Hey let's poll the Pretenders' Greatest Hits

he played on the album and co-wrote "When Will I See You."

He actually only played on one single and co-wrote "When Will I See You," but he was already in The The and Electronic by the time Packed! came out.

James Honeyman Scott was apparently his biggest influence, though, so it's not surprising that there are similarities in early Pretenders and The Smiths.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmZSuiKu-Nk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9L1SYU93d8

^ here are the songs Marr played with the band.

voted chain gang, glad to have this off my mind.

it was the happiest day of your life?

Voted "Kid" while trying not to look "Talk Of The Town" in the eyes.

"Back on the Chain Gang", love that main riff!

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep05/articles/classictracks.htm

"Then there were the background vocals, the 'oohs' and 'aahs'. Martin Chambers and Tony Butler did these, but at first Chrissie didn't think their efforts were good enough, so she bent over in front of them and wiggled her bum while they were singing. We all fell about laughing, but I have to say it achieved the right results."

Kid, for the unforgettable solo tbh

It's like if John, Paul, and George stitched their "The End" solos together but were asked by George Martin to play three variations on jangle.

oh that's right i'd forgotten that some of big country were on chain gang xps to hunt3r

Thinking about what Honeyman Scott and Chrissie could have accomplished in the rest of the 80s makes me sad.

ive relistened to chain gang like 10 times now it's still magic for me.

i remember not liking it when it first hit the radio, i thought the oooh ahhs were so cheesy, and pigeons from hell were ...wtf is that about?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

No love for 2,000 Miles or Hymn To Her :(

But good work people all the same

kudos to whoever voted for "Night in My Veins.

me! (and i can't believe i'm the only one......)

ha! who voted the UB40 collab??

i don't have any massive beef w/UB40 tbh, but still

"Those were the happiest days of my life" - nobody has ever delivered this line more heart-breakingly

^ TRUTH

I could totally see some shit artist piano player covering Hymn to Her and scoring a massive massive Radio 2 friendly hit.

What's difficults about Pretenders is that there is some universe in which "2000 Miles" is the greatest song of all time, instead of pulling zero votes against one of the toughest starting fields in existence.

uh, nice typo

sucks to be just brilliant when amazing exists

my top twenty-five

"Mystery Achievement" FTW!

WHERE'S MY SANDY BEACH

OTM both for Mystery Achievement at #1 and for Chrissie Hynde being awesome vocalist.

ILX correct for once

i love this band so much -- hearing almost any of their singles or really anything from the debut never fails to cheer me up.

I may have said this before, but the transition from the middle 8 back to the verse in Chain Gang is one of the finest moments in all of pop music

There was a BBC4 documentary about Chrissie the other night. It badly needed some editing, but it really came alive when she jammed with some rockabillies in her local pub. If anything, her voice has gained in power over the years.

Yes. Mystery Achievement and Up the Neck are the two best Pretenders songs.

Does anybody else really like her single from a few years back, Dark Sunglasses? I thought that was her best song in many many years but it seems like nobody heard it.

Ooh would love to see that BBC doc!

It badly needed some editing

I'm sad to say I switched off after ten minutes of not much happening - will try again.

You didn't miss much, it was a flabby mess, with too much Sandra Bernhard for a start. The performance bits were great though

It was a bit of a disappointment and a missed opportunity overall. Tough there were some interesting bits like the performances and also her paintings.

I enjoyed her autobiography a lot, especially when it sped up after she leaves Kent State University. Her descriptions of arriving and living in London show her strong visual side.

She has such a great way with melody, which is what I think helped "Dark Sunglasses." I think "Boots of Chinese Plastic" was more "Pretenders-y," though, which I guess makes sense, since "Sunglasses" was from her solo album, whatever difference the distinction makes, since "Break Up the Concrete" doesn't even feature Martin Chambers.