Although I loved the anti-establishment nature of rock & roll – that’s why I got into it, because I didn’t want to be part of the establishment. People did think I was the character in the song but I was not, really. I shouldn’t be saying all this negative stuff because if people hear me saying all this negative stuff, they’ll start to believe it too. I was kind of a new singer, and listening to my voice made me kind of cringe.

That’s how I did it with him a few times.īut now I like that song because it’s one of those songs that served me well. He was playing that in the studio and I thought, “ Wow, that’s awesome.” And I just happened to have a little tape recorder and I taped it. I thought it sounded like it was trying to be a Motown song, but it didn’t quite get it. I didn’t like it because I didn’t think it knew what it was. I said that would go out over my dead body.That was my famous quote. Here, in her own words, is Chrissie on “Brass In Pocket.”Ĭhrissie Hynde: I did not like it at first. So when given the opportunity to go to the source – Chrissie Hynde, interviewed for this magazine – we asked about the meaning and history of this song. Never reaching the top of the charts in America (it went to 14), it was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in January 1980, which gave it the distinction of being the first number-one single of the 1980s. “Brass” was the band’s third single, but their first hit. It was featured on their debut album, The Pretenders, which also had “Kid” and “Stop Your Sobbing.” Written by Chrissie to a riff played by her late-great guitarist-friend-co-writer James Honeyman-Scott which she recorded, it was produced by Chris Thomas and released as a single in November, 1979. It became a hit despite its enigmatic title, one which few on this side of the Atlantic, oblivious to the meaning of Cockney rhyming slang to this day, ever understood.īut so great is the song, the performance, the guitars, the groove, the visceral vibe and her attitude, that didn’t matter.

It’s a beloved rock standard, a radio hit which resonated in the season of its creation and persists powerfully through the decades. All rights reserved.Chrissie Hynde on the meaning and origins of this rock classic she wrote with the late James Honeyman-Scott I know I shouldn’t name drop, but in the words of Neil Young ‘she’ll be rocking till she drops.'”Ĭopyright © 2022, ABC Audio. She added, “I guess I just can’t help it. Hynde explained that the project “started out as more of a Valve Bone Woe sort of thing” - referring to her jazz-influenced 2019 solo album - “but morphed into a rock thing.” The Pretenders currently have no tour dates scheduled, although Hynde has been announced as one of the performers at the Foo Fighters-headlined star-studded tribute concert to late Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins that will take place September 3 in London.Īlso, Hynde announced in a Facebook post last month that The Pretenders had finished recording a new album. Hynde also sung the praises of and shared a video clip of a hard-rocking new song by longtime Pretenders guitarist James Walbourne‘s current project, His Lordship‘s “All Cranked Up.” She added, “If anyone wants to come and see me in the future it’s going to be punk rock/no hits.” (I was just too scared to go back to waitressing.) But those greatest hits/ballads days are now behind me.” And yes, I know that’s no reason to be in a rock band. I never wanted to go there in the first place but was trying to keep myself alive and pay the bills. In a Facebook message posted Friday, Hynde revealed she had some “good news,” writing, “I’m completely dumping any sort of Greatest Hits set for now on. If you’re a Pretenders fan, here’s some potentially disappointing news: Frontwoman Chrissie Hynde says she no longer plans to play concerts that focus on her band’s best-known tunes.

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