Chrissie thought the band had gotten too funky. She brought Malcolm back midway through the tour. We got Malcolm on the west coast, but was kinda bummed Bernie was gone, as he was so brilliant on the Talking Heads tour. The Johnny Marr lineup didn’t last long unfortunately, I saw a warmup theater show in Santa Barbara. It was as close to the original band that I ever saw.
Unclear why Robbie McIntosh left in 1987, as promo materials and interviews at the time showed him and Chrissie as the only "official" members of the group. But the Smiths broke up in August 1987 and Johnny Marr immediately joined the Replacements, which was a real coup. Maybe Chrissie had Johnnie lined up already and essentially fired McIntosh. Who knows. But as mentioned the Marr lineup only played a handful of dates, including some CA shows opening for U2 in arenas on the Joshua tour. Then they did a couple shows in Brazil in Jan 1988 (with Simple Minds, which of course contained "Mrs Kerr's" then husband). The Marr lineup recorded just a single song, an unremarkable cover of "Windows of the World" (and video!) in early 1988, before Marr went on The The, Electronic and sessions with Ferry, Talking Heads, etc. Kind of a missed opportunity in retrospect and I loved the original band but also the Learning to Crawl-era Pretenders, so ultimately was bummed McIntosh and Foster were gone and the band had little to show for it by 1988.
"Mystery Achievement." I mean, I love this entire album, but my two favorites ("Tattooed Love Boys," "Brass in Pocket") look as if they’re next to be voted off. I saw the Pretenders at the Motor City Roller Rink in May? 1980. Great show, and I’m guessing they played the entire debut album. After the show, we hung out at the back door until the band came out because my roommate’s girlfriend just had to meet Christie Hynde. I’m glad we did though; that’s probably my second biggest brush with fame ever.
I've seen the Pretenders twice. One time I was so sh!t-faced I can't remember anything about it. I also saw them at the Lilith Fair in 1998-99ish? They were terrible. On top of that in the spirit of the festival there was a lot of sort of aggressive men-bashing. So the whole thing was disappointing. Around the same time there was a VH1 show... storytellers? Something else? But that show was also not very good. She seemed really not confident and kind of defensive. She seemed really rusty or something too. She's so amazing but also kind of a strange bird. I really hope to see her perform again though. I want to see a good show (or even a decent show... that I can remember). She's a real special talent no matter who she's playing with.
Chrissie seemed incredibly anxious and just plain weird at the January show but she was much more relaxed and natural in March. Always made me wonder if there were some conflicts behind the scenes that put her on edge. Changing a big chunk of the band only a month or 2 into a tour seems like such a drastic step to me that it was more than "the band is too funky".
If "Tattooed" goes this round, as it appears it will at the moment, we'll have to see where those voters go next. I'm one, and I'm definitely not voting "Brass" next.
Tattooed Saw them a few times...usual suspects... Brass in Pocket Kid Mystery Achievement Precious The Wait
Saw them at Lilith Fair 1997, and opening for The Who, 2006. Not sure how many songs from this album, but both were excellent, solid, professional performances.
I've only seen the Pretenders twice on the same tour in 2016......opening for Stevie Nicks, and a full set show on a Stevie night off. They played 7 songs from the debut............ Brass in Pocket - 2 times Mystery Achievement - 2 Private Life - 2 Stop Your Sobbing - 2 Kid - 1 The Phone Call - 1 Tattooed Love Boys - 1 Both shows were a little more reserved. I haven't felt the need to see them again. Wish I was old enough to see the original band.
I remember I gave some thought to seeing them 1982 but that was in the infancy of my concert-going antics so my options were limited. Didn't have much $$$ for concerts and had to figure out a ride to/from as well, even trickier when the concert is a good hour from home, as that one was. I think I only knew 3 Pretenders songs back then anyway - though I loved those 3 songs!
Live scorecard! Precious - live staple Phone Call - played 1979-81 and then sporadically, mainly in mid-90s Up the Neck - played a lot through 1980s, skipped 90s, revived 2003 Tattooed - played a lot though not consistently Space Invader - played 1980 and not since then Wait - staple though oddly pretty much dropped in 90s Sobbing - also staple though less played 90s Kid - staple Private Life - played a lot 80s, sporadically until 2016, then a bunch Brass - staple Lovers - played a few times 1994, 1995, 2009 Mystery - staple "Brass" appears to be the album's most played song, while "Lovers" least. As always, take with a grain of salt since setlist.fm has lots of holes.
@BRush called it correctly. In an Uncut interview from 1997, she said the lineup with TM Stevens and Bernie Worrell worked great in the studio, but when they toured she realized she'd made a huge mistake "suddenly I was in this funk band . . . it wasn't the Pretenders anymore" There's a recap of that story below, although it isn't the original interview. http://wisdomtwinsbooks.weebly.com/uploads/3/0/4/4/3044944/hound_dawg_6.pdf
Brass In Pocket. Got to see them with Stevie Nicks in Memphis 2017. Private Life Stop Your Sobbing Mystery Achievement Brass In Pocket
WL: Precious (of course, all that are remaining are great). DQ: Once, in 2000 at Massey Hall. According to setlist.fm, they played Mystery Achievement, Sobbing and Brass in Pocket, as the three final songs of the night.
It no longer looks like "Brass in Pocket" is a certain goner next round. Any of the last three could go next, it appears.
I probably read too much into Chrissie's downright bizarre demeanor that night and assumed something more than just "she didn't like the musical direction". That said, she was "off" and weird enough that it got stuck in my head for 37 years! And she was night/day different when I saw the band again in March. My 1st show was also the 4th of the tour, so maybe that added to her anxiety. Interesting footnote: the 1st 4 shows of the 1987 tour all took place at colleges!
In the same interview she mentioned smoking so much pot at the time that she often was often off her rocker, so perhaps you caught her on one of those nights! Perhaps using it as a crutch given her unhappy realization about the lineup and need for a big change. The band was a quite revolving door through this period. Case in point: Johnny Marr from late '87 to early '88. Wish that lineup lasted longer than it did.
But isn't pot supposed to make you mellow? Chrissie was the opposite of that in C-ville 1/87. Seemed completely on edge and anxious. She was relaxed and engaged 2 months later in DC. Really don't mean to belabor all this too much, but obviously that 1/87 show stuck with me in terms of how oddly she acted!
Ah, got it. I suspect she might have been anxious because of that lineup, but I wasn't there and can't mind read, so who knows what was on her mind that night. She can be quite pissed off during live shows (Case in point, Rockpalast, 1981). Part of being Chrissie.
Yeah, Chrissie definitely is outspoken and easily set-off - part of her charm! It was the nervousness/anxiousness that was unusual. She wasn't angry/peeved/pissed off - she just seemed off and on edge.
