The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion). In the second verse, Hynde suggests that unnecessary ephemera like “The phone, the TV, and the news of the world” became an unstoppable, malignant force: “Got in the house like a pigeon from hell/Threw sand in our eyes and descended like flies.” In the bridge, she curses unnamed antagonists, all while looking forward to their comeuppance: “But I’ll die as a I stand here today/Knowing that deep in my heart/They’ll fall to ruin one day/For making us part. Pretenders are an EnglishAmerican rock band formed in March 1978. “Now we’re back in the fight,” Hynde sings, leading into the chorus. The narrator of “Back On The Chain Gang” is immediately transformed from the drudgery of her existence by an unexpected sight: “I found a picture of you/What hijacked my world that night.” From that point, she compares the idyllic existence that she once shared with her departed friend to the grind of daily life, signified by the grunts of a chain gang. Chris Thomas provided pristine production, while the “ooh” and “aah” backing vocals paid homage to Sam Cooke’s legendary soul hit “Chain Gang.” This ad hoc Pretenders group did great justice to Hynde’s wistful tune, with Bremner standing out with his lyrical lead guitar.

The Pretenders appeared in January of 1980 and became a hit due to the single 'Brass in Pocket. Top 30 early in 1979 and they recorded their debut album shortly afterward. “That was a song I was writing and I had shown Jimmy Scott some of the chords, and I was working on this song which he liked, and then he died, and it turned into more of a tribute to him,” Hynde explained.īut there needed to be a band to play the thing, so Hynde and Chambers enlisted Billy Bremner and Robbie McIntosh on guitar and Tony Butler on bass for the new track. The band recorded a demo that made its way to Nick Lowe, who produced their first single, 'Stop Your Sobbing'/'The Wait.' It climbed into the U.K. Hynde told interviewer Paul Zollo that she altered the content of the song, which was originally inspired by her relationship with Kinks’ frontman Ray Davies, in the wake of the sudden tragedy that befell the band. From extreme adversity, “Back In The Chain Gang,” the song which would become the band’s biggest hit single, was born. But Hynde had begun writing a song which seemed to hold of lot of promise. (Farndon would succumb to a drug-related death the next year.) The band was down to two members, lead singer and songwriter Chrissie Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers. Just days after that incident, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died of a drug overdose. In June, the band fired bassist Pete Farndon because of his drug use. In the summer of 1982, The Pretenders, just two albums into an already-impressive career, were crumbling.

Lead singer for the pretenders