This is a review of Chrissie Hynde's memoir Reckless: My Life as a Pretender.
I know what you are thinking.
WHO is Chrissie Hynde?
She's a Pretender.
And just WHAT is a Pretender?
Open iTunes or Amazon Music. Search for The Pretenders. Play songs "I'll Stand By You" and "Brass in Pocket". That voice? That's Chrissie Hynde.
I bet you knew at least some of the lyrics to those two songs. The Pretenders (meaning Hynde's voice) had a unique sound that sticks in the listener's memory.
Chrissie Hynde had two doting parents, a house in suburbia near the dying city of Akron, a college education at Kent State (yes, she was on campus for the Massacre [if you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it or ask Mr. Kirch or Mr. Takach]). She was not interested in an education, a career, motherhood, or anything really except drugs and music. She was a happy vegan, a stoned hippie, a music lover, and sorta talented at art and singing. Then fame happened.
On the dust jacket, above her brief bio clip, is a note that we are living in the age of great rock memoirs. This is true for Hynde's story. She doesn't hold back. As with Willie Nelson's most recent book that I reviewed last June, this is sex, drugs, and rock in the 60s and 70s. It's not butterflies and rainbows, but it IS a story of finding oneself and our bond with music.
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Cannot wait to read this.
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