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Pretenders
Chrissie Hynde renders impotent those "women in rock" magazine features that appear every now and then. From as far back as the girl group trends of the early 60's and as recently as the onset of groups like Hole, Throwing Muses, and Babes In Toyland, this talk has constantly arisen. Can't we just get over it? Women may not ever have represented a majority in the music business, but when a girl group or a female singer/songwriter does achieve some level of fame, it was almost always because of her talent, not her sex. And when an influx of female artists occasionally rises to the surface, it is not because of a sexual revolution. Neither is it due to the budding of sexual awareness. People don't buy records for the sake of ideology. They buy them because they happen to like the music, pure and simple, and Chrissie Hynde happens to be writing and recording some of the most interesting music that was available.
Few artists carry the burden of survival as heavily or as gracefully as Chrissie Hynde. It’s probably difficult enough being the only creative source in an otherwise all-male band, but when two-thirds of her band died drug-related deaths, a curse seemed to settle over the Pretenders. Dispelling any such impressions, Hynde found replacement musicians and released the tender and inspiring "Back On The Chain Gang". Above and beyond her abilities as a singer/songwriter, she has shown a will to survive not only because she wants to, but because she has the talent and vision to stay the course.
Born and raised in Akron, Ohio, Hynde relocated to England in 1974. There she worked temporarily as a journalist for the British music rag New Musical Express, and started writing songs and trying to establish her persona as an independent-minded crank. She moved back and forth between Paris, America, and England, where she finally settled during the tumultuous early days of punk rock. After a series of false starts, she brought together the three musicians who had the muscle to back her songeriting’s aggressive punch. James Honeyman-Scott, Pete Farndon and Martin Chambers (the only survivor of the three) were all excellent musicians, but the Pretenders were squarely resting on top of the chip that sat on Chrissie Hynde's shoulder. The architecture of this arrangement lent each side additional strength, with Hynde benefiting from fronting a powerful group of subservient men, and the band benefiting from the prestige of backing one of the most distinctive voices in rock and roll.
Although her early writing captured the essence of the punk movement, it also displayed a tuneful compactness that was rarely aligned with such aggressiveness. During the 70's, the best pop singles were nothing more than expurgated album tracks. Hynde wrote songs that were singles first and album tracks second. For anybody who preferred music to be direct and focused, this was a welcome turn of events. "Brass In Pocket" was just such a single. Besides being a memorable song, it overflows with personality and is a remarkable vehicle for Hynde’s sultry vitriol. Music fans who were paying attention were already aware of Hynde's self-righteous nature and her indignant singularity. She could launch an avalanche of venom better than practically anybody, but this made it all the more rewarding when we could eke a glimpse of the gold that lay beneath the granite exterior. "Brass In Pocket" was a brag, but it was a vulnerable and self-comforting one. Since nobody else was gonna say so, her song noted reassuringly that she was special. In the space of a single 45, the women who once sounded like she could zap a fly off of the wall from twenty paces proved herself to be warm-blooded after all.
Hynde's relationship with Ray Davies of the Kinks (a long-time hero of her youth and the author of her first single, "Stop Your Sobbing") seemed to be like something right out of the rock-and-roll fantasy book Rock Dreams. They had a child together, but the pair separated before being wed. Hynde eventually went on to marry (and later divorce) Jim Kerr, the leader of Scottish band Simple Minds.
Displaying more aggression and toughness than any of her female predecessors - including Suzi Quatro, the Wilson sisters (Heart) and Joan Jett and the Runaways – Hynde has a range of expression broad enough to avoid any caricaturing of her as just another ‘tough chick' in rock. She brings complexity and realism to her role, and this in turn frees her from the inherent limitations of being perceived solely as a female rocker.
 
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