Happy birthday to Chrissy Hynde!
Today’s music video of the day features Hynde filling in for Diana Rigg and searching for John Steed in a tribute to The Avengers. Patrick Macnee makes an appearance as Steed, courtesy of archival footage from The Avengers.
Television director Stuart Orme has also done videos for Level 42, Bonnie Tyler, Whitney Houston, Sade, Genesis, and Frida.
Enjoy!
On August 1st, 1981, MTV premiered. Over the course of 24 hours, 116 unique music videos were played on MTV. Yes, there was a time when the M actually did stand for music.
The 109th video to air on MTV was this performance clip from The Pretenders. The performance was originally recorded for an Australian music show called Rage.
Enjoy!
The First Videos Shown on MTV:
On August 1st, 1981, MTV premiered. Over the course of 24 hours, 166 unique music videos were played on MTV. Yes, there was a time when the M actually did stand for music.
According to Chrissie Hynde, Kid is about a mother who has a conversation with her young son after he discovers that she works as a prostitute. As Hynde put it, “Not all songs are autobiographical.” The video was shot in an amusement park, contrasting the happiness of kids at play with the sadness of the kid being addressed in the song.
Enjoy!
The First Videos Shown on MTV:
On August 1st, 1981, MTV premiered. Over the course of 24 hours, 166 unique music videos were played on MTV. Yes, there was a time when the M actually did stand for music.
The 52nd video to air on MTV was the video for Talk of the Town by The Pretenders. Unlike some of the other videos that aired on that day, the video for Talk of the Town still looks impressive. Though it’s been rumored that the song was about Ray Davies, Chrissie Hynde has said that the song was inspired by a fan who used to quietly watch the band during all of their soundchecks.
Enjoy!
The First Videos Shown on MTV:
On August 1st, 1980, MTV premiered. On that day, they played over 160 unique music videos, which is certainly a contrast to today when they play none. The 19th video that MTV played was the video for The Pretenders’s Message of Love. While the video may ultimately be a performance clip, it still captures the unique aesthetic and sense of humor that won and continues to win The Pretenders a legion of loyal fans.
Enjoy!
The First Videos Shown on MTV:
The sixth music video to air on MTV on August 1st, 1981 was Cliff Richard’s We Don’t Talk Anymore.
The seventh was Brass in Pocket, by the Pretenders. Up to that date, Brass in Pocket was the band’s biggest hit and the video — which featured a narrative theme with Chrissie Hynde as a waitress — also represented the future of direction of music videos. Today, it can be surprising to see how many of the first music videos were simple performance clips. In the days before MTV, videos were viewed as a novelty as opposed to a necessity. Due to the popularity of MTV, future music videos would have more in common with Brass in Pocket and Video Killed The Radio Star, designed to generate buzz as well as to show off the music.
When the song was first recorded, Hynde hated it and said that listening to her voice made her cringe. The song was released over her objections and went on to become one of the Pretenders’s first and biggest hits. For the record, Hynde says that her feelings on the song have since mellowed and she enjoys it now because “it’s served me well.”
Enjoy!
This classic song from the early 1980s was inspired by a great deal of emotional trauma.
At the start of 1982, The Pretenders consisted of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Chrissie Hynde, lead guitarist and vocalist James Honeyman-Scott, bassist and vocalist Pete Farndon, and drummer and vocalist Martin Chambers. On June 14th, 1982, Farndon was fired from the band as a result of his drug problems. Two days later, Honeyman-Scott would die of a cocaine-induced heart attack while at his girlfriend’s apartment.
At the time of Honeyman-Scott’s death, he and Hynde were working on the song that would eventually become Back on the Chain Gang. At the time, the song was envisioned as being about Hynde’s turbulent relationship with Ray Davies of the Kinks. After Honeyman-Scott’s death, the song took on a different meaning and, instead, became about Hynde’s struggle to keep the band going even after losing two of her best friends. (Farndon, himself, would die of a drug overdose in 1983.) Hynde, who was three months pregnant when the song was first recorded, dedicated Back on the Chain Gang to Honeyman-Scott’s memory. Back on the Chain Gang went on to become The Pretenders’s biggest hit in the United States, where it was adapted as an anthem by people who probably did not know the emotional story behind the song’s composition.
The video, which was put into heavy rotation during the early days of MTV, features the two surviving original members of The Pretenders. Chrisse Hynde sings while Martin Chambers plays one of many office workers who, upon arriving at work, are briefly transformed into slaves using pickaxes to excavate ruins in the desert.
Enjoy!
In the late-90s I was very dissatisfied with the state of music. As a result, I turned to older bands whose music I hadn’t explored. Numerous VH1 top-artists’ lists helped me to discover all kinds of bands I had never heard of before. One of those bands was The Pretenders. It was mainly Chrissie Hynde’s voice that I fell in love with, but the songs were excellent as well. I figured it was time to feature one of their music videos. There was no particular reason I chose this one. I am pretty sure that the music video for Brass In Pocket is their most well-known.
There isn’t that much to the music video. There are two interesting parts I noticed. The first is the opening when they all step forward from the darkness to reveal themselves. The other part is when they face each other at the microphone to hum towards each other. It reminded me of that part of the music video for ABBA’s Waterloo when Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad turn to sing towards each other rather than facing the audience. You see this again in ABBA’s Knowing Me, Knowing You music video. Other than those things, it is shot like you are sitting-in on a studio recording of the song. It does make things more intimate, but it also makes it difficult to say much about it other than that it is great song.
According to VH1, this was the 19th music video to air on MTV.
The director of the music video was Mark Robinson. I can find that he at least directed around 20 music videos, including several more for The Pretenders. However, his IMDb page leads me to believe that there are more, and that he may still be working in music videos today.
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens 