The entire album is a BANGER. Sit down, put on your headphones and go for it. You won’t be disappointed. The whole damn thing.

Explosive opening track to one of the best debut albums ever. It’s like Pretenders came on the scene and demanded, “Watch me!” And we did!

"Some guy named Nick Lowe " - haha, check him out, Lee! The Jesus of Cool.

On the album, “Precious” goes straight into “The Phone Call”. I highly recommend both in a single sitting for maximum enjoyment and satisfaction.

“Kid” has James Honey Scott with the perfect solo. Probably my favorite Pretenders song. I remember them playing Precious at Live Aid.

One of the greatest debut Albums in history.

My City Was Gone (one of my favorite bass intros), Middle of the Road, Brass in Pocket, just to name a few. Saw them at the US Festival in San Bernadino, CA in 1984 as part of the new generation bands who played in the afternoon while 30 something stars like Stevie Nicks, Joe Walsh and David Bowie played at night. The Pretenders and U2 were the headliners of the afternoon and they both kicked ass and fell in love with Chrissie's stage persona (Bono's was off the charts). It was sponsored by an upstart company who had more ideas than money. A little company called Apple - Steve Wozniak even had a booth and you could go in and chat with him about computers or anything else. All this genius and they couldn't provide water for attendees who were sitting in a desert and 105-degree temperature. I was so coked out on Coca-Cola; I couldn't drink anymore - and I love Coca-Cola.

Love the Pretenders. This one is their more punkier side. They are a British/American band with Chrissie being the lone American. Two of their most well known songs are Back On the Chain Gang and Middle of the Road. But they are pretty deep rabbit hole to go into

“Some guy named Nick Lowe” made me lol haha…❤

So many for you to check. " Middle of the road" "Back on the chain gang" "Kid" "Message of love" Go for it!

You did it again L33...and Gail. I have this on vinyl. Bought in the week it was released. You just reminded me how f*****g great this album is. Thanks kiddo.

I'm so glad I got to see the original group live.

Chrissie Hynde is the absolute balls. The Queen of rock. I'm convinced she could absolutely kick my ass if she wanted to but she doesn't want to. Love her and respect her so much. What a wonderful voice she has!

Pretenders, U2, Stone Roses, The Chameleons... all with absolutely BLISTERING debut albums.

This track and Tattoed Love Boys are two of my fave Pretenders tracks. Saw them live just last year ( Utrecht, Netherlands). Every bit as good as in the 80s. We were blown away.

Left to Right on the album cover: Bassist Pete Farndon, boyfriend at the time of, Lead Singer and Guitarist Chrissie Hynde, Drummer Martin Chambers and Lead Guitarist James "Honeyman" Scott. Had the pleasure of seeing The Pretenders twice, both shows were after Farndon and Scott passed from drug O.D.'s. First time Iggy Pop and The Stooges opened for The Pretenders, and the second time The Pretenders opened for Neil Young. Both were amazing shows.

One of the great bands to emerge from the 70s. They have their own sound. Chrissie is a great vocalist and lyricist.

Also in 1980, Nick Lowe got together with Dave Edmunds and put out an album called Seconds of Pleasure, under the name Rockpile. Well worth a listen.

They were fantastic in concert, saw them a dozen times way back , great music bouncing of the wall nights . She was such a great release for we women

I'll be right back. Need to go find all the versions of "Precious." Good reminder.

Okay. Great. Now I have to send in another request

Being from Cleveland(where she is singing about) i love this song. It was especially cool to hear when i saw them live in Japan when i was there.

New one for me ... fun song

I learned during covid wearing a mask outside really helps with allergies. I still do it during allergy season now.

Weird was just thinking he should do The Adultress.

