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From: troubletux
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  • I saw them at The Monsters of Rock Tour in Phila at JFK Stadium.

    They held their own against a strong Lineup that day.

  • guitar hero 2 made this song, real good.

  • The closest thing to fucking perfect, really..... Jimmy just tears it up.

  • i also saw them at SMU at that show in 1981 one of the best shows I have ever been to - God they kicked ass!! and remember Alan Vega opening with the burning cigarettes in his hair??

  • What the fuck did I just see?! I'm fuckin mindblown man, where'd music like this go?

  • badassss

  • @aubreyaardvark . And the guitarist James Honeyman-Scott was an awesome musician. He and Pete Farndon passed way, way too soon. R.I.P.

  • FUCK!!!  That just melted my face off!!!

  • Every time she says "yeaaa-uuuh" I get chills

  • A great band!

  • About 45 million people need enlightenment. Cute kittens? Not here- a fucking queen bee...

  • Saw them in a very small auditorium at Southeastern Massachusetts University in Jan 81. My girlfriend could have cared less who we were seeing (I should have brought someone else). One of the best concerts I have ever seen!!

    

  • "This song is still dedicated to all the girls who are with the same asshole who beat them up more than once"

  • I must have seen them the year before this, at the Great Southern Music Hall in Orlando just after the album was released in the U.S. (and before I had heard it - I went just on the word-of-mouth buzz). By the third song, all of the folding chairs that had been put up in the space between the auditorium seats and the stage were on the floor because everyone had jumped up and rushed up to press against the stage, where we stood for the entire show. One of the best concerts I ever saw.

  • @jackal59 -- What a show that was...what an event that was. I think I still have some pics from that day, some 30 yrs ago :) ...oh the memories.

  • Totally agree. I've love them for years but watching this early footage gives me fresh insight into the perspective of James Honeyman Scott, god rest his soul, or any guitarist who is benefits from sharing the stage wth someone as awesome as Chrissy Hynde.

  • Nobody is good as the early Pretenders! Chrissie Hynde has the sexiest singing voice of any female vocalist.

  • 2 words- uh & huh

  • the crowd must have been electrified .. these early performances

  • Best Composition, Best Female vocalist EVER in Rock and Roll, including A Wilson. The Pretenders have always really been the Chrissie Hynde Band. Her Sound and her immense talent. It's like, she evolved, nasty beginnings hard b1tch to some very sensual, wired in, lyrics and vocals. Still lustfull after 30 years. I think that they put the R&R Hall of Fame in Ohio because.........well, that's pushing it...But you See........

  • @cchmlfa they put the rock and roll hall of fame in ohio because the mayor of cleveland put the money up when nobody wanted to in new york and los angeles and because alan freed was from there and he coined the phrase rock and roll also djs norm n. night and scott muni got started there they put chrissie and the pretenders in the rock and roll hall of fame because they are great there is no arguing with that .

  • Fantastic stuff.

  • I love the way the guitar completely goes off course and the drums just keep going balistic, brilliant .

  • Great tune, great band! Love the sneaky 3/4 bar in the verses

  • Who knows what this band would have achieved if Pete and Jimmy had not died. The many different incarnations of this band never equaled the original lineup. We all lost when Pete and Jimmy passed. Damn the drugs that killed them!!!

  • @BrianDrewry I think you are forgetting one detail. Pete was fired from the band about a year before he died (about 2 months before James died) so they would have had a different bassist reguardless. It just sucks that James did not make it to the the third album. That said, I think Robbie and Malcom did a great job. As trivial and creepy as it is, James kind of looks like the horrendous Rob Thomas in this video. His hair is pretty short here.

  • @deathmetaldouglas69 i think james died first than pete and chrissie fired pete shortly after james drug over dosed.

  • Is there a better true rock-and-roll female? Janice meets Wendy-O meets Stevie?

  • @3soccerstars A little bit of Janice. Check. Wendy-O (who came on the scene at the same time). Check. Stevie Nicks!!??! Are you smoking crack!! Chrissy is like the anti Stevie Nicks. If anything she was a reaction to Stevie Nicks. Nigga please, you is clueless!

