''Pretenders'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by British-American band

The Pretenders Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Fa ...

, released in 1979. A combination of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

new wave music New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. La ...

, this album made the band famous. The album features the singles "

Stop Your Sobbing "Stop Your Sobbing" is a song written by Ray Davies for the Kinks' debut album, ''Kinks''. It was later covered by the Pretenders as their first single. Background The Kinks recorded "Stop Your Sobbing" on ''Kinks'', which was rushed out in or ...

", "

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" and "

Brass in Pocket "Brass In Pocket (I'm Special)" is a song by English–American rock band the Pretenders, released in 1979 as the third single from their self-titled debut album. It was written by Chrissie Hynde and James Honeyman-Scott, and produced by Chris ...

Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and New wave music, new wave,Chris Thomas took over on the subsequent recording sessions.

Release

''Pretenders'' debuted at number one on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

in the week of its release and stayed there for four consecutive weeks. It also made the top 10 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and was certified platinum during 1982 by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. ''Pretenders'' was remastered and re-released in 2006 and included a bonus disc of demos, B-sides and live cuts, many previously unreleased. "Cuban Slide" and "Porcelain" originally appeared as B-sides to "Talk of the Town" and "Message of Love", while "Swinging London" and "Nervous But Shy" both appeared on the flip side of "Brass in Pocket". The Regents Park demo of "Stop Your Sobbing" was included initially as a flexi-single in the May 1981 edition of ''

Flexipop ''Flexipop'' (stylized as ''Flexipop!'') was a British pop music magazine that ran from 1980 to 1983, which featured a flexidisc in each issue. The magazine was launched in 1980 by ex-''Record Mirror'' journalists Barry Cain and Tim Lott. One of ...

'' magazine. The tracks "Message of Love", "Talk of the Town", "Porcelain" and "Cuban Slide" alongside a live version of the album's opening track, "Precious", were released on a follow-up EP entitled ''

Extended Play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

'' soon after. ''Pretenders'' was also reissued in 2009 by Audio Fidelity as a limited-edition audiophile gold CD, using the original master tapes. However, this remaster suffered from unauthorized, heavy

limiting In electronics, a limiter is a circuit that allows signals below a specified input power or level to pass unaffected while attenuating (lowering) the peaks of stronger signals that exceed this threshold. Limiting is a type of dynamic range comp ...

supposedly applied ''after'' engineer Steve Hoffman's digital master was created and approved for CD manufacturing. The song "The Phone Call" is missing some of the telephone effects on this release because the effects were "flown in" after the master was completed for the song and, as a result, were not on the original master tape. There were no bonus tracks included. A shortened version of "Tequila" would be performed nearly 15 years later on the '' Last of the Independents''. "

Sabre Dance "Sabre Dance", ''Suserov par''; russian: Танец с саблями, ''Tanets s sablyami'' is a Movement (music), movement in the final act of Aram Khachaturian's ballet ''Gayane (ballet), Gayane'' (1942), where the Ballet dancer, dancers dis ...

" features Chrissie Hynde singing portions of "Stop Your Sobbing" over lengthy solos by

James Honeyman-Scott James Honeyman-Scott (4 November 1956 – 16 June 1982) was an English rock guitarist, songwriter and founding member of the band The Pretenders. With the band, Honeyman-Scott established a reputation, in the words of AllMusic, as "one of th ...

and

Martin Chambers Martin Dale Chambers (born 4 September 1951 in Hereford) is an English musician, who is best known as a founding member and drummer of the rock band the Pretenders. In addition to playing the drums with the group, Chambers sings backing vocals ...

' insistent drumming, making it a truly unique version. A cover version of "Brass in Pocket" and the master version of "Precious" are available as downloadable content for '' Rock Band''. Another deluxe edition of the album, curated by Hynde, was released on 5 November 2021 and features the original album remastered by Chris Thomas, alongside demos, rarities, and many live performances. These include

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sessions on ''The Kid Jensen Show'', and performances at The Paris Theatre in London and Paradise Theater in Boston.

Critical reception

In 1989, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' ranked ''Pretenders'' the 20th best album of the 1980s. In 2012, ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' listed ''Pretenders'' at number 64 on its list of the best albums of the 1980s. ''Pretenders'' has been named one of the best albums of all time by VH1 (#52). In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked the album at number 155 on its list of

the 500 greatest albums of all time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...

, with ''Pretenders'' maintaining the rating in the 2012 revised list, and moving up to number 152 on the 2020 revision. In 2020, ''

'' included the band's debut album in their "80 Greatest albums of 1980" list. ''Ultimate Classic Rock'' critic Bryan Wawzenek rated "Precious", "Kid", "Tattooed Love Boys" and "Brass in Pocket" as being among drummer Martin Chambers' top 10 Pretenders songs.

Track listing

Song notes

*"This is one of the most astonishing debut albums in the history of music," enthused author

Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, DC, he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, gr ...

. "On songs like 'Tattooed Love Boys', you're wondering, Who is Chrissie singing about when she says, 'I shot my mouth off and you showed me what that hole was for?' That was just one of those obsessive-listening records for me." In her autobiography, Hynde confirms she is singing about herself and her own personal experience. *"Tattooed Love Boys" is a playable track in the

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and

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video game ''

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''. Its guitar solo is a homage to

's heroes. "I liked the guitar solo in 'Tattooed Love Boys'," Hynde recalled. "I love Jimmy Scott's playing."'' Select'', July 1990 *"Space Invader" is an instrumental containing sound effects from the 1978 arcade game ''

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''. It also appeared in the film '' Cheech and Chong's Next Movie'' and the television series ''

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'' and ''

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''. **Game developer

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cited the song as her introduction to video games, stating it inspired her to play the original arcade game ''Space Invaders'' and then join

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

, where she developed the 1980 arcade game ''

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, on her album ''

Warm Leatherette "Warm Leatherette" is a song by Daniel Miller's project the Normal, released in 1978. The Normal original Overview The lyrics of "Warm Leatherette" reference J. G. Ballard's controversial 1973 novel ''Crash'', which had heavily influenced Dani ...

''. *"Mystery Achievement" is featured in the closing montage in the final episode of the second season of the

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show '' The Deuce'', season 2, episode 9, "Inside the Pretend".

Personnel

The Pretenders * Chrissie Hynde – lead vocals, rhythm guitars, backing vocals (except CD1, track 5) *

– drums, percussion, backing vocals *

Pete Farndon Peter Granville Farndon (12 June 1952 – 14 April 1983) was an English bassist and founding member of the rock band the Pretenders. In addition to playing bass with the group, Farndon sang backup vocals and co-wrote two of the group's songs ( ...

– bass guitar, backing vocals *

– lead and rhythm guitars, keyboards, backing vocals Additional musicians *Fred Berk – bass guitar on CD2, track 3 *Geoff Bryant – French horn *

Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and New wave music, new wave,Henry Lowther – trumpet *Gerry Mackelduff – drums on CD1, track 7 and CD2, tracks 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 *Chris Mercer – saxophone *

Nigel Pegrum Nigel John Pegrum (born 22 January 1949) is a music producer and former drummer, most known for playing on many albums by Steeleye Span. Biography Nigel Pegrum played drums with an early line-up of the Small Faces, then with Lee Grant And The ...

– drums on CD2, track 3 * Chris Thomas – keyboards, sound effects, production *Jim Wilson – trumpet Technical * Bill Price – engineer *Kevin Hughes – design *Chalkie Davies – front cover photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control The Pretenders albums 1979 debut albums Albums produced by Chris Thomas (record producer) Albums produced by Nick Lowe Sire Records albums