Who’s the Real Deal… and Who Are the Pretenders? Our one band per month. Some bands feel like a fixed moment in time. You hear a certain lineup… a certain sound… and in your head, that’s the band forever. Then time moves on. People leave. People pass away. Styles change. And suddenly the question starts creeping in: When does a band stop being the band you fell in love with? That’s the strange space The Pretenders has lived in for decades. For a lot of people, the story starts and ends with Chrissie Hynde. The voice. The attitude. The sharp edges. And to be fair, without her, there probably isn’t a Pretenders story at all. But here’s where things get interesting. Because the magic of early Pretenders wasn’t just one person. It was chemistry. Messy, unpredictable, lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry. Back in the late 70s and early 80s, the original lineup had something dangerous about it. James Honeyman-Scott brought texture and atmosphere that made the songs shimmer without losing th...
Discover rock music’s hidden gems and their untold stories. The songs behind the songs that made bands legendary.