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  • Stands the test of time, baby.

    Merry Christmas 2010 and Happy New Year 2011,

    and Happy upcoming Thirty Year Anniversary of a truly timeless song!

    YOU... ARE THAT!

  • This is too damn good.

  • GREAT DRUMMING!

  • That lineup of Chrissie Hynde (vocals, guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar), Pete Farndon (bass) and Martin Chambers (drums) was incredible. If half of their number hadn't self-destructed (James & Pete) who knows what musical heights they could have ascended?

  • The real sound of the Pretenders died along with Jimmy Scott.

  • Chrissy is a total badass.

  • @KarlaMay

    Agreed.

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  • James Honeyman-Scott....You Legend.

  • When talent meets rock

  • and what was the song played before this one?? Space Invaders? or should I second guess myself and say the Wait...nah, I am sticking with Space Invaders. :)

  • women playing the guitar and singing = very sexy

  • My brain forgot this- I'm heading back to HOLLYWOOD!!!!!

  • Great

  • chills!

    

  • Was JHS playing Space Invaders?

  • @lifeonmars45 That would be my guess

  • Special Prize to anyone who can identify the song that played before this song based on the feedback of Jimmy's guitar in the beginning.

  • Where was this video taken? SO sweet.

  • @lifeonmars45 Capitol Theatre

  • i fell in love with chrissy after this . she is the queen of my life.

  • The song, the band, the era...doesn't get much better then "that".

  • I think everyone agrees Chrissi and the Pretenders one of the best up there with Iggy and the Stooges, New York Dolls,Stones Sabbath, LZ......

  • Stop sniffling, you're gonna make some plastic surgeon a rich man. Oh but the prestige and the glory, another human intimate story.

  • saw the pretenders at the US fest in 83...what a gr8 concert love Chrissy!!

  • one thing to say - FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Saw this act at the Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA, in 1982, not long before the passing of JHS; opening act was Bow Wow Wow. Drugs or no, this band was very tight, and rocked the house. Memorable...

  • Akron rocks!!!

  • One of the truly great bands! - if only I could have seen this line up live. Man these guys died so young - do drugs moderately

  • This song is AWESOME!!! Even for guitar hero II!

  • There is no other woman in rock and roll for me. One of a kind that paved the way for many others.

  • brilliant music. great guitar riffs.  holy shit, this band rocked.(s)

  • ..."more than once?",,,more than NEVER!!

  • The 80's weren't so bad with bands like this. I just wish Scott and Farndon could have held it together to keep Ms. Hynde on her toes! Still, she managed to put out some more classic songs and albums but the original band was the best.

  • Love the finger at the end, Chrissie! If you go see them today, chances are she'll still tell you off one way or another. It's pretty hard to get the punk treatment from the middle aged still!

  • The shit

  • Pretenders - and especially the original line up - is on my personal top 10 for best bands ever. I wish there were more live clips with the original members. I love watching them but there aren't too many of them on the internet.

  • @ruderkonge1976 I agree. The original band was so very creative. This stuff sounded new then and now!

  • finally saw Cryssie at US in 83... awsum

  • Only just discovered the first Pretenders first album last year after my mate had banged on about it for years. It's brilliant and James Honeyman Scott would have been a guitar hero like Johnny Marr if he hadn't fallen foul of the drugs. A fucking tragic waste.

  • @pawnsacrifice1 Pete Farndon too, just senseless waste.

  • WOW!!!

  • Where was this concert recorded at?

  • JHS rip  so great

  • chambers is good , but he doublebeats the tempo!

  • smartest and sexiest woman in rock.

  • One of the best female-fronted bands of all time. No band today can even compare to Chrissie and the Pretenders.

  • If you mean this original line-up, then yes.

  • Anyone who can't see that Martin Chambers is one of the most badass drummers after watching this is a fool

  • and a crazy time signature here.

    David Lovering (Pixies) too.

