Sounds: Donnie interviewing The Pretenders (1982)

[@ThaiThom]

The greatest line-up of a truly great rock band.

[@billyshane3804]

Kudos to Donny Sutherland for handling this interview so well.

[@summerthyme71]

I love their personalities so much. They were so good back then. I miss Pete and James though.

[@phayzyre1052]

It wasn’t long after this interview James Honeyman-Scott died. Pete Farndon died less than a year later. Rest in peace both of you.

[@Liz-g3d]

Yea origanal lineup... legendary... 🙏🙏🤘🤘✌✌✌

[@francoisdubois80]

As I recall, it was crazy and sad. Apparently, James felt like Pete was so disruptive that he really pushed to have him fired (June 14th) and who knows, but perhaps felt so terrible that he died of overdose two days later (June 16th). Then Pete was dead less than a year later (April, 1983).

[@phayzyre1052]

@@francoisdubois80 I don’t know what the hell happened to Pete. It was almost like after their second album he just started to become a troublemaker and I’m sure it was all attributed to his drug usage. For me, it was very reminiscent of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd’s original lead singer. Syd had talent beyond compare, but he took so much LSD many claim it permanently rewired him to the point where he was not the same person.

[@2009hydes]

He was so damn hot

[@scotabot7826]

Too Short of a interview!!!! I want more!!! Rip James & Pete!

[@ixis99]

Pete Farndon,man,what a cool and tasteful bass player in a fantastic band.He was great in the Bushwackers too.He inspired me to pick up a bass.Wish there was more footage of him chatting out there.

[@BlackLabelSociety360]

My dad was mates with Jimmy Scott in their high school years in Hereford. Before I knew who the Pretenders were I always remember my dad telling me of his mate from school who was awesome on the Guitar and went on to be in a band. I was at Jimmy's grave the beginning of the year as his grave is near my great grandads in Lyde Church Herefordshire. My small claim to fame even tho its my old mans....:)

[@rayjr62]

Jimmy had a unique sound for that time. Granted, his owes a debt to Pete Townshend and Roger McGuinn (at least his sound was reminiscent of McGuinn's 12-string Rickenbacker sound), but still. He had carved out a unique sound in the short time that he was here- Sadly, he died way too young. One could only speculate as to what would have happened to Jimmy were he still alive.

[@stevepafford5501]

Yes, March 82. It's detailed in this article stevepafford.com/pretenders40/

[@rodmcdonough6111]

That is a wonderful claim to fame and as touching and personal as one could get. Cheers mate!

[@tuckedup]

Jimmy used to sell me plectrums while he was the saturday boy in a broad street, hereford, music shop and I was a guitarist

[@sidfernandez7569]

true chemistry, great band, great songs.

[@spiritof6663]

They look like they're all getting along so well here; it's a damn shame that it all fell apart just a few months after this interview.

[@RoedofWak-be5fo]

You can see the separation between Pete and the rest. Pete also looks worse for wear for someone who used to look smart.

[@pawel115]

Nice interview what a shame about what happened to Pete and James

[@ustheserfs]

Man she had style and grace

[@joetrapp9187]

I saw them all at Penn State in 1982. In between songs, Chrissie Hynde told us how much they hated Billy Joel and tried to convince us all to drop out of college, saying it was a scam. The latter would have been much better advice today. Oh well, it was a great concert; I bought their next album and had their poster up on my dorm wall.

[@briancenti5423]

what a beauty. i adore this lady.

[@kg5521]

Chrissie Hynde is so pretty

[@JohnDoe-wo1jd]

agree. she has that roman-greek sculpted face with the full cheeks and cheekbones and a chin. many like a round women's face, i don't. and this may sound odd to some but her eyes are small to medium which i find very attractive. a lot of people think big eyes are beautiful, i don't. but i would still give a helping hand to a big eyed person. humanity comes before beauty but that is just my western conditioned aesthetic preference. in reality, in truth, IN FACT, beauty is an abstract hence beauty really is in the eyes of the beholder. john doe male american(dismantle the the mother fucking killing and exploitative machine of the world, the US empire)

