Chrissie Hynde: The toughest chick in town

Let's face it, the Pretenders are a well-known band because of their pop-oriented singles. But that doesn't mean that they write sappy songs or ever did anything just because they thought it would get them airplay ("I'll Stand By You" doesn't count because it's about as good as that type of song gets). Plus, where do you think Sheryl Crowe got the idea for her red leather pants? The Pretenders always did a great job of balancing the raw with the refined in a way that would make Elvis Costello proud, especially on their first three albums.\nPretenders\nTheir 1980 self-titled debut is packed with aggression and sexuality. Hynde rarely relies on profanity or overly distorted guitars to make her point. She concentrates her anger and accomplishes in just a few lines what most few can in a whole song. No one needs to scream lines like "The mid twenty joys, around a heart that's black and blue / Tattooed love boys, I tore my knees getting up to you" from "Tattooed Love Boys" to get the point across. Go back and look at the beginnings of Alanis and compare those songs to "Precious," the opening track. Now tell me who's the toughest chick in town? \nThere are a few "softer" songs, but for the most part even these songs are a lot darker than they appear on the surface. "Kid" is a happy sounding mid-tempo song beautifully sung in the key of C major (the happiest key in the land). The song happens to be a story about a prostitute's kid coming to the realization that his mom is whore. "Mystery Achievement" and "Lovers of Today" can give the chills to anyone with a pulse.\nPretenders II\nFor some reason musicians of the last decade have had more success with their debut albums than their follow-ups creating a trend called the sophomore slump. Back in the good old days, follow-up albums were expected within a year of the previous release and yet bands like the Pretenders managed to put to vinyl another set of twelve bitter tunes that proved the tank of aggression was nowhere near empty. With the rowdy "Message of Love," the catchy melodies of "Talk of the Town" and heartbreakers like "English Roses," Pretenders II ranks among the best records of 1981.\nThe basic differences between this album and the first are the lack of complex rhythmic accents heard on songs like "The Phone Call," and even more explicit lyrics of "The Adultress" and "Bad Boys Get Spanked." Hynde's pictures of love are always painted in black and blue -- it's not simply a gift, it's fought for. This time around, the chosen Kinks' cover song, "I Go To Sleep" is much better. Oh, and did I mention that Chrissie Hynde was actually married to Ray Davies (Kinks frontman) for awhile? Talk about genetic engineering for a rock star.\nLearning to Crawl\nIn my opinion, this 1984 album is clearly weaker than the previous two, but still comes off as pretty tough considering guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon had both recently died of drug overdoses. Aside from the miserable puke pop of "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" and silly twang of "Thumbelina," the album does a good job of veering a little more toward the FM dial. Malcolm Foster and Robbie McIntosh deserve a lot of credit for their work on this album, but come off more as Hynde's backup band (though a damned good one) than the complimentary roles played by Farndon and Scott. \nHynde becomes a little more socially aware here as well, but in a good way. She maintains the bravado of the first two albums, but targets the corporate goons on "My City Was Gone" and makes fun of record companies on "Middle of the Road." "I Hurt You," arguably the best track on the album, proves that Hynde will never give up on the idea that girls can play tough too without recycling the same song on every album. The real surprise is that the softer songs on this disc are truly sweet in more than just a musical sense. "2000 Miles" isn't the expected bitterness disguised as a smile, but it's done with dignity the way any rock ballad should be.\nHynde's music echoes in the music of every great female songwriter from Ani DiFranco to Sarah McLachlin. No one rocked harder or covered as much ground. Now if we can just convince Chrissie, Sting and Bono to quit pretending they're politicians and get back to what they do best....