  • POPEYE ARMS....2:11

  • Anytime your near Chrissie and you don't go to see her its a mortal sin ...

  • "I shot my mouth off and you showed me what that hole was for..."

  • @swampd1966 Yeah, that line and "You're gonna make some plastic surgeon a rich man!"

  • wow, Martin Chambers, and JHS... 2:10 to 3:00....turn out the lights behind you....this is as good as it gets...

  • amen!!! JHS

  • sorry to all the modern day posers.. you fucks will never be this good !!

    GOD THIS IS AWESOME FUCKING MUSIC !!!

  • Ha ha, rock on kubanking!!  I saw them in '81 @ Penn State Chrissie looked pretty hot in her black leather pants, wicked!

  • sigh... germany and their gas-powered cameras and WWII-era leftover B&W film...

  • James "Honeyman" Scott RIP

  • Yep BigBadHousePet thats Jimmy Page on guitar and its John Entwistle from the who on bass (PLEASE NOTE I'M JOKING) speaking on Farndon and Honeyman Scott shame the drugs took them so young they should still be around jamming today even if it was in another band or solo and not with the pretenders cause they were bad ass

  • is this Jimmy Page on guitar??? wasn't she in Lenard Skinard?

  • Yeah Chrissie Hynde was in lynyrd skynyrd shes the one playing the guitar solo on Free Bird (JOKING AGAIN)

  • yeah - Lenard Skinnard plays good guitar and he had big amplifiers and long hair as well. Didn't Crisst Hide play at woodstock in like 1979?

  • lol!

  • cars die?

  • Not really. Maybe it's just your hearing?

  • This song is so RAW that it can still open wounds on me after all these years.

    How did Chrissie get away with those

    lyrics?Easy.....She WAS class and Jimmy,

    that solo lives on.

  • Honeyman-Scott is still one of my favorite guitar players. It's wierd how that all went down - the group kicked Farndon out of the band because he let the rock star stuff get too far and was not "dependable". Next day - Jimmy was found dead of cocaine OD. Farndon died not long after.

  • Guitar, bas, rhytam cool, but in studio version.

  • After they lost their original guitarist & bass player they were never the same. Their original lineup was just awesome.

  • song always reminded me of sara lee lucas

    xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxox­oxoxoxoxxox

  • similar groove

  • Martin Chambers was a really great drummer. He almost became a member of Guns N' Roses. Hard to imagine.

  • James Honeyman Scott's guitar playing is under appreciated. Long live his spirit and style.

  • Chrissie is awesome, this is a great version.

  • I realize this is not the very best of the very best of videos.

    However....Chrissie is someone who has never gotten the praise she deserves.

    Hot playing and fine singing...few can compete with her.

    This is one of her best. Lots of us females hold her up as a god.

  • I love Chrisse, But I heard she lives in Clevland now in an apartment. Her rent is like $500.00 bucks a month. Is she really broke. What about royalties.

  • the original pretenders

  • You know this is whe the Pretenders were the Pretenders, don't get me wrong, I love Chrissie Hynde, but to me this is them at their purest form!! RIP James and Pete!!!

  • grande Chrissie

  • Kick fucking ass video

  • Chrissie kicks ass!! And she kicks even more ass for keeping the Pretenders going even after half her band mates died. Thats tuff! Sure her work isnt as awesome as it was after Pete and JIMMY, but its still excellent compared to the rest of the shit that is put out year after year by the music corporations!!

  • truthaxe you are a dick. I suppose you have a catalog of great songs. Its worth the money just to watch Chambers slam

  • You amuse.

    Chambers plays well. He's an excellent drummer, unsung for his skills.

  • James Honeyman-Scott. You kicked ass. RIP.

  • I am going to see The Pretenders on 2/21 here in Kansas City. The only other time I saw them was on this tour in 1981. I don't think this tour will come close to matching the excitement I felt seeing them back in the day. I still think their debut album is one of the ten best ever by a Rock band. I still love Chrissie and the new Pretenders disc is the best thing I've heard from them in years. Can't wait to revisit my beloved Chrissie and the incredible Martin Chambers.

