Pretenders - Pretenders II (35th anniversary)

Today (August 15th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of Pretenders II, the second studio album from the Pretenders. This 1981 record spent nineteen weeks on the US Billboard Album chart where it peaked at the number 10 spot.

For my full review, click here.

For more from the Pretenders, click here.

Pretenders - Pretenders (35th anniversary)

Today (January 19th) marks the thirty fifth anniversary of the 1980 self-titled debut album from the British new-wave band the Pretenders. The record went to number 24 in Norway, number 14 in the Netherlands, number 9 on the US Billboard Album chart (it has a seventy-eight week total run on the chart), number 2 in New Zealand and Sweden, and number 1 in the UK.

For my full review, click here.

Pretenders - Learning to Crawl

Today (January 17th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Learning to Crawl, the third studio album from the Pretenders. This 1984 Platinum seller reached number 38 in Germany, number 30 in Switzerland, number 19 in New Zealand, number 18 in Australia and Norway, number 11 in the UK, number 5 on the US Billboard Album chart, number 4 in Canada, and number 3 in Sweden.

A Very Special Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you, my blog readers. Today (December 25th) also happens to be the fifty-seventh birthday of Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics.

In 1987, the first of what has turned into a sporadic series of A Very Special Christmas albums was released. The series, created by music producer Jimmy Iovine, takes popular music artists of the time and has them sing holiday favorites. The album sales go to benefit the Special Olympics charity. Each cover has been designed by artist Keith Haring.

Happy 60th Birthday, Chrissie Hynde

Today, September 7th, is the birthday of rock's amazing front-woman Chrissie Hynde. 60 years ago today she was born in Akron, Ohio.

Chrissie is one of those people you would want to use when playing a "Six Degrees of Seperation" game of the music world. This singer/song-writer/guitarist was in a band with Mark Mothersbaugh (later of Devo) while attending Kent State University (and was on campus on May 4, 1970, on the day of the famed shootings). In 1973 she moved to London and worked for a time at Malcolm McLaren's famed clothing shop. She was friends with a young Sid Vicious, and even attended auditions with the likes of Jon Moss (later of Culture Club), Tony James (of Generation X) and Mick Jones (later of the Clash). Finally in 1978, she formed the Pretenders with Pete Farndon, James Honeyman-Scott and Martin Chambers. In 1983, Chrissie had a daughter with Ray Davies (of the Kinks). She later married Jim Kerr (lead singer of Simple Minds) with whom she also has a daughter.

I've reviewed a few of the Pretenders albums previously. For your convenience, the links are below. Enjoy.

For Pretenders - Pretenders (debut album) click here

For Pretenders - Pretenders II click here

Pretenders - Pretenders II

After the release of their self-titled debut, there was a lot of interest in a follow-up record from the Pretenders. Early in 1981, they released a five song EP that included two singles made popular in the UK. Those singles then became the foundation of their second full-length album aptly entitled Pretenders II released in August of 1981.

While the record was a top-10 seller in parts of the world (number 10 in the US, number 9 in Canada and number 7 in the UK), it didn’t sell nearly as well as their debut had. It took twenty years for the album to reach a Gold level of sales in the US.

Pretenders - Pretenders

The 1980 debut album by the British new-wave band the Pretenders was a main-staple of the album rock stations growing up and rightly so. Chrissie Hynde and company came out of the gate with guitars a blazing, kick-starting the decade in just the right way. The album appears on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and their 100 Greatest Albums of the Eighties. It also appears on "the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" list.