Anybody read the new Chrissie Hynde book? Reckless

I really enjoyed reading her book, I only wish it was longer and maybe a little more detail about the music and song writing.

 

I read it. She's an odd duck, a great singer and songwriter, basically a camp fire cowboy chord guitarist, and she has her belief system which is , to put it diplomatically, a little unconventional.

She is not stupid, though. I suspect she actually has a very high IQ, and I also suspect some of her beliefs she is holding back on because they are beyond what the current belief structure will allow. I have no proof, so I'll say no more.

 

I haven't yet, but I will. Not a huge fan of her music, but she's pretty fascinating and has lived through interesting times.

 

I read it and liked it. I had no idea she had a kid with one of the Kinks.

 

Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders - new memoir due Sept 8, 2015

Not a Visual Arts topic.

 

I didn't like the book. Not enough in the book covered why I'm interested in her in the first place. She should left out just about everything except the last 3 or 4 chapters and then continued writing from that time forward.

 

What are you saying here exactly?

 

I haven't read the book; can you elaborate?

 

I think he's trying to avoid having the thread evaporate by ducking a subject................

 

He's saying she is a duck who is odd (not even) and a guitarist from the campfire cowboy chord school.

 

hmm - it takes all kinds doesn't it?

 

"One of the Kinks"???????

 

She refuses to discuss her family life as far as her children and her relationships with their fathers and the other men she has been with after becoming famous.
She admitted the only reason she wrote about her earlier life was that her parents were now gone.

 

She has a daughter, Natalie Ray Hynde, with Ray Davies. If you want to know what Natalie looks and sounds like she has a channel on Youtube in which she discusses various things of interest to her. Her channel is named "Black Phillip". She was also involved in and arrested for environmental activism and you can find videos related to that too.

This is public information and Chrissie has nowt to say or do about it.

The kid does not discuss her mother in any way in any place I've seen but it is worth noting she has a tattoo on her forearm that reads "Mum".

 

If it's about her early life I'd be interested in that, even about Ohio. I'd think she might have a lot of stories from when she was writing for the music papers in England in the '70s. If it ends a bit after the original line-up of The Pretenders ends (r.i.p. Honeyman-Scott and Farndon) that'd be fine. I think I know the rest of the story anyway having been a music fan throughout, don't need any inside info on Ray Davies or Ali Campbell.

 

When the book came out she did an interview on NPR where she was incredibly rude and all around unpleasant. Most of the questions she refused to answer because “it’s in the book”, and when she did answer it was short and pithy.

It was squirm worthy radio they shouldn’t have bothered to air. I’ve been a fan for years, I know she’s tough and I appreciate her surely nature and all, but I felt disappointed in her for this behavior...as if she’d ever give a **** what I think.

dan c

 

Her interview on Q was pretty good. You must have heard on something else, like Fresh Air or something, when she was worn out from interviews.

 

I don't really care much about that stuff.

Here is an example of some stuff I wish she had covered in some detail:
1. As the 80s went on she had several different line-ups of the Pretenders. What was each one like and how did they change the sound?

2. She played with both Robbie Mcintosh and Blair Cunningham who both went on to play with Paul McCartney. She had a relationship with the McCartneys as well. I'd like to know especially what her working relationship was with Mcintosh and how did she feel about needing to replace him and did that have any impact on the album Packed!

3. As the 80s wore on the music business changed quite a bit and pop music especially changed. No longer was pop music centered around guitar rock bands as synths and drum machines took more prominence. Yet she still was able to have some hits. What did she think of that time and the music being made? On top of that what did she think of other female rockers who were being forced to sex themselves up to maintain relevance (such as Heart)? Was she ever pressured into that sort of thing and how did she react to it?

4. What was the day of Live Aid like from her experience? Does she have any stories about the goings on backstage? What did she feel about the cause and the impact it had?

5. She is one of the greatest songwriters of rock/pop songs of her generation. How does she write songs? Does she write them on acoustic guitars or electrics? Are they fully formed before bringing them to a band or a producer or are they works in progress?

6. She has mostly written alone or on occasion with a bandmate with a couple exceptions including a collaboration with Johnny Marr. But later she ended up working with professional songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly who wrote hit songs for Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, the Bangles, Heart and others. What were those collaborations like and was there something about the Steinberg/Kelly team that worked so well with woman artists?

6. She worked with producers Chris Thomas, Jimmy Iovine and Mitchell Fromm among others. What were each of those experiences like? After all the success she had with Chris Thomas why did she decide to move on and not work with him again?

7. After a fairly lean period she released one of her most successful albums with The Last of the Independents. What was it like to have a comeback hit like that in a period dominated by younger guitar acts during a rock revival?

8. How does she feel about covers of her songs some of which have been pretty successful (especially of "I'll Stand By You")? Did she ever consider writing songs for other artists in general or who would she have liked to work with in that respect?

9. She has been involved in a number of causes over the years especially PETA and is a vocal vegan. What was her experience like with these causes? What was it like to open a vegan restaurant? Does she have a favorite dish or favorite approach to preparing food?

10. In 1999 she was involved in the Lilith Fair tour. What was the experience like? Was it different working in a tour that was dominated by woman?

And that's just off the top of my head.

Sure I'd like to know a little about her relationships or what life was like as a single mother touring and promoting albums in a male dominated industry, etc. But there is so much about being an artist and an entertainer that I wish she also just talked more about.

 

Oh wow, yeah that's the Crissie I always imagined. The NPR interview, not so much. It was on 'Morning Edition' and in hindsight it likely got off on the wrong foot because of the focus on the sexual assault account in her book. IIRC that was kind of "in the news" at the time which is probably why they decided to start there.
https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2015/10/the-awkward-interview-of-the-day-chrissie-hynde/

dan c

 

Those are all good questions and she has talked a little about some of that stuff but she is on record already as not wanting to talk about a lot of it as well.

If you watch all the interviews of her on YouTube you see she can be fun and humorous on occasion but usually not.
Getting her to comment on people she has worked with and who are still around is often if not usually tough.

 

Ordered the book the other night. I bet she was at least a little influenced by Barbara Feldon and Diana Rigg.

 

Adam Sobsey has written a musical biography of Chrissie Hynde that is in many respects more informative than Hynde's own book.

Finally, a Proper Biography of Chrissie Hynde

I flipped through it at a local bookstore today in fact and it's pretty good.
Martin Chambers also has his own book, but I have not seen it.

Martin Chambers: The Last Pretender