SALE OF THE YEAR
There’s never been anyone in rock’n’roll quite like Chrissie Hynde. Of course, there were women who rocked before she arrived on the scene 40-odd years ago, such as Wanda Jackson, Heart’s Wilson sisters and Patti Smith. But Hynde sort of synthesised the influences of all those women into something new, and topped it off with great songwriting chops and her distinct vocals.
Still, Hynde might baulk at the gender reference. “My role models were musicians,” she tells me. “You know, my role model might have been Jeff Beck. I knew I’d never play guitar like that – but I thought I could look like him! The fact that he was a guy didn’t even [factor] into it.” Together with the rest of the original Pretenders – lead guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, bassist Pete Farndon and drummer Martin Chambers – Hynde made one of the best debut albums in rock history, and a second that was nearly as good.
After that, tragedy struck. Honeyman-Scott died in 1982 and Farndon followed him a year later, both drug-related deaths. Since then Hynde has soldiered on, with The Pretenders, ) and dabbled in various genres, all while remaining true to the melodic but punk-influenced rock that the band established on their debut.
