DESCRIPTION:
Good quality recorded at Christmas time 1983 from Top Of The Pops 1983.
The Pretenders are an English-American rock band formed in Hereford, England in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion). The band has experienced drug-related deaths of the members, and numerous subsequent personnel changes have taken place over the years, with Hynde as the sole continual member.
Original band (1978--1982)
The band's first single, a cover of The Kinks song "Stop Your Sobbing", produced by Nick Lowe, was released in January 1979 and gained critical attention. It was followed in June with "Kid," and then in November the band got to No.1 in the UK with "Brass in Pocket," which was also successful in the US, reaching No.14 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The debut album Pretenders was released during January 1980, and was a success in both the United Kingdom and the United States, both critically and commercially.[1] (Pretenders was subsequently named one of the best albums of all time by VH1 (#52) and Rolling Stone (#155). The band played at the Heatwave festival during August 1980 near Toronto.

During March 1981 the EP Extended Play was released, containing the UK and US success "Message of Love" and "Talk of the Town" and a live version of "Precious," recorded in Central Park.

The second full-length album, Pretenders II, was released during August 1981. Pretenders II included the Extended Play singles, the MTV video success, "Day After Day," and popular album-radio tracks "The Adultress," "Birds of Paradise," "Bad Boys Get Spanked" and "The English Roses".

Farndon was fired 14 June 1982 by Hynde. Two days later, on 16 June 1982, James Honeyman-Scott died of heart failure as a result of cocaine intolerance. Farndon was in the midst of forming a new band with former Clash drummer Topper Headon (who coincidentally, was battling heroin addiction and left the band, unable to cope), when he was found dead on 14 April 1983 by his American wife, Conover. After taking heroin and passing out, Farndon drowned in his bathtub, leaving the Pretenders with two living members.
Re-grouping (1983--1987)
Hynde continued with the band. During July 1982, just weeks after Honeyman-Scott's death, a caretaker team of Hynde, Chambers, Rockpile guitarist Billy Bremner and Big Country bassist Tony Butler was assembled to record the single "Back on the Chain Gang". The song was released in October, becoming their biggest success in the US, staying at #5 for three consecutive weeks. The single's B-side, "My City Was Gone" is now the theme music for The Rush Limbaugh Show.

Hynde then changed the lineup, keeping Chambers and adding professional musicians Robbie McIntosh on guitar and Malcolm Foster on bass. The band's first album with this lineup, Learning to Crawl, was released during January 1984.

"Middle of the Road" was this line-up's first single, released in the US in November 1983 and reached the Top 20 there. Hynde had a daughter with Ray Davies during January 1983. The US B-side, "2000 Miles", was released as a single in the UK. The album included a cover version of The Persuaders' "Thin Line Between Love and Hate", which featured Paul Carrack on keyboards. The 1985 Live Aid concert proved to be the last gig for this line-up.

Soon after recording sessions for the next album began and one track had been completed, Hynde declared that Chambers was no longer playing well and dismissed both him and Foster. The revised Pretenders team became Hynde, McIntosh, bassist T.M. Stevens, and ex-Haircut 100 drummer Blair Cunningham. Get Close was released in 1986; the disc included the Top 10 singles "Don't Get Me Wrong" (helped by a popular video homage to the television series The Avengers) and "Hymn to Her" a No.8 success in the UK.

Two new songs, "If There Was a Man" and "Where Has Everybody Gone?" were released on the soundtrack of the Bond film The Living Daylights, and were used instrumentally by John Barry in several scenes.

The lineup for the Get Close tour was then expanded to include former P-Funk and Talking Heads keyboardist Bernie Worrell. Two players were dismissed, McIntosh eventually quit, and ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr joined for a final brief period during 1987.
On February 5, 2011, Hynde and the Pretenders performed live on CMT's "Crossroads (VH1 TV series)" with Faith Hill and her band, including songs from both catalogs.
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