Hello Drummer, great choice on the Pretenders, Chrissie Hynde is the founding member and the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter, her music life mirrored a Forrest Gump-style, meaning living through some catastrophic events yet prevailing by putting the anger and love of some hurriedness and enduring memories of her life into songs. Here’s a snippet of; The Continuing Saga of Chrissie Hynde, she was 18 years old when she witnessed the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970, where the Ohio National Guard killed four unarmed student protesters and injured nine others. Neil Young later wrote the song (4 Dead in Ohio) about the Kent State massacre. The boyfriend of her friend was killed. While attending Kent State she joined a band that included Mark Mothersbaugh, later of Devo. In May 1973, Hynde moved to London It was then that she met rock journalist Nick Kent and landed a position at the music magazine New Musical Express (NME), writing what she subsequently described as "half-baked philosophical drivel and nonsensical tirades. Hynde later got a job at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's clothing store, Sex. Hynde attempted to start a band in France the Frenchies, returned to Cleveland in 1975, and joined a rhythm and blues group Jack Rabbit Returned to France in 1976 to try to form a band but it did not materialize. She left Kent State University for Michael Fradji Memmi bass player of the Frenchies, who she joined for one show at the Olympia Theatre when their singer had left, she performed as lead singer. She returned to London during the early punk movement and tried to convince Steve Jones and then Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, managed by McLaren to marry her to get her a work permit when he subsequently withdrew, Sid Vicious (also w/Sex pistols) volunteered to take his place. In late 1976, Hynde responded to an advertisement in Melody Maker for band members and attended an audition for the band that would become 999. Jon Moss (who would later be in Culture Club) and Tony James of Generation X auditioned. Later, Hynde tried to start a group with Mick Jones from (The Clash). Malcolm McLaren placed her as a guitarist in Masters of the Backside but she was asked to leave the group just as it became The Damned. After a brief spell in the band Johnny Moped, Mick Jones invited Hynde to join his band on their initial Tour of Britain, Chrissie wanted to be in a band so bad she spent a short time with the punk band The Moors Murderers in 1978. Named after The Moors Murderers (a pair of child-killers), the band consisted of future Visage frontman Steve Strange on vocals, Vince Ely on drums, with Mark Ryan (a.k.a. The Kid) and Hynde on guitar she soon distanced herself from the group, "I'm not in the group, I only rehearsed with them. She stated "Steve Strange and Soo Catwoman” had asked me to help them out on guitar, which I did, even though I was getting my group together. Hynde formed The Pretenders in Hereford, England in 1978, with Pete Farndon, James Honeyman-Scott and Martin Chambers.

Great rock and roll song. Whole album rocks

Worth checking out more of their rockers. Martin Chambers is just a beast of a drummer.

omg you've hit on a gold seam, if you don't know the Pretenders you have a lot of fun ahead. I was on the edge of 17 and remember the hype for this album, after the first 2 singles, Chrissie Hynde... well, she was something else. I vividly remember dashing into town to get this album (those days meant something then, I had to get the train!) and dashing back home, sitting in my bedroom, the sun was shining in, it was a bright winter day, January 1980, I remember sitting on my bed and playing this, for the first time. Thanks, I re-lived that. It does matter. Anyway, keep going with the Pretenders, they were one of the best of the early 80s, and Chrissie's a legend.

You're a good dad... you care, and are trying. No parent is perfect, or able to be there 100% of the time. Kids will develop, in any case; what they need is to know that somebody is there that cares and they can count on when it's important. That care makes them understand that they should care, and that's what makes a good person. Like you said later, you have to take care of yourself first... on the airplane, when they give the safety briefing, they tell you the first thing you do when the masks fall is to mask up yourself, and then help others... because you're a liability if you're not taking care of yourself, and somebody has to take care of you as a result. And your kids will understand that. Fun reaction to a fun band lead by the coolest of women. Rock on, Lee!

Most critics agree one of the greatest debut albums of all time - and with good reason. Such diversity, and must mention the guitar player Honeyman Scott - RIP - who was considered one of the best players of his generation. Johnny Marr even credited him as an inspiration. PS Check out their early stuff on video songs - gives a good show of the original band and when Chrissie was a punker/new waver.

Pretender US Tour - July and August 2024...

UP THE NECK MIDDLE OF THE ROAD CUBAN SLIDE 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🎸🎸🎸🎸🎤🎤🔥🔥

Perfect song

For anyone unfamiliar with them, another fine punk/wave band from this period - that got tragically affected by hard drug use/addiction - was The Ruts: their album The Crack is loaded with great cuts.

When MTV came out, Britain had a metric fuck ton of promo videos from the way back. US got a second British Invasion.

best band of the 80s...chrissie hynde is a rock/punk/new wave goddess.

You might wanna keep going with this 💎. Seriously, not ONE bad song

Classic tune!! OMG, we used to slam to this song repeatedly, back in the day! You should check out The Dead Kennedys!! Crazy Punk/Thrash band!

A perfect debut album from a fantastic but cursed band. Chrissie is a very special artist. Great, great songs through their long windy road of a career....

Great song from a brilliant album. Their 2nd album also kicks ass.

The Wait & Tattooed Love Boys are really good too!

