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What’s up with Chrissie Hynde?

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Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to Black Deer – A lovely 3 day festival that for me is a far better proposition than the hype of Glastonbury.
On the saturday night The Pretenders were headlining even though it should have been Bonnie Raitt.
Have been a fan since Brass in Pocket and have most of their earlier albums. She came on stage and ripped through 3 new numbers. They lumpen and tuneless. She spoke after the third number ‘I was expecting a younger audience’. Apparently she said it again later in the set. I didnt hang around – I went to the Ridge tent to see Alison Russell – she was superb and the ‘younger’ audience lapped it up.
Chrissie you are 71 and, I hate to break it to you love, but young people ain’t listening to you.
Cant believe James Walbourne is happy to stick around.
Her arrogance astounded me to be honest.

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  2. Astonishing how some artists delude themselves isn’t it. Surely no-one gives a shit about anything The Pretenders recorded post about, say, 1990? My two kids, both in their early 20s, said “who’s the Foo Fighters bloke playing with there?” when he popped up in a Pretenders iplayer Glasto vid I was watching earlier.

  5. Saw The Pretenders a few weeks ago and the set was mainly newer stuff. However, she got in a bit of a spat with the audience about phones and after a lukewarm reception to a new song, played Brass in Pocket (apparently absent from recent set lists) and to be fair the gig ended up being a blast. James Walbourne”s playing on set closer, Thumbelina, being worth remembering. I’m sure I heard Martin Chambers isn’t playing at the moment because he wants to play the older material.
    Christie sang one slow one when I saw them – “You Can’t Hurt a Fool” and nailed it.

  8. Feisty bad tempered ‘fuck you’ attitude is all part of Chrissie Hynde’s schtick isn’t it? At 71, it’s probably too late to expect her to slip into comfortable slacks and slippered old age. The Pretenders’ Glastonbury set was glorious, and that wondrous voice remains completely unravaged by time. Long may she continue.

        • Ellen does love that story doesn’t he? It’s in his autobiography too of course. I’ve always thought he comes out of it sounding like a complete tit, despite him doing the telling and seeming completely unaware of it. Not that any of this makes Hynde any more agreeable.

            • Ellen is placed next to Hynde at a dinner. She is already, quite rightly, furious because she has been served a dish including stock which she immediately realises contains meat. Then Ellen’s plate arrives and he has ordered the foie gras. That’s it.

              Ellen always finds this tale hilarious, I can’t see the punchline, and think that in the telling of it he comes out much the worse despite what he seems to think. Perhaps you had to be there.

              • The funny bit for me, is the old duffer on the other side of Ms.Hynde to Mark, who persuades him that he has the perfect solution to our blue-shirted journalist’s plight, giving a false sense of relief, destroyed when the dish is delivered. Of course Ellen comes out looking bad – that’s part of the point of the story – him admitting he made a fool of himself. The comedy of embarrassment – rather like an oral equivalent of a Bateman ‘The Man Who…’ cartoon.

              • I recall there’s somewhat more to the tale – he’s there before she is, orders foie gras and a very rare steak only to see her shown over to sit next to him. He tells it well, and makes himself the butt of the joke. At least he can laugh at himself, unlike CH.

  11. The two most unlikeable people I have ever seen on stage are Chrissie Hynde & Ray Davies. It did not surprise me in the slightest when I found out they had been in a relationship

    • @seanioio

      When they arrived at the Register Office for their first attempt at splicing the knot, H and D were squabbling so loudly and unpleasantly, the chap who was supposed to marry them had to send them home

  12. New Years Eve 1996. I’m at a fairly busy house party in Balham, sitting on the staircase drinking a Holsten Pils. Ding dong! The doorbell rings. A guest opens the door and two middle aged women are stood there. No word of lie, one of the women with heavy black eyeliner was in a black tassle sleeved leather jacket/ puffy white shirt, red neckerchief combo and wearing a top hat. I whispered to my friend, “That’s Chrissie Hynde.” She immediately glared at at me and muttered, “We’re going. NOW” and they did a 180 degrees turn and left. What was she expecting? It would’ve been like Adam Ant rocking up with a bottle of Blue Nun, dressed as an 18th Century highwayman and getting pissed off that somebody recognised him.

  13. Christmas 1987. I’m at a house party in fellow upper-sixth-former Elaine’s parents’ house, I’m the nominated driver, and have taken charge of the kitchen stereo. My tape of “Pretenders: The Singles” is on as I’m chatting with lower-sixth-former Nick, who is drinking cans of Barley Wine.

    My Baby ends and, just as UB40’s version of I Got You Babe begins, Nick projectile vomits onto the kitchen worktop, floor, and my shoes.

