Hey let's poll the Pretenders' Greatest Hits

What kind of sadist would make us choose?

It is actually completely impossible

Damn, this is pretty hard. Have to think (and listen) for a while.

Some of my favourite songs ever are here, but I'll go with "Back on the Chain Gang" this time since so much Pretenders love seems to focus solely (though not incorrectly) on the first album. But really, it's more like a ten-way tie for first place.

Where's "Show Me"? Top 30 hit in the US, and would've been my pick.

guess i'll default to "Night In My Veins" then....

uh, maybe 'don't get me wrong'... as i mentioned a few times now, get close was a big album in my childhood.

was 'precious' not a hit? love that.

Precious was not a hit. In fact if it was a single in the UK, then it was a massive flop, especially as it would have been the follow-up to a number one.

Where's "Show Me"? Top 30 hit in the US, and would've been my pick.

Eight singles released off Learning to Crawl apparently and Show Me was only the sixth of those.

Too bad none of these songs are called "Mystery Achievement." Then it would be easy. As it is, "Talk of the Town" or "Kid" or "Don't Get Me Wrong."

At least six of the most amazing songs ever on here and you crummy bastards are moaning about what's missing

joeks btw

I'm glad there's a pulse! Every time I've polled these guys the enthusiasm has been...muted.

Anyway, the first album is in my top five. Chrissie Hynde is my favorite singer and one of my favorite rhythm guitarists. Get Close is her only average album between 1980 and 2002 (but "I'll Stand By You" is gross). I voted for "Middle of the Road," but it could have been "Kid," "Night in My Veins" (feels good, it's alright), "Talk of the Town," "Don't Get Me Wrong," or "Popstar."

Hell, every song.

message of love, mystery achievement and talk of the town kill, but i think its chain gang or ... damn this is hard.

Get Close has a few clunkers on it, sure, but a lesser album than packed or Loose Screw? No way!

Kid and Back On The Chain Gang are two of my 50 favourite songs ever. Not sure which one to choose yet.

packed has "Sense of Purpose," "Never Do That," "Let's Make a Pact," "How Do I Miss You" and no songs named "Dance!" and "How Much Did You Get For Your Soul"

speaking of GC, it's got my favorite lesser known album track: "Chill Factor." Boy, does she nail it.

I like HMDYGFYS, but not Dance! which is shite.

Hymn to Her is very sweet and sort of a proper "grown up" song.

packed is not without its strengths ("Sense of Purpose" chiefly among them) but on the whole it mostly bores me. But I can't exactly argue that the few lows on GC are undeniably lower.

Gonna go out on a limb here and say Brass In Pocket because it's just perfect.

A number of them seem just perfect.

Brass In Pocket
Don't Get Me Wrong
Talk Of The Town
Stop Your Sobbing
Hymn To Her
Back On The Chain Gang

..all pretty much unfuckable with

"Talk of the Town" v. "Chain Gang" is impossible for me. Flipped a coin: "Talk of the Town."

"Back on the Chain Gang" has my favorite bridge ever

"Middle of the Road"

common laborer by night, by day highbrow

I've got a mash up of five or six of these songs playing on repeat in my skull now, probably for the rest of the evening.

I'll probably vote for Don't Get Me Wrong.

"Message of Love," because that arrangement is pure infectious genius.

just like
BRIGITTE BARDOT!

That song has never failed to totally neutralize any ongoing bad mood.

it's more like a ten-way tie for first place.

this. but Brass In Pocket, if I have to.

listening to this collection now is one of the better things to happen this week

I've been going on a bit of a YouTube jag for the last half hour. Brilliantly crafted songs.

Haven't heard a few of them since I was a kid I don't think.

i've always loved that "message of love" has a chorus that isn't repeated. the same music shows up a second time as the song's coda/outro, but without vocals save for the "talk to me darling" vamping as it's fading out.

i could easily vote for half the songs here, but especially "message" along with "brass in pocket," "kid" and "stop your sobbing."

whoa at disc 2 of pirate radio on stream. i don't know "tradition of love" but i'll need to listen to that more closely again later.