[@tjnugent62]

She really is. She has a sexy thing that she would have no matter her age, weight. It is in her soul... A sexy soul.. She looks great too. lol

[@Elitist20]

@@gloorbit5471 veganism

[@Broatch6]

... neat + pretty makes her pretty neat

[@amievil3697]

These guys had the magic!! Chrissie akways been so honest

[@johndavis7428]

i saw them 4 times in 1984, san francisco, reno, then 2 in a row at the greek in berkeley. 4th row or better every time. she acknowledge my girl friend and i at both shows at the greek. wore the same rising sun shirts to all shows, got a drum stick first night in Berkeley. Really an amazing band. really amazing time. love her to this day

[@yamabiru4553]

Lucky!

[@derekdykeman9160]

@johndavis7428 not that line up in 84

[@chriscash7779]

Would love to see this entire interview...saw these 4 2xs in 81!!!!!!!!!!.... FANTABULOUSSHOWS.

[@drutgat2]

Excellent to see. Many thanks for posting this. Not Beatles level humour, but a damn sight better than most other bands.

[@glamnesianouveaux2039]

So brilliant, i saw this a few years ago on this very post and channel. 'He has mental handy caps' = brilliance!

[@markymuskrat1]

Wow hard to believe 36 years since they started

[@rodmclean2066]

Great band but easy to tell Chrissie was highly intelligent and level headed, she's lasted the course and still great.

[@onlytakinalook]

This is very rare indeed - well done for posting it.

[@Elitist20]

I think it's 82 as that was when they toured Australia - I saw them! Sad that Pete and Jimmy would be dead soon. Chrissie has barely changed.

[@stevepafford5501]

Yes, March 82. It's detailed in this article stevepafford.com/pretenders40/

[@AceBaseKingOfSpace]

Donny was a good interviewer.

[@Nigelxman]

Very sad that Jimmy died just months after this Interview.

[@WelshKnight1066]

Not too sad considering he was obnoxious in this interview and was wasting his life doing hard drugs.

[@youandwhosearmy6339]

Don't be a cock @@WelshKnight1066

[@chrisst8922]

Someone said that watching The Pretenders was like watching Dad's Army. 'He's dead, he's dead, he was the first to die.'

[@mastergrass157]

11th September 2015 Chrissie Hynde acknowledges James Honeyman Scott as greatest guitarist she has worked with DOOH. Why so long to admit it? Jim was brilliant and his death a national tragedy.

[@RoweMich]

+Ed Sherlock Yes, she said that Jimmy's guitar playing defined the sound of the Pretenders on their first album. Was this in her new book or did you hear the interview on BBC's women's hour?

[@ustheserfs]

Think the experience of losing him (as they were close) was a source of incredible anguish and heartbreak. She didn't talk about him for years. Farndon don't think she was as despondent about.

[@guddergo7116]

I could tell the difference like night and day between James and McIntosh in 1983 and after. I was a 11 year old kid in 1981 that played guitar . The Honeyman had a gift for chords and music making. Probably the most underrated guitarist ever. That guy from the Smiths ripped off alot of shit and countless others and nobody mostly will ever know.

[@dannynicastro3207]

C Synch ...ooh, she was. Just didnt let it show...

[@888strummer]

@@ustheserfs She originally began writing Back On The Chain Gang about Ray Davies from the Kinks when she was pregnant with their child and she found a picture of him in her wallet("I found a picture of you..."). But just 2 days after Farnum was kicked out of the band and just before they were about to record Back On The Chain Gang; JHS overdosed and died. So She dedicated the song to JHS ever since and often would tear up and get emotional singing it for several years. JHS and Pete were her best friends.

[@ryangolding7690]

Seen this interview for the first time what a tight little group😂😂

[@wongnaichungrd]

Chrissie might disparage her music journalism but her review of Gram Parson's Grevious Angel album in early '74 was on the money and prescient.

[@quontumleeep9430]

Great Band

[@fyodos]

It would be great to have a conversation with her.

[@naryjones1279]

Love!!

