uhh, CHRISSIE...

The most forgotten rock band of the 80s is THE PRETENDERS. They released two fabulous LP's ("Pretenders" & "Pretenders II") in the early 80s after which half the band OD'd on smack and died. Lead singer CHRISSIE HYNDE never managed to get together an equally great band after that nor to release records that came no-way near those two original platters. It's a crime against all humanity that those two albums are now lost in the big abyss of the forgotten records.

Those two early LP's are great real rock'n'roll. Not the kinda plastic shit that otherwise polluted the 1980s; Shit like Shakin' Stevens that was deliberately so tame that every granny could swallow it with her afternoon tea without getting offended. And of course it didn't hurt matters that Chrissie Hynde had one of thee best voices in rock music - up there on par with Siouxsie Sioux if you ask me. Check this early live version of "Bad Boys Get Spanked" from "Rockpalast" from German tv. The picture quality sucks, the music does not.

The first time I learnt about The Pretenders was via an article in a Danish youth magazine (Vi unge). I was in my 7th grade and there was an article about the band and a photo of Chrissie Hynde. She looked tough. She didn't look like a typical '77 punk but she had actually previously been in The Damned. The article was mostly about Chrissie Hynde. It said, "Chrissie never wears anything but leather pants - and she doesn't wear knickers underneath". I knew I had to have their record.