Revisiting the Great Pretenders
Every Friday on Yahoo Tech, The New Old Thing brings you recommendations of distinctly untimely — but still amazing! — cultural expression. Lots of sources (including us) will tell you what’s new and worthwhile. But only The New Old Thing tells you what’s not-new, but great, and available to you right now thanks to the magic of technology. (Your tips are welcome; send to rwalkeryn@yahoo.com.)
It always starts with a casual remark: My wife asks if I have ever heard Chrissie Hynde’s version of the Radiohead song “Creep.” Apparently Pandora served it up to her recently. Anyway, my answer is no. So we turn to YouTube.
Pretty great — and I before I know it I’m on a 30-minute YouTube jag, free-associating through my personal Pretenders faves.
For me, that means starting with “Message of Love” from Pretenders II. Here’s the video, from 1981.
I saw the Pretenders live once — but it was later, the Get Close tour. Everything about this lo-fi video underlines why the original lineup was impossible to beat: They sound great and they look great: Pete Farndon’s weirdo Fonzie-esque aesthetic, Martin Chambers’ ridiculous sideburns, James Honeyman-Scott’s disconcerting goofiness, and every single thing about Chrissie Hynde, but especially the bangs over the eyes. Irresistible.
This led to “Tattooed Love Boys,” from the group’s self-titled debut album. Apart from being one of the all-time-great song titles, this tune just smokes.
I wish I could find a better version of the official video, but this is good enough to send the basic message: This is a crucial Pretenders song. Maybe you associate Hynde’s voice with lite fare wafting through your local CVS? This should set you straight.
And of course that song leads me to “Precious,” which opens Pretenders and arguably defined the original lineup’s sound. I couldn’t find an original video (does one exist?) but here’s a good live performance:
One of the interesting things about these YouTube jags is the non-official “video,” basically a montage of images and clips assembled by … somebody … to accompany some cool song that didn’t really have an official video.
Happily there’s a great example of this — it revels in the early Pretenders’ visual charisma — for the wildly underrated song “Day After Day” from Pretenders II. Has Wes Anderson used this in a movie yet?
This jag started with a cover, and I’m a Kinks freak, so inevitably we got to “Stop Your Sobbing.” From 1979:
Finally my wife suggested “Cuban Slide,” which I wasn’t familiar with and does not appear on my vinyl (that’s right) versions of Pretenders or Pretenders II.
But she was right, it’s hot!
All due respect to the Hynde/Pretenders oeuvre in the many years since the untimely deaths of both Farndon and Honeyman-Scott. But I suppose I’ll never get over my crush on the original lineup’s sound — and look.
Besides, this little trip down vintage-Pretenders lane turned out to be a perfect example of what The New Old Thing is all about: When I was a kid, I could listen to the albums, stare at their covers, and maybe hope to glimpse a video at the house of a friend who had cable.
But now I live in the future. And one of the best things about it turns out to be on-demand access to … the past!
Write to me at rwalkeryn@yahoo.com or find me on Twitter, @notrobwalker. The RSS feed for my columns and posts is right here.
