One of the proudest moments of my teenage years was in 1979 when I had a letter published in Smash Hits (I also had a letter in Iron Man comic a few years before but that just isn’t as cool). I wrote to them in response to a letter they’d printed from some idiot attacking Chrissie Hynde with the bizarre claim that she was nothing but a Debbie Harry copycat. Now I was a big Pretenders fan and I wasn’t going to let such stupid bollocks pass so I took pen to paper and stated in no uncertain terms that the only thing the two had in common was that they were both American women who were in a band and bitchily added that at least Chrissie could play guitar and write her own songs and didn’t have to rely on a pretty face and wear short skirts to sell records. I signed the letter “A Tattooed Love Boy, London” and was amazed that they actually published it, the first letter on the page too!

Sadly I don’t have a copy of that issue anymore, though if I read it today I’d probably be embarrassed by my teenage prose style and cringe at how annoyingly opinionated I was — but aren’t we all at that age, especially when it comes to music? Like most 17-year-olds I was ready to start a fight with anyone who didn’t think the new Jam single wasn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread, and this was particularly true in the late 70s when a 45rpm record could (and did) start a revolution in our young lives. This was life and death stuff. Which might explain why, of all the burning issues of the day that got me worked up, the one time I was moved to write a Mr. Angry letter to the editor was over two pop singers while my tirades against the far greater evils of Maggie Thatcher, unemployment, and the National Front were confined to the Sixth Form Common Room and sitting on the sofa yelling at the television.

I’m sure in the great Chrissie vs. Debbie debate most boys would come down in favour of Debbie (at least as eye candy) but regular readers of this blog know that my vote always goes to the brunette. It wasn’t just the Sandie Shaw hairdo and pouty lips, but she also had that voice which one minute could sound like she was tenderly stroking your hair and the next like she was angrily stubbing a cigarette out on your hand and throwing all your clothes out into the street.

Big fan though I was I must have been one of the few who was disappointed in The Pretenders’ debut album. I’d bought their first three singles and eagerly awaited the album but when it appeared I was pissed off to find that not only did it contain all the singles I had already bought, but most of the b-sides too. Bands just weren’t supposed to do things like that back then — I was almost moved to write an angry letter to Smash Hits about it.

Download: The Wait – The Pretenders (mp3)
Download: What You Gonna Do About It – The Pretenders (mp3)

“The Wait” is from the b-side of “Stop Your Sobbing”, they re-recorded it for the album but I think this version is much better. Their cover of The Small Faces’ “What You Gonna Do About It” is from a flexidisc that came free with Flexipop magazine, it’s available on this box set now but that probably doesn’t have all the lovely crackles you get from recording something off of flimsy orange plastic.