"Hymn to Her" is gorgeous, ain't it?

yes

I find it almost unbearably moving without having much of a clue as to what it's actually about.

Keep beckoning to me
From behind that closed door
The maid and the mother
And the crone that's grown old

I hear your voice
Coming out of that hole
I listen to you
And I want some more
I listen to you
And I want some more

"Hymn to Her"? It's a conflation of motherly/sisterly and lesbian love.

Oh kay

I know it's a very basic musical move, but the one thing about Chrissie's voice that totally kills me is when she spreads a word at the end of a line over two or three notes ending up on the root note of the chord in that low register she has. And she does that all the damn time and I should be tired of it but no, not at all.

what is the hole?

It is a mystery!

Anyhow, this greatest hits is not perfect is it? A few clunkers perhaps, I could certainly live without the UB40 stuff.

"Kid" forever and for always.

Album wasn't on Spotify afaict so I made a playlist for it:
http://open.spotify.com/user/lumpygravy/playlist/2sMVIv4rXG1oLTJKXLuGpZ

What the hell is this Spiritual High garbage?

Not as good as the Donna Summer version of that song, that's for sure

"Back on the Chain Gang" has my favorite bridge ever

― rip van wanko, Thursday, November 14, 2013 4:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

YES! It has

I was gonna vote "Day after Day"

but.

"Brass In Pocket" is like one of the greatest songs of all time, so that.

goddamn it I may listen to Pretenders tonight

In the absence of "Tattooed Love Boys" and "Mystery Achievement," it's "Talk of the Town."

i don't know "tradition of love" but i'll need to listen to that more closely again later.

That is the absolute hidden gem on Get Close.

the synths are gunky but her bending notes is as thing of wonder (lo-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ooove)

Talk Of The Town

is her vibrato rated by actual singers? because it sounds so unusually slow and controlled to me.

god i love her voice, vulnerable or bulletproof and authoritative, whenever or however it suits her.

talk of the town one of the greatest songs ever written by anyone

^^^^ especially the unexpected "I want you-uh-HOOOO" in the last verse

"Night in My Veins" is one of the greatest late-career songs ever (or what I think of as late career -- I realize we are now farther away from "Night in My Veins" than "Night in My Veins" was from "Brass in Pocket"). But I'm still going to vote "Message of Love."

"Night in My Veins" was my first new Pretenders song, and it lived up to whatever idea I'd formed about them.

talk of the town one of the greatest songs ever written by anyone

yeah, I can't express how much I love this song. Once in a while I forget how good it is, then hear it again and get bowled over by Hynde's singing or the guitars or lines like "You arrived like a day/and passed like a cloud"

"Chain Gang" is my automatic answer and i'm comfortable with it.

Love "Chain Gang." Would also consider "Don't Get Me Wrong" and even "Middle of the Road." "Kid" is kind of a masterpiece, too.

"You arrived like a day/and passed like a cloud"

"I made a weesh"

"ahnd said it ow-loud"

"don't get me wrong" is the best.

my folks had get close on cassette, i was taken aback years later when i got the cd and discovered that "don't get me wrong" was not the album opener.

Aside from generally perfect pop construction and emotional connection, I have noticed that many of the Pretenders peaks have immaculate bridges.

folks had get close on cassette, i was taken aback years later when i got the cd and discovered that "don't get me wrong" was not the album opener.

"My Baby" is pretty sweet though.

listening to brass in pocket again and i'm probably the last person on the planet to have this thought but it sounds like it could have been a massive influence on karen o, both in the vocals and maybe the whole persona too?

I think Chrissie Hynde has been a massive influence on almost every singer, but particularly female singers.

ah that might be a bit too broad a statement

this is tough. "Don't Get Me Wrong" narrowly over "Back On The Chain Gang," "Middle of the Road," "Night In My Veins," etc.

xpost Hyperbole for sure, but her influence is pervasive nonetheless. I'd say she's influenced at least ... 321 singers.

Where's the write in option for Tattooed Love Boys?

stop snifflin'!

