After steady doses of mainstream hard rock throughout the 1970s, I thought the new wave/punk music was for somebody else. In 1979, a friend had me listen to the first album by a new group called the Pretenders, and I thought this alternative stuff might be worth a listen after all.
The original line-up, in black and white:
From Chrissie’s RnR Hall of Fame speech in 2005:
“I know that the Pretenders have looked like a tribute band for the last 20 years. … And we’re paying tribute to James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon, without whom we wouldn’t be here. And on the other hand, without us, they might have been here, but that’s the way it works in rock ‘n’ roll.”