The first three albums are classics

One of my favorite 1st album/side A/song 1 "Hello - we're..." songs - coming out of the starting gate like a thoroughbred! A great debut, overall.

What a track.

Ned again Lee. This is a great LP and was produced by Chris Thomas who also did the Sex Pistols, but was working since the mid 60s. BTW "some guy" Nick Lowe started out in a pop psych band called Kippington Lodge which later became Brinsley Schwarz. Nick wrote many great songs incl. Cruel To Be Kind and What's So Funny Bout Peace Love and Understanding. Produced lots of different bands, like Elvis Costello and his own solo records. He was a member of Rockpile and was always putting out records.

This band really knows how to rock. Check out "Money Talk" from their 1994 album "Last of the Independents".

Another good one! Thanks to Gail!

They were the epitome of new wave/punk in the 80's, IMO. I have read Chrissie's bio, Reckless & it is a very good read. She did not like performing their giant worldwide hit, Brass in Pocket, thought it wasn't their style. Side note: she was nearby Kent Sate uni the day of the student shootings, says it was pretty harrowing. The Pretenders are def in my top 10 of all time favourites. Some of my faves - Middle of the Road; Hollywood Perfume; Night in my Veins; Kid; Message of Love; Back on the Chain Gang; 2000 miles.

This album was the best debut album ever! New Wave w Punk sensibility

A great debut album. Love all of it.

Great song. They had a million hits back in the day. Sadly, two of the original members (James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon) died very young from drug use.

Listen live at Concert for Kampuchea in 1979

The Pretenders were a great band. Check out "Middle of the Road," perhaps my fav tune from them. But they have a great catalog, especially their first 3 albums.

What happened to this band was truly tragic, what was it, '82 or '83 ? I always thought that Jimmy Honeyman-Scott was tops, and truly making everyone notice at the time. BTW, the demo version on the box set is better, if you ask me.... 🚬😎👍

This song was pretty wild for 1980. Chrissie is the queen of vibrato. It really comes out on her ballads. Their 1994 song “I’ll Stand By You” is a treasure! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d6h3g7CoxM_WYGw.htmlsi=hfNKQbEhV3XhwOCt

THIS DEBUT ALBUM AS A SMASH. I SEEN THE PRETENDERS NINE TIMES OVER THE YEARS, IT'S EASY TO SAY THE ARE A FAVORITE OF MINE. THE ARE A GREAT BAND.

Chryssy married to lead singer of "SIMPLE MINDS"

Dig before the song starts where Chrissy yells " I told you to fucking get started".

This is their best album, the original line-up. Don't do drugs. Both James Honeyman Scott and Pete Farndon OD'd. What a monster they would have been if not for drugs.

I was crazy about The Pretenders first album - and live they were killers. The second album was great too and then ... they lost guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon in a few months, overdosed. And it was over for me. They still penned some decent songs after, but nothing close to their debuts. I respect Chrissie Hynde, but for me the heart of the band was that pair of wonderfull junkies.

Akron was the place late 70s. Pretenders, DEVO, Tin Huey, Waitresses …..

Tattooed Love Boys.

Back when the Pretenders were still a real band! You should also try "The Adultress" and "Bad Boys Get Spanked" from their album Pretenders II.

You have to listen to the Nick Lowe produced version of "The Wait," which came out before their debut album. It is much better than the album version.

I think the guitar was run through a phaser effect.

Check out Pretenders 2 - “ Waste not want not “ and “ Jealous dogs “ , both really great tunes, guitar playing on both are really stellar !

Pretenders were/are a great band. Chrissie Hynde was/is great. Funny, this particular song, although a good one, is not particularly memorable compared with many others of theirs.

Love this album unreservedly, ever since it came a friend played it for me. This song in particular is a fave. Chris Thomas also produced 'Never Mind the Bollocks' for the Sex Pistols. Chrissy Hynde(rhymes with mind) looms large in the Pistols' story as represented by the movie on Amazon Prime a couple years back. Saw them twice, at Heatwave, north of Toronto in 1980, and in '82 or '83 in Toronto with the opening act with my friend who'd introduced them to me. I'd been awake, drinking coffee and writing for several days, crashed for a few hours and missed their opening set. Geddy Lee produced their sole album: Boy's Brigade. Guitarist Tony was a buddy. Keyboardist Malcolm became a protégé of Daniel Lanois, later produced Dylan, Iggy, etc.etc. Blah blah blah 😂 Rest In Peace, Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott. 💔😢🌈🌉🎶❤️✨️🕊