Fuck it, I'm going for 'Kid'. Such an incredibly hurt, but simultaneously beutifully gentle song.

I never liked "Don't Get Me Wrong." After the onslaught/radio saturation of the Learning To Crawl singles, and eagerly waiting to hear what they'd come up with next, this twee, gently jaunty romp was a huge disappointment.

(Not that when they rocked out in '86 it was much better, cf "Room Full Of Mirrors")

So, "Middle Of The Road."

yeah I gotta admit I'm surprised by the affection for "Don't Get Me Wrong," although I think it's perfect.

I'll be the voice of dissent there -- Ive never warmed up to "Don't Get Me Wrong." I won't go quite as far as saying I hate it.

"Don't Get Me Wrong" is actually their 2nd most popular track on Spotify (also their 5th, which if you added them together would put it at #1 ahead of "I'll Stand By You").

if you asked me how many rock singers since Chrissie Hynde have been influenced by her i'd sooner say "not nearly enough" than "all of them"

tbh i probably don't listen to the right kind of music most of the time to notice her influence. i mentioned karen o already but who would be some other singers that have an obvious chrissie h influence?

as for don't get me wrong, i'm not a big fan of the twinkly keyboard bits, but that guitar riff is maddeningly catchy and her voice just floats over the top of it in such a glorious way. and yes - that bridge again... all sounds so effortless

I find that the singer from the Dum Dum Girls does a great Chrissie.

i'm not sure if it's that karen o has been influenced by chrissie hynde or that their voices just happen to have the exact same timbre. or maybe it's both. either way, "ma

...either way, "maps" would easily fit on this very greatest-hits album that we're discussing.

Karen O. reminds me of the They Might Be Giants lyric "do you sing like Olive Oyl on purpose? you guys must be into the Eurythmics!"

Keep thinking I might should have voted for "Middle of The Road"

She's still sui generis as a vocalist. Forget the women -- more men should try her stylings.

I saw them in 2006, opening for the Who. Her voice hadn't changed at all since 1980. It was eerie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXKXBsZv3r4

This should be on here..

2000 Miles is that song one where I looked at the title and thought um whut? and then i played it and was instantly all OH SHIT IT'S THIS ONE! I LOVE THIS ONE!

I suppose Katrina & the Waves were quite Pretenders-y, and Walking On Sunshine isn't too dissimilar to Don't Get Me Wrong in that insistent nagging guitar thing, but then again it came out the year before it iirc.

It's also a bit shit too of course.

Ken Stringfellow writes in the notes for the Posies box set from 2000 about how much he loves Chrissie Hynde, and how she was supposed to come see the Posies play one time. He says he wanted the Pretenders to cover 'Pay You back In Time', and I reckon it would've sounded awesome.

Too bad none of these songs are called "Mystery Achievement." Then it would be easy. As it is, "Talk of the Town" or "Kid" or "Don't Get Me Wrong."

― Ian from Etobicoke (Phil D.), Thursday, November 14, 2013 9:20 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM

2000 Miles is that song one where I looked at the title and thought um whut? and then i played it and was instantly all OH SHIT IT'S THIS ONE! I LOVE THIS ONE!

― but my heart is full of woah (NickB), Sunday, 17 November 2013

was wondering when some love for that would pop up here, was seriously considering voting for it but there are at least half a dozen other ones I must consider as well

Polly Harvey and Shirley Manson are two that come to mind as influenced by her, the latter overtly. I know Elvis Costello is a big fan, as far as dudes go. But she's so iconic it's hard to point out linear influences.

Shirley Manson asked Hynde's permission to borrow a few lines from "Talk of the Town" for "Special" -- certainly it's Garbage's most Pretenders-like tune.

And of course the "special" parts comes from "Brass in Pocket." It's a two-fer.

Ken Stringfellow writes in the notes for the Posies box set from 2000 about how much he loves Chrissie Hynde, and how she was supposed to come see the Posies play one time. He says he wanted the Pretenders to cover 'Pay You back In Time', and I reckon it would've sounded awesome.