[@weaselsuit]

During Pete's "Kamikaze" period (tour for the second record), you can clearly see that he's got several wrist bands, especially at the inner crook of his elbow of hs left arm. His attempts to cover his heroin tracks were SO obvious...

[@twostikks1]

yeah, bum me out, I'd love to see this from start to finish. Just that little bit was great, but I'd love to see more.

[@onlytakinalook]

Hey Donnie, You are gonna have to do some more diggin to find the rest of this interview mate. Great post - so far lol!

[@blackmore4]

I agree. There have been some great songs since but after Scott and Farndon's departures, it's really been a solo act.

[@dlgeiling]

blackmore4,there is also Freddie Mercury who had done the great pretender and got aids and took drugs and died on November 24 1991😢

[@gdub454]

I just remembered...actually Pete was kicked out of the band...It was their last show on their tour..a night in Bangkok...and Pete would like to go back out on stage w/ cig in his mouth..and security guy said you cant...and Pete punched him...needless to say..Chrissy & guys were appalled!...so they took a vote..and Jimmy had enough..he said "NO way..forget it..not working w/ him anymore"..tripped me out to hear that...Chrissy tells story on their Greatest Hits DVD...which is very cool btw...

[@PoppysGuitar]

More than that. But ok. Look at the Pete at 1:29 "Now they hate my guts" and looks right at JHS. He already knew that he was on the way out for a variety of reasons that only they know.

[@RoedofWak-be5fo]

​@@PoppysGuitarhe's talking about his old band but I agree nonetheless. Pete always seemed insecure as a bass player in the band. He had no reason to be.

[@Rowdyrecords55]

I love her half brit half american accent

[@Frankincensedjb123]

She's a beautiful woman.

[@ivanab5327]

Donnie is my best friend in the world :) This is not hes real page, but who cares ..he is the best Ivana I love you Donnie :)

[@LudingtonBass]

Mystery Achievement is my favorite song.

[@silverwood6705]

Awesome interview, why did it end in the middle? They are a riot, such good friends, RIP guys

[@BlueSky...]

Wow. Jimmy died within 6 months of this interview.

[@cowboygypsey]

Saw them at the Capital about then.

[@welovedonnie]

@nevrowe i sincerely wish we had more footage but this seems to just cut too short.

[@PoppysGuitar]

Interesting look from Farndon at 1:29.

[@fredfat1606]

favourite band ever - what date in 82 is this because farndon leaves the band in june 82 and scott is dead about the same time

[@bedwarsgb4523]

march

[@welovedonnie]

not unless somebody brave comes up with it, and is willing to post it to me through Dropbox. I know the title of this channel is deceiving, but I am not Donnie Sutherland. He has passed on a lot of his material to me (and taking his time to get it back from me). I am the same guy behind all the nzoz channels, the Australianad channel, and CountdownEpisode channel. I don't have the full interview and I'm kinda disappointed about that.

[@tsl56]

I watched these three guys up fairly close on three or four occasions pre-Pretenders, with me acting as a very occasional stagehand. They were friendly, perhaps too friendly. Pete and Jim then seemed as vulnerable as I perceive them here. Premonition, I suppose. Martin always seemed the most likely to survive.

[@PoppysGuitar]

This interview shows so many things. One, JHS was dominating things both musically and in leadership in the band. He obviously can't stand Pete and is openly dismissive of him and Pete knows it. See 1:29 (hate my guts) and 1:52 (JHS fiddling with his watch? and ignoring Pete while Pete speaks which Pete notices) Two, Martin is obviously following JHS. He appears to look for cues from JHS as to what to do and when to do it. Three, Hynde, while still the talent and the creative force in the band has decided to let JHS lead the other three. The dynamics are so clear. It won't be long before it's all over. For Pete and then I am sure to Jim's surprise for Jim. Thus in a period of two short years this band (and this was the real band) went from incredible success and promise to implosion. Too much of a good thing can be too much of a good thing. They had it all and their egos and drugs and whatever took over and it was wrecked. Very sad.

[@lawnerd9263]

Pete was talking about the Bushwhackers.

