Song:Back On The Chain Gang
Album:The Singles
The 1983 top five hit Back On The Chain Gang was the biggest hit for The Pretenders. This is despite the fact that two members of the band died just before it was recorded. At the time, many were surprised that lead singer and songwriter Chrissie Hynde chose to continue The Pretenders. She was born Sept. 7, 1951 in Akron, OH and moved to England in 1973. After several attempts to start bands with among others Mick Jones of The Clash and she was in an early version of The Damned, she started The Pretenders with guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, bassist Pete Farndon and drummer Martin Chambers. Nick Lowe heard their demo and he produced their early music. The Pretenders signed with Sire Records. They had chart success in England and the US and were critically acclaimed as one of the best new wave bands. Having a female lead singer and songwriter was unusual at the time and was a big selling point of the band. Meanwhile Chrissie started a relationship with Ray Davies of The Kinks and they had a daughter. Later on she would marry Jim Kerr of Simple Minds. Though The Pretenders music was successful, they were having problems and Farndon was fired for drug abuse on June 14, 1982. Then on June 16, 1982, Honeyman-Scott died due to drug problems and then Farndon died of a drug overdose Apr. 14, 1983. The band kept going and Rockpile guitarist Billy Bremner and Big Country bassist Tony Butler joined to record Back In The Chain Gang. It reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. It was on the soundtrack of the 1983 film King Of Comedy and was added to the 1984 album Learning To Crawl. Guitarist Robbie McIntosh and bassist Malcolm Fraser joined for that album. Over the years their have been many members of The Pretenders and Chrissie Hynde and Martin Chambers still lead them today. They last recorded in 2008 and this Singles CD is a good intro to their music. Here's the video for Back In The Chain Gang by The Pretenders.
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