― Vic Arpeggio, Private Investigator (stevie), Sunday, November 17, 2013 3:53 PM (59 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

YESSSS i love "Pay You Back In Time" and that it was written for her, you can totally hear it. always seemed a shame that the Pretenders didn't record it, considering how many covers are on their albums. one of the later albums even has a song written for the Divinyls.

I was trying to find it on youtube to post it here, as it's kind of obscure - turns out its too obscure even for youtube!

yeah it bums me out that that box set isn't on itunes/spotify/etc, need to find the actual discs

The Singles is a more consistent collection than this Greatest Hits, though it misses quite a bit by dating back to the 80s, and it still has that goofy UB40 thing.

1. "Stop Your Sobbing" – 2:37
2. "Kid" – 3:05
3. "Brass in Pocket" – 3:04
4. "Talk of the Town" – 3:12
5. "I Go to Sleep" – 2:55
6. "Day After Day" – 4:01
7. "Message of Love" – 3:24
8. "Back on the Chain Gang" – 3:50
9. "Middle of the Road" – 4:12
10. "2000 Miles" – 3:38
11. "Show Me" – 4:07
12. "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" – 3:39
13. "Don't Get Me Wrong" – 3:48
14. "Hymn to Her" – 4:28
15. "My Baby" – 4:07
16. "I Got You Babe" (performed by UB40 with Chrissie Hynde) – 3:11

ok that day after day vid convinced me that it's my vote, how'd i forget that song?

also how do i unremember any ub40 collabs?

Yeah, Singles was the album I grew up with - though my dad also had Get Close (love My Baby and Hymn To Her in partic)

my dad had learning to crawl (almost definitely one of the last albums he ever bought) and the first one, they were one of a handful of new wave acts that crossed over enough that even my dad owned an album or two by them - the cars, the police, blondie, rick springfield.

My god, Hynde's vocal at the beginning of 2000 Miles! She just kills it.

it is so pleasing to see all this love for chrissie hynde! i guess i didn't realize the degree of affection people had for her/her singing. i realized the other day that everything i ever needed to learn about women wearing ruffle-fronted shirts, i learned from her. also, hometown pride! she is a hero (except for that awful UB40 collab but hey she's human)

there are TWO not great UB40 collabs on here folks - I Got U Babe and Breakfast In Bed

regrettable
still, the line "without some little jerk on my back" has been stuck in my head since i was about 7?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDeHAM93fuc

Hand to god, I swear that I read an interview with Slash from 20 years ago where he tells this same story, but about the first Pretenders album.

My big awakening happened when I was 14. I'd been trying to get into this older girl's pants for a while, and she finally let me come over to her house. We hung out, smoked some pot and listened to Aerosmith's Rocks. It hit me like a fucking ton of bricks. I sat there listening to it over and over, and totally blew off this girl. I remember riding my bike back to my grandma's house knowing that my life had changed. Now I identified with something."

Slash on his passion for rock music[24]

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I guess they weren't singles, but how are "Precious" and "The Wait" not on this?

I'm going with "Message of Love."

that's why

How do people rate the second album overall? I've always been under the impression it was seen as a disappointing follow up to a classic debut album but listening to it now I think it's not far off the first album. Along with some of their best singles there are some incredible album tracks too like Birds of Paradise, Jealous Dogs and The English Roses.

I've tried -- oh I've tried -- but it's blurry, opaque, shoddily written. Take "The Adultress" -- it's all texture and attitude but it sounds secondhand? It doesn't cohere.

Most days, I prefer it to the 1st album. The first and last tracks are the only weak ones for me, but it's solid otherwise.

It's the classic "2nd album review" syndrome..

I was A/B'ing "Talk of the Town" and "Don't Get Me Wrong" to see which of the two would get my vote and both of them sound like proto-Smiths songs imo

Oh wow, I'd been wondering why I had This Charming Man stuck in my head!

I seem to recall that Johnny Marr was the Pretenders guitarist for one tour (maybe for Packed?)

