Essential Classics
Pretenders
REAL, 1980
Conflating punk, new wave and terse rock‘n’roll into a unifying whole, the band’s debut drips with attitude and audacity, from the racing opening chords of Precious to enigmatic closer Mystery Achievement. Prior singles Kid and Stop Your Sobbing (a Kinks song produced by Nick Lowe, although Chris Thomas took over for production for the album) had hinted at The Pretenders’ potential, but few were prepared for the strutting brilliance of tracks like Tattooed Love Boys or Brass In Pocket, the latter a mega-hit that made them international stars. Grace Jones quickly covered Private Life, which Hynde said was “one of the high points of my career”.