade, many Indian leather supply chains are rooted in exploitative practices. Marginalized workers face inhumane conditions and toxic exposure, while animals endure brutal treatment before slaughter. Hynde’s activism helped draw attention to these unacceptable practises -- and proved that persistent and principled protests can spark real change.

Choosing a track for this week’s addition to The 500 Playlist wasn’t easy. The Pretenders’ debut album is, as a friend recently put it, "a perfect record" and "one I would take with me if I could take only five albums to a deserted island". Another said, this is "on my shortlist for one of my all-time favorite albums. Listened to this one many hundreds of times, and never get sick of it. Perfection."

From their shimmering cover of The Kinks’ Stop Your Sobbing to the surf-rock, sci-fi swagger of Space Invader, to Brass in Pocket (the track that first pulled me into their orbit)-- it’s wall-to-wall contenders. In the end, I landed on Precious, the searing opener with its jagged guitars and Chrissie Hynde’s snarling, no-apologies delivery. It captures everything I love about her style: confrontational, cool, and charged with a magnetism that’s equal parts danger and allure.