Chrissie Hynde is
the living embodiment of punk rock’s “DIY” (“do it yourself”) ethos: a
non-writer who wrote for the NME (and
has now written a memoir called Reckless); and a self-taught guitarist, singer and songwriter who became the
lead singer, principal songwriter and rhythm guitarist for one of rock’s
seminal post-punk bands: The Pretenders.
While the writing
in Reckless veers between amateurish and
literary, the voice is unmistakably Hynde’s: brash, in your face, and unapologetic—much
like punk rock itself.
Two things struck
me while reading this book. One is how much you can get away with when you’re
young and cute (especially if you’re young and cute in London in the ’70s). The
other is the unique position occupied by women in rock: able to trade on their
gender in this male-dominated world, but also vulnerable because of that gender. Hynde pretty much admits to being
raped (or, at least, sexually abused and/or beaten) in the course of her
journey, as Cyndi Lauper did in her memoir, and Madonna did in a recent
interview.
It’s a miracle
Hynde survived, let alone thrived!
Her ascent to
rock stardom thus reads like either a series of incredible coincidences or
something on the order of divinely preordained destiny.
She arrives in
London with no money and no prospects and, in
short order, meets Nick Kent, a writer for the NME, which results in her landing a writing gig there,
despite her lack of credentials.
In a similar
fashion, on a return trip to London, she winds up meeting Pete Farndon, James
Honeyman-Scott and Martin Chambers, the other three quarters of The Pretenders.
(It turns out that Honeyman-Scott was actually living next door to Hynde at one
point, and she overheard his guitar playing without knowing who it was.)
She also hobnobs
with such future luminaries as The Clash, the Sex Pistols, Sex Pistols manager
Malcolm McLaren and his girlfriend, designer Vivienne Westwood (working in
their clothing store was one of her many odd jobs), Iggy Pop (with whom she has
a memorable dalliance), Ray Davies, John McEnroe, John Belushi, and many more.
All of this is
heady stuff.
But, in
predictable Behind the Music fashion, it
all comes crashing down once the band gets a taste of success and fame. Shortly
after their second world tour, half the band—Honeyman-Scott and Farndon—die of
drug-related causes.
Reckless is a tale of fulfilling your wildest dreams and having them turn into your worst nightmare.
And still
carrying on.
