Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders

'Don't Get Me Wrong'

In the long tradition of songs pleading to not be misunderstood this is classic Chrissie at her songwriting best. I think I was still buying every single of The Pretenders when they came out but may have slipped this from its cover by finding it in the ex-jukebox bins which I did often (I know how much of this reads as if I was made of money and first world problems not being able to buy a single when it came out makes me seem irritatingly middle class but I wasn't made of money and tried every which way to buy the latest sound, bargain bins were something featured heavily in my searches throughout a range of record shops, my local home town having around 6-10 record shops, some 3 on the same main street at one point and the ex-jukebox single was a bargain shop ploy that today we probably don't recall or means less than nothing)

On this day in music history: November 4, 1986 - “Get Close”, the fourth album by The Pretenders is released. Produced by Bob Clearmountain, Steve Lillywhite and Jimmy Iovine, it is recorded at AIR Studios in London, The Power Station and Right Track Recording Studios in New York City, Bearsville Studios in Bearsville, NY and Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden from Spring - Fall 1986. Following the Platinum selling “Learning To Crawl”, original drummer Martin Chambers is fired from The Pretenders when leader Chrissie Hynde feels that his playing abilities are no longer up to snuff. In the wake of this, bassist Malcolm Foster also quits the band. Hynde replaces them  with Blair Cunningham (drums) and T.M. Stevens (bass). The sessions are also augmented with other outside musicians including Bernie Worrell, Carlos Alomar, Mel Gaynor, Simon Phillips, Steve Jordan, Bruce Thomas, on various tracks. It spins off three singles including “Don’t Get Me Wrong” (#10 Pop) and “My Baby” (#64 Pop). The music video for “Don’t Get Me Wrong” pays tribute to the 60’s TV series “The Avengers”, with Hynde playing the role of Emma Peel, originated by actress Diana Rigg. This line up of the band only lasts for this one album as Cunningham and Stevens clash with Chrissie Hynde over musical differences, and depart following the tour in support of the album. “Close” is remastered and reissued on CD in 2007 with six additional bonus tracks added. It is remastered and reissued again in 2015 as a two CD + DVD deluxe edition. Disc one contains the original eleven song album, with the second disc featuring sixteen additional bonus tracks. The DVD featuring three music videos and two television appearances from 1986. The album is also reissued as a 180 gram vinyl LP in 2015.  "Get Close" peaks at number twenty five on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.

thanks to Jeff Harris' Behind The Grooves