[@trevorbayfield4006]

The Pretenders were the antidote to punk.

[@onlytakinalook]

By the way will you be posting the rest of it sometime?

[@workforaliving2]

Great Interview...little strange hearing Chrissy with a slight English accent

[@paulsteele2432]

Jimmy..you silly sod. Why didn't you value your health more? There will never be another player as unique as him and Pete. Gone too fucking soon it makes me sad.

[@PoppysGuitar]

Does someone say (JHS?) "You should get up off the floor to actually watch them" ?

[@ZalMoxis]

She was a good sort in the day...

[@TwelveDeck]

The sad thing is that Jimmy died that year and Pete the next.

[@Broatch6]

She's pretty neat

[@stuartmenziesfarrant]

Chrissie was always such a hot chick!

[@UnderTheAffluence]

1:21 is great.

[@ardyjeen6144]

What fun hah! I love(d) them. Pray up.

[@lsdmadman]

classy, talented, liberated woman...why'd she leave the Pinheaded States??

[@sammyscotch9945]

Classy?

[@ralphabetsoup]

Jimmy doesn't even answer a question.

[@welovedonnie]

You're telling me when this interview happened?

[@tangledwebs7316]

when is your next movie coming out ??

[@Rockstardust69]

The tragedy of the Pretenders

[@carrrexx7190]

Rock Fox

[@blackmore4]

Four years of relentless work, especially in the public eye, is going to play havoc with anyone's decision making capacity. I think they just needed a break. For me, Hynde and Scott's reaction to the cigarette incident you mention bears this out. Whatever Farndon's shortcomings, their decision to fire him seems deranged when stacked against his huge contribution.

[@chingunchinbat5463]

I agree with most of what you wrote but I think Pete got to be impossible to work with.

[@dannynicastro3207]

blackmore4 ....absolutely.

[@PoppysGuitar]

Good analysis. The whole firing thing just seems so over the top. What all the undercurrents were we will never know. CH has stated that Pete loved being a rockstar and in the band. Then was it JHS who forced it? Was Pete really that bad a person? Was stress of firing Pete one of the things that led to JHS's heart blowing up? Was money an issue? It is pathetic that CH, who always tells everyone what bad ass she is, doesn't fire Pete herself. No doubt the firing contributed to Pete's slide downhill and to his death.

[@lawnerd9263]

He struggled with substance abuse disorder. He struggled with fame and imposter syndrome - like Chrissie. She could have been kinder, more understanding and supportive. Instead she and the rest of the band treated like him like the fourth Pretender when his good nature was helped him bring on board JHS and Martin Chambers. He’s also a great bassist idolized by many YTers here - have listened to some play Pete’s bass solos over “Brass in Pocket” and “The Wait.” They say he’s underrated. The band could have helped Pete, pushed him to go to rehab before things got so out of control. And to fire him two days after his birthday. Cruel. And thru Dave Hill. Pete deserved better. Punching that guy was out of order but also out of character. Beneath the leather and bad boy image, he was a sensitive soul. He didn’t forget Chrissie when the groupies started; he still carried a torch for her. I hate that he was hurting so much. Rest easy, “favorite Samurai.”

[@lawnerd9263]

Pete Harnby, bassist and YTer: “I remember hearing [“Brass in Pocket”] the first time when it came out and being hypnotized by this song. What a great band and Pete Farndon was an early idol of mine.” (In video, he plays the bass line to song, and I appreciate it more now.)

[@gdub454]

dam shame Jimmy & Pete couldn't keep their drug use in some sort of check back then...there was such promise for them back in the day..even though the Pretenders carried on and had their biggest hit w/ Back on the Chain Gang and had prolly more success..still would've loved to see n hear what the original 4 could have put out...

[@cindyoteri1895]

Pretty sure Back on the Chain gang was about James Honeyman Scott

[@PoppysGuitar]

@@cindyoteri1895 It wasn't and more odd that CH dedicates? it to him is that he actually helped write it or arrange it at least which in a way means he was writing his own funeral song. Can't make this up.