"Don't Get Me Wrong" is on constant rotation on a Menorcan radio station we used to have on in the car on every family holiday there, so as well as being a legit 10/10 song on its own it also brings back many of the fondest memories I have.

I think Marr was pre-Packed! - he played with the band for a 1987 tour.

he played on the album and co-wrote "When Will I See You."

He actually only played on one single and co-wrote "When Will I See You," but he was already in The The and Electronic by the time Packed! came out.

James Honeyman Scott was apparently his biggest influence, though, so it's not surprising that there are similarities in early Pretenders and The Smiths.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmZSuiKu-Nk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9L1SYU93d8

^ here are the songs Marr played with the band.

voted chain gang, glad to have this off my mind.

it was the happiest day of your life?

Voted "Kid" while trying not to look "Talk Of The Town" in the eyes.

"Back on the Chain Gang", love that main riff!

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep05/articles/classictracks.htm

"Then there were the background vocals, the 'oohs' and 'aahs'. Martin Chambers and Tony Butler did these, but at first Chrissie didn't think their efforts were good enough, so she bent over in front of them and wiggled her bum while they were singing. We all fell about laughing, but I have to say it achieved the right results."

Kid, for the unforgettable solo tbh

It's like if John, Paul, and George stitched their "The End" solos together but were asked by George Martin to play three variations on jangle.

oh that's right i'd forgotten that some of big country were on chain gang xps to hunt3r

Thinking about what Honeyman Scott and Chrissie could have accomplished in the rest of the 80s makes me sad.

ive relistened to chain gang like 10 times now it's still magic for me.

i remember not liking it when it first hit the radio, i thought the oooh ahhs were so cheesy, and pigeons from hell were ...wtf is that about?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

No love for 2,000 Miles or Hymn To Her :(

But good work people all the same

kudos to whoever voted for "Night in My Veins.

me! (and i can't believe i'm the only one......)

ha! who voted the UB40 collab??

i don't have any massive beef w/UB40 tbh, but still

"Those were the happiest days of my life" - nobody has ever delivered this line more heart-breakingly

^ TRUTH

I could totally see some shit artist piano player covering Hymn to Her and scoring a massive massive Radio 2 friendly hit.

What's difficults about Pretenders is that there is some universe in which "2000 Miles" is the greatest song of all time, instead of pulling zero votes against one of the toughest starting fields in existence.

uh, nice typo

sucks to be just brilliant when amazing exists

my top twenty-five

"Mystery Achievement" FTW!

WHERE'S MY SANDY BEACH

OTM both for Mystery Achievement at #1 and for Chrissie Hynde being awesome vocalist.

ILX correct for once

i love this band so much -- hearing almost any of their singles or really anything from the debut never fails to cheer me up.

I may have said this before, but the transition from the middle 8 back to the verse in Chain Gang is one of the finest moments in all of pop music

There was a BBC4 documentary about Chrissie the other night. It badly needed some editing, but it really came alive when she jammed with some rockabillies in her local pub. If anything, her voice has gained in power over the years.

Yes. Mystery Achievement and Up the Neck are the two best Pretenders songs.

Does anybody else really like her single from a few years back, Dark Sunglasses? I thought that was her best song in many many years but it seems like nobody heard it.

Ooh would love to see that BBC doc!

It badly needed some editing

I'm sad to say I switched off after ten minutes of not much happening - will try again.

You didn't miss much, it was a flabby mess, with too much Sandra Bernhard for a start. The performance bits were great though

It was a bit of a disappointment and a missed opportunity overall. Tough there were some interesting bits like the performances and also her paintings.

I enjoyed her autobiography a lot, especially when it sped up after she leaves Kent State University. Her descriptions of arriving and living in London show her strong visual side.

She has such a great way with melody, which is what I think helped "Dark Sunglasses." I think "Boots of Chinese Plastic" was more "Pretenders-y," though, which I guess makes sense, since "Sunglasses" was from her solo album, whatever difference the distinction makes, since "Break Up the Concrete" doesn't even feature Martin Chambers.