  • What? You're going to see Hyndes/Chambers?

    The Pretenders died years ago with Honeyman-Scott and Farndon.

  • Whatever, dude. I loved the original band, but a lot of band lose members for whatever reason and become a different version of themselves. The Pretenders circa '09 are pretty awesome live. As for Honeyman-Scott and Farndon, their own stupidity got them in the end. Drugs have a way of doing that. Chrissie's music lives on and is doing just fine despite naysayers like you.............

  • Naysayer?

    A band consists of members who create things.

    You're going to see a cover band who also call themselves "The Pretenders".

    You're going to see pretenders who are pretending to be the Pretenders, a band who died when two of their members died.

    Farndon and Honeyman-Scott's music lives onward.

    Chrissie is but a mere singer and guitar wearer.

    Penning lyrics does not make one a musician.

  • You are just too cheap to see the new band in concert or just have no imagination. Either way, you're an ill-informed A-Hole. So F*ck ya. "A band consists of members who create things." Well, THIS version of the band DID create something. "Break Up The Concrete," is the best P-R-E-T-E-N-D-E-R-S album since the early days. But since you can't give them a chance, or are again too cheap to buy their CD, well, maybe you're just too precious, so now, in the words of Chrissie, you have to F*ck off!

  • Have you seen them?

    I saw them two months ago and they were great. A band is the music, never the people, as long as the people stay true to the music a band exist and all the versions of the Pretenders have been exceptional, I can say that cause I've seen them

  • What you saw is a cover band playing Pretenders' songs.

    How ironic. You saw pretenders of the Pretenders.

    I saw them when they were the Pretenders -- James Honeyman-Scott, Pete Farndon, Martin Chambers with Chrissy up front.

  • I'm not belittling you or anything, but, I think I've seen and heard more of the Original Pretenders than most people on Youtube.

    And I've seen the others too, I saw The Pretenders and they rocked two months ago and twenty two years ago. They're still a great band.

    Jimmy and Pete were amazing

    But Martin And Chrissie are still putting out quality Pretenders music without them, and I think to say they're "Pretending" because one of the members was fired and the overdosed is being a bit silly

  • What makes you have the bizarro belief that you could belittle me?

    The New Pretenders are no more the real thing than the New Cars.

    The authentic Pretenders wrote, recorded and performed songs like Tattooed Love Boys, Precious, Mystery Achievement back in 1980.

    That band broke up after the departure of key members Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott.

    You're into a COVER BAND who plays covers of Pretenders' songs.

  • It sucks cause..... your both right!!

    Pretender's fan since the beginning here! and I hear what your both saying!

    The band has never been the same since Jimmy and Pete, but neither have the times. No show I v been too since the 80's has been the same. So its really hard to judge. They might "all" be sell outs by now.

  • This is a SILLY, UNINFORMED statement. Chrissy is the only indispensable member of the band. She's the driving force, creative force and front-man of the band. She wrote 10 of the 12 songs on the 1980 album that you refer to. Honeyman-Scott and Farndon wrote Space Invaders and Ray Davies wrote Stop Your Sobbing. Now that Martin Chambers is back, they sound right.

    It sucks that Farndon and Honeyman-Scott left too soon, but their parts are easier to replace.

  • That's a bit harsh don't you think?

  • slw59 nailed it. This track is proof of the original band's rawness and volatility.  After they lost Farndon and Honeyman-Scott the band became too "middle of the road." And I love Chrissie, but the band was better with the edge, boldness, and creativity those two druggies brought to the table.

  • I think that TruthAxe's use of the highly demeaning term 'COVER BAND' is way off base. That's why I called the comment SILLY. Then he/she names three songs that the 'authentic' Pretenders 'wrote, recorded, and performed', and they were all WRITTEN by Chrissy Hynde. Way to undermine your point, TruthAxe.

    Most bands change in sound and demeanor as time goes on. Even if Honeyman-Scott and Farndon had survived, the Pretenders likely would sound different now.

