Pretenders- Learning to Crawl- Chrissie Hynde

In order to make January 1984’s Learning to Crawl, the gritty resolve and sheer strength of will exhibited by the Anglo-American band The Pretenders was truly sobering. You see, after two highly-acclaimed full albums plus an EP, the Pretenders led by American singer/co-writer Chrissie Hynde, had fired their bass player because of drug abuse, only to have their young gifted guitarist/co-writer Jimmy Honeyman-Scott overdose and die two days later.

And then there were two, a lead singer and a drummer. And the singer was pregnant. “I wasn’t in the most rock mode,” Chrissie Hynde deadpanned to me sardonically.

American ex-pat Chrissie Hynde pulls no punches with the life-and-death story, times two, behind one of the Eighties’ great comeback albums Learning to Crawl  in this particularly tough yet tender classic rock interview about the January 1984 Pretenders effort, which includes “Middle of the Road”,”My City Was Gone”,”Time the Avenger”,”Back on the Chain Gang”, and “Show Me”. – Redbeard