CHRISSIE DON’T YA TALK SO LOUD
The Pretenders stop our sobbing.
In 1980, when this interview with Chrissie Hynde was conducted, the Pretenders were the talk of the business, having released their highlyacclaimed debut album and caused adolescent girls worldwide to copy lead character Hynde's fingerless gloves, eyeliner and attitude. Her gloves, eyeliner and teased colf were easily enough aped, but the singular, slinky Hynde attitude, as we discovered, was much less so...
"I could keep doing this for a long time."
“There’s something I dread about talking to female musicians,” my co-editor DiMartino sighed as we drank beer and worried in the bar of Chrissie Hynde’s Detroit hotel.
I knew this wasn't just sexism—we’ve gone too many rounds in the Editorial room on those grounds.
No, this was heavy Writer Dread. This particular dread we call the Patti Smith Syndrome, whereby a highly creative individual proves also to be a tensely strung personality. It seemed, peculiarly endemic to women in the business, and no, I ain’t being chauvinistic. The business is harder on them; maybe they’re harder on everybody else as a result.