[@RoedofWak-be5fo]

​@@PoppysGuitar2000 Miles is about Jimmy. Jimmy also suggested McIntosh to bring into the band as extra guitar so he could also play keyboards. Jimmy was the musical leader of the band.

[@joanofarcxxi]

She is very motherly and they are like naughty misbehaving kids. So sad that Pete and James died so young. Foolish, really.

[@welovedonnie]

@AdnilTG me too, but i do not know

[@ian_in_dc]

Band interviews are so painful - the playful humorousness is so contrived. It makes it even worse since the Pretenders' first 2 albums were so great.

[@WmJ-x7j]

I remember humans!

[@jeffkaufman9875]

Baio did a decent interview, but he looks much younger today…

[@johnnydoggs]

She seems into me 😃

[@mopardan100]

@GWBsux without question!

[@PoppysGuitar]

What does Farndon say at 1:37?

[@PoppysGuitar]

What the hell does that mean?

[@PoppysGuitar]

I meant like was she hitting someone who was a bass player

[@dannynicastro3207]

Andrew Russell ....really. now. Are you that unknowing???? God rest your soul in 2019. FROM Philly.

[@PoppysGuitar]

@@dannynicastro3207 What??? Huh??

[@BigSky1]

She say’s ‘why would anyone hate you?’ and he responds with ‘ I bet you say that to all your bass players’ Christie and Pete had been an item when band first started. He was the first person she auditioned, There is obviously some history between them and at this time Pete was causing problems for the band due to his drug use,

[@MusicDementia]

Sexiest woman in rock & roll.

[@martyhargroder2481]

We create our own experience. Reap what we sow

[@mummyd1990]

She wanted to marry Sid Vicious that is why she moved to England cos John turned her down ha ha ha,",ever get the feeling we have been cheated.".

[@susanhopf6224]

YHEN I WED CJ BROWNE I AM INVITING U AND JAMES MONTGOMER

[@woodychadick5905]

Very sad Jimmys dead short time later

[@dommccaffry3802]

They were a proper band . After jimmy and pete ? Pretenders only in name. Basically chrissie and assorted sidemen.

[@welovedonnie]

@mindcontrolhands Because people are fucking stupid and just get off on ridiculing those who made something of themselves... plus, Donnie doesn't look very cool and he's short. If Donnie asked less than intelligent questions and looked like Pete Farndon than everybody would be thinking he's cool...

[@mittnagivag4867]

Leaving cause I wanted to move. TRUST FUND BABY

[@glengamble526]

Really? Hilarious. She came from middle-class working people, dumb shit.

[@Frankincensedjb123]

I didn't know Scott Baio was English?

[@marceloaraujo8728]

r o c k

[@michaelwilson2340]

Pete was a bit disheveled here. It looks like he's trying to be Johnny Thunders with that look. And with the heroin. Plus he's sweating unlike the other three.

[@TheMafrand]

all coked up

[@Peter-p7n5b]

PETE TOWNSHEND SONG LIKE AN OLD ENGINE DRIVER HAVE YOU SEEN THE SAUCERS JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE BOOK GOD CONNECTION GIRls girls girls

[@peterendyke4165]

Is it me or does Ms. Hynde have an attitudinal problem?

[@28_gauge]

Pete and JHS were such a mess in that interview.

[@888strummer]

They were having fun; lighten up

[@sarareardon1308]

@@888strummer Thank christ! So many skewered bizarre opinions of both those special irreplaceable guys.. especially poor lovely Pete Farndon. Always struck me how much they loved life, & then what a tragic damn waste.

[@jefmay3053]

heroin

[@Jgeneraledger23]

I wonder if Chrissy has any ASHKENAZl blood in her; she's way-too-cute not to have!

[@pablobrad100]

God, save us from egotistical 'artistes'

[@greenhornet6270]

Chriss Hound is a MAN. why do You think they call them the PRETENDERS

[@TheMicturation]

& there it is,finally some truth : ) deborah sure is a harry alright and lets not forget cam the man diaz,but im getting off point,back to chris & the PRETENDERS

[@tobysmith8727]

I love this woman, her music,.