A music-obsessed, retired San Francisco lawyer, and author of the rock & roll memoir Jittery White Guy Music (available on Amazon)... picking a random album or song in his collection every day or so and sharing a few thoughts.
Not a huge Pretenders fan, which is why we're only now seeing a second Pretenders track make the list. I mean, they're perfectly fine, the sort of band with a ton of great singles who come on the radio and I'm always happy to hear them, even if I wouldn't pull out their records on my own (kinda like Tom Petty and Creedence Clearwater Revival). Partly I just kinda wish they were more adventurous. I mean, Chrissie Hynde is one of rock & roll's true groundbreakers, up there with Joan Jett; and in the early days especially the band was as skilled as anyone else around. Yet they often settled for decent enough pop songs instead of capitalizing on all that talent.
Which is why I love "Tattooed Love Boys," off their 1980 eponymous debut. It's the frenetic post-punk blast I wish they did more often. Hynde is thoroughly amped up, and the band cuts loose with some unpredictable math rock, a screwed-up time signature (man, this one was tough to pull off on my kid's Guitar Hero game) that ranges from slash-and-burn punk riffs to bright jangle, one of the coolest guitar songs of the new wave era.
Live 1979:Live 2023 with Johnny Marr & Dave Grohl:Cover by Dragbeat:See the entire Top 2000 to date in a sortable database!
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