  14. Just to clarify on this – I have most of her albums and enjoyed her autobiography. I was looking forward to this gig but her attitude really pissed me off. That and the fact that the 3 opening new numbers sounded pretty bad.
    Glad I made this decision to leave as Alison Russell was fantastic .

    • Always a bad day when our heroes turn out to have feet of clay – at least she’s just a grumpy old vegan, rather than something immoral and/or illegal.

      As for the new stuff not being as good as the old stuff – well, look where you’re posting.

      “Play some old!!” 🙂

      • ‘Look when you’re posting’?
        Don’t understand what you are saying.

        I left and want to watch Alison Russell – didn’t know any of her stuff but it was all great. I have no problem with new – I do have a problem with mediocre.

        • Apologies, Steve – sideways comment on how the denizens of this site [including me] often [but not always] prefer a bit of old as opposed to new – hence, look WHERE you’re posting, ie on this site. Attempt at humour – failed miserably.

          Anyway, no more grumbling on from me – carry on, sir!

  16. 1982, I’m on a train [either to, or from Liverpool – I can’t remember which] sitting opposite Chrissie Hynde. She was perfectly pleasant, sorry.
    The Glastonbury set was bloody good

  17. The more important question though is what is the correct name of the band – is it Pretenders or The Pretenders ?

    (This is critically important for those of us that have our music stored digitally).

    On most albums it’s just “Pretenders” but on Learning To Crawl and Get Close its “The Pretenders”. Can it be so difficult to maintain consistency ?

  18. I always refer to them as Pretenders. It has become somewhat of a moveable feast.

    See also: (The) Pet Shop Boys. They were very insistent at the beginning that there was no definitive article, mostly for aesthetic reasons, but nowadays Neil always introduces them as ‘the Pet Shop Boys’ in live performances.

    • That’s the paradox at the heart of it. In a resolutely imperfect world it’s hard to get upset about punters chucking the “the” prefix on any name, however jarring.
      But one’s inner pedant demands consistency from the artist – that there is a definitive name (especially when a dynamic name which made sense – “Smashing Pumpkins”, “Pogue Mahone” is diminished by the definite article). Alas, what goes on the cover is the prerogative of the artist.
      And, as we know, their minds are basically mashed potatoes because of their prodigious appetite for drugs..

      • Small Faces, and later Faces – no “The”
        But … there is a compilation titled Changing Faces – The Very Best of Rod Stewart and The Faces. Annoys me every time I see it
        (forgiven everytime I hear it)

      • Indeed, but given that they refer to themselves (in the main) as “Pretenders”, it’s probably acceptable to call them the Pretenders, with the “the” in lower case, as it’s not technically part of the band name. Sounds a bit less clunky than just “Pretenders”.

        See also Eagles / The Eagles / the Eagles……

        • The Marmalade started calling themselves Marmalade for counterculture cred. And the Grateful Dead are always referred to as the Grateful Dead (not in your house because you are a the Depeche Mode fan) but the the is missing on their records. Like subscribe.

  19. Wasn’t it the now departed James Blast who always referred to The Yes? I don’t know how this started, possibly a deliberate misreading of The Yes Album. For some reason, always funny. It made them sound as thought they toured the clubs and Butlins, rather than sailed boldly on Topographic Oceans.

  20. I have a lot of love for The Pretenders, mainly the first 3 albums though. I did a mix on my radio show and sent it to Chrissie via socials but she never got back to me, I thought it would be right up her street, it was quite cheeky though…

        • @fitterstoke not sure bitter is the right word. Don’t know how you would describe a committed fan. I am not committed in the way I am to say Wilco, Elvis Costello or Richard Thompson for example. However I have 6 of her albums, have read and liked her autobiography. I even like breaking up the concrete which is not an album from her purple period.
          I just thought she was incredibly rude. Will it stop me liking or listening to the albums I have?No.

        • A couple of years ago, she personally curated Pretenders I & II box sets. She can’t be that averse to the old stuff.

          That band was superb, the combination of Hynde and Honeyman-Scott the catalyst for its chemistry. I wrote a review if you care to search for Pretenders (just one typo, I think. I concluded with a quite from Hynde herself when the band was inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame:

          “I know that The Pretenders have looked like a tribute band for the last twenty years… And we’re paying tribute to James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon, without whom we wouldn’t be here. And on the other hand, without us, they might have been here, but that’s the way it works in rock ‘n’ roll.”

          She knows her limitations.

  21. An act makes great records when they are young. It’s a young person’s game in the main. They had their imperial phase. We should be thankful and overlook the cranky moment and lesser performance. These people are old. Mostly we are not going to get what they came up with in their prime. But that’s OK, they’ve done enough. More than enough.

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