  • Front-WOMAN! not frontman :) cheers

  • Farndon Co-Wrote "The Wait" and it's "Space Invader" no 's'

  • who the fuck is Frampton who are you talking to who do you think you are?

  • Farndon as in Peter Farndon Bass Player for the Pretenders, Co-Writer of the Wait.

  • no there is no such thing as peter framptoin. my parents told me that the only peter frampton they know is a guy from the german army and he didn't write any peoms for music scores in 1960

  • Jim Honeyman-Scott.

    ...sigh...

    I guess I don't need to say anything else.

    Makes me very sad, though. Damn, he was good. :`(

  • all time band,thats as good as it gets

  • Pete and Martin had such great chemistry, the Pretenders' rythm section was out of control in those early days. Awesome song, awesome album, awesome band!

  • Oh my God! What a great song and album!!! Turned onto these guys in 8th grade!!

  • This is amazing for it is rare I thought the only live video of JHS was the rockpalast and the Concert for Kampuchea or something like that really cool wish I had the whole show!!!

  • The Kampuchea video didn't have this. Too bad. I love the version on the CD.

  • which hole she talking about?

  • the one you came out of.

  • Jimmy Honeyman-Scott played fantastic guitar!and he's wearing that cool blue suit as well!

  • I LOVE YOU CHRISSIE!!!!!!

  • I saw the Pretenders/ Bow wow wow show in LA at UCLA Feb 14th 1982..Valentines Day...loved them....wowowowowowow

  • 1981. In a High School Baskeball Auditorium with Bow Wow Wow and The Red Devils. They tore the frigging roof off. The original line-up standing in front of a solid white massive illuminated backdrop. INSANE! ~

  • And that guitar solo is pure genius. James, you left us far too early, friend. Rest in peace.

  • I was smart enough to sneak out of my house and ride my bike to Royal Oak, MI to see the Pretenders in 1981. I was a young guitar player, and James H-S was my hero. Still is. Bless.

  • Wow, this is what happens when Punk Rockers actually know how to play their instruments!

  • Jim was great. Saw them in Houston in an old movie theater converted to concert hall. I was amazed

  • I saw them in 84 in Tampa with the new line up and they still were incredible.

    They just announced they will begin touring again starting in December and going through most of 2009. Yeehaa!!

  • This song plus PRECIOUS are their best songs. I loved this band when they came out. W ent to see them in Toronto around 83 or 84. AMAZING in concert. Chissie was brilliant.

  • I saw the original lineup - 1981 Blossom Music Center in Chrissie's hometown of Akron, Ohio. Martin Chambers was throwing drumsticks at the end of the show and hit Pete Farndon in the head, opening up a gash and causing him to bleed. Don't worry folks, I'm sure Pete didn't feel a thing!

  • LOL THat was funny!!!

  • Ms. Hynde has a signature voice. When the song is on and you hear the singer singing, there is NO DOUBT who it is.

  • This performance is awesome! Where'd you find the vid?

  • killer footage! great find.

  • holey fuck

  • This so is completely B.A.

  • you are that.

  • this was the first tour i saw them at the aragon ballroom chicago.

  • wow! you saw them live? must have been incredible!

    I love the singer!

  • And I saw them with...Bow Wow Wow O...M...G talk about kickass

  • OMG this kicks SOOO much ass! JHS was the shit!

  • PURE AMERICAN ROCK. Will stand the test of time. In this combo? You can put them up against any Band, from any era, and they would hold their own.

  • this isnt the right people

  • The original Pretenders rocked. I like some of the later stuff but the early songs with this lineup are the shit.

  • Chrissy is the best. She kicks ass with her guitar. And she married the guy from -Hm- New Gold Dreams- He was the lead singer for that song from "the Breakfeast Club"? Well, can't think of his name, right now.  Think he was a Jim, something.

  • Jim Kerr of the band Simple Minds. Dead on with the Breakfast Club.

  • James Honeyman Scott and Pete Farnham blended with the raw Chrissie Hynde.........Droool!!

  • Jimmy Scott is one of my biggest influences on guitar! What a waste..