Musician Chrissie Hynde keeps rocking after 23 years”You’ve changed your place in this world,” Chrissie Hynde sang in one of the Pretenders’ signature songs, “Talk of the Town.”
Well, haven’t we all? It’s 23 years down the line now since The Pretenders burst on the scene to again rewrite the role of women in rock ‘n’ roll. Back then, the Ohio-born Hynde sprung from the London punk-rock scene as an unstoppable, unpredictable hellion, known as much for her searing personal songs as for kicking the windows out of police cruisers after some disorderly arrest. Now here she is, gently rocking through a greatest-hits set on her latest, most sedate tour.
It begs the question: How do you grow old gracefully in rock, especially if you’re a woman known for your toughness? Just hold on to your dignity and integrity. Yes, Hynde might be quieter and more mannered these days, musically and otherwise. Back in the day, the original incarnation of The Pretenders (before the deaths of James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon) gave roaring concerts that left many, present company included, with permanent hearing loss and irreplaceable memories.
Now here she is, a London homebody and mother, turning up at society events while still holding onto her street creed with her fierce devotion to animal rights and vegetarianism.
So the other night, the carrot-stick-thin Hynde pulled out the hits that the crowd came for: “Back on the Chain Gang,” “Middle of the Road,” “Message of Love,” “Precious” – the works. But while she’s had to let some Pretenders classics slip away – what some of us wouldn’t give to hear a roaring version of “Porcelain” – she’s refused to become just a jukebox.
Hynde has kept a grip on some songs that are among her strongest, including “My Babe” and a very apt “Time the Avenger,” an ode to every generation’s belief that it’ll never grow old (“You thought time was on your side / now it’s time the avenger”).
Her latter-day hits stand up with her best work, demonstrated by strong versions of “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” “Night in My Veins” and “I’ll Stand by You.”
At 51, however, she’s still able to rock with the best of them. As she also sang during “Talk of the Town”: “It’s hard to live by the rules / I never could and still never do.”
(Contact Mark Brown of the Rocky Mountain News at http://www.rockymountainnews.com.)
AP-NY-02-24-03 1240EST