Thriving under the spotlight with everyone’s prying eyes on you might be what’s in store for a successful rocker. After all, everybody desires a piece of the star on stage, with the press stalking them everywhere, prominent critics throwing a few compliments their way, and fans chanting their names all over the place.
However, what does one do when they’re far away from being the popular silhouette on stage, away from receiving all the glory of being a celebrated rocker? Now, take your eyes away from the imaginary stage set in your mind, and turn your gaze to the nameless crowd before it. If you inspect too closely, you’ll be able to see a young Chrissie Hynde standing and watching the show, amazed.
Before getting to front a famous band of her own, Chrissie was a nameless figure frequenting any rock show she could find but far away from being a rocker. Hynde even recalled her obsession with rock as she got candid about her days in high school, discussing how she never dated anyone since she would often fall for rock stars.
It was comforting for her to know that there were stars like Brian Jones or, later on, Iggy Pop rocking the scene, though it made it challenging to date anyone as Hynde set her standards for Jones or Iggy. After graduating high school, things didn’t get much easier as her one goal, to be in a rock band, still seemed too far away.
Finding the right people to collaborate with wasn’t as easy as it seemed, so she enrolled at Kent State University and studied there, working in different jobs for three years to save some money to relocate to London. This wish was granted in the early 70s when she scored a plane ticket and took off to Britain to start a new life.
Still, things weren’t as easy, and in her first few months in the capital, she worked for an architectural company. However, she soon found that the job was not suitable for her and quit. After then, she met Nick Kent, a rock journalist, who helped her to get a job in NME, writing about rock and her beloved icons.
This new job was perhaps better as it allowed her to be close to the rock scene, but staying behind the curtains and watching others perform surely wasn’t what she wanted. So, she took one last attempt at rock by working for Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood‘s then-unknown clothing shop, SEX. However, Chrissie was fired after fighting with a customer who, ultimately, threw a bell at her.
So, Hynde couldn’t help but be frustrated as she missed her chances to find the right career path, and without much to do, she returned to her home state, Ohio, in 1975, after two years of staying in London. The singer resurfaced a year later, and her ex-boss McLaren decided to give her a shot and recruited her as the guitarist of a new band; though, she was booted before the band became the Damned and took off.
However, her first real opportunity to become a rock star came when Mick Jones from the Clash invited her to play with the band for their notorious tour across Britain. Chrissie readily took the offer, later recalling that the tour was great, but she needed to be in a band of her own.
For the future rock icon, she needed to be in for the experience, to be on stage and be present when the show wrapped up. So when the Clash’s tour ended, she returned to the London underground scene, weeping, calling herself a real loser for not forming a successful act.
Hynde recalls touring with the Clash and feeling disappointed in herself after it ended, calling herself a loser:
“It was great, but my heart was breaking. I wanted to be in a band so badly. And to go to all the gigs, to see it so close up, to be living in it and not to have a band was devastating to me.
When I left, I said, ‘Thanks a lot for lettin’ me come along,’ and I went back and wept on the underground throughout London. All the people I knew in town, they were all in bands. And there I was, like the real loser, you know? Really the loser.”
Her luck soon changed for the better, as Dave Hill, owner of Real Records, heard one of her demos and decided to manage her career. The manager then encouraged Hynde to find proper rockers to form a band, and it was then, in the late 70s, the singer met bassist Pete Farndon in a bar through a mutual friend.
The pair clicked off soon enough and started jamming. The band’s classic lineup was completed when guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and drummer Martin Chambers joined them. Soon enough, they named themselves the Pretenders after the song, ‘The Great Pretender.’
The rest was history as the band performed their debut gig in Paris and released their first single, quickly making its way to the charts. Then, in the same year, the Pretenders released their first studio, a commercial success, and hit the international charts again with their song, ‘Brass In Pocket.’
The band’s lineup changed over the years due to tragedies and personal conflicts, but Chrissie became the only constant in the Pretenders’ lengthy career. Her edginess, never shying away from speaking her truth during interviews, her taste in punk fashion, and her lyrical talent turned her into a punk hero who inspired generations of musicians.
In her own words, Hynde called herself a ‘loser,’ but she never gave up whenever she failed during her journey to fame and success. Against all the odds, Chrissie managed to become a prominent figure of rock, receiving respect from peers and critics, having fans chant her name, and eventually, becoming the famous silhouette on the stage.
