The great Pretenders

A VERY difficult choice. For my money, The Pretenders are among the classiest singles bands of all time, and it took me the best part of a weekend to come to a decision as to which nugget to go with.

I could so easily have opted for their reading of Ray Davies' Stop Your Sobbing, the band's elegant and glittering opening statement, which knocked me sideways when John Peel first played it in early 1979.

I could just as easily have nominated Kid for its inimitable combination of offhand cool and sincere warmth, not to mention James Honeyman Scott's wonderfully compact and musical guitar solo.

Then there is the storm-tossed pride and battered dignity of Back On The Chain Gang, the ringing concision and emotional clout of 2000 Miles, the flinty urgency (and a top Robbie McIntosh guitar solo) of Middle Of The Road...

In the end, I went for Talk Of The Town because it seems to sum up everything that made Chrissie Hynde such a dynamic archetype at the time. No one, before or since, has managed "tough but tender" with anything like the same degree of success, and Talk Of The Town's sinuous melody and heavy-lidded, seen-it-all vocal embodied this approach magnificently.

It's also the apotheosis of the band's iconic, instantly recognisable sound, with its restless walking bassline, bright blur of chorused guitar and the businesslike bustle of Martin Chambers' drums.

Much as I always championed (and still do) bands from left field, a part of me has always just wanted to watch Top of The Pops and get excited about the charts. I distinctly remember seeing The Pretenders performing Talk of The Town on the aforementioned, much-missed BBC flagship and thinking to myself what a great time for pop music I was living in.

For a while, the charts seemed to be full of intelligent, vital and decidedly grown-up singles - XTC, Joy Division, The Police (don't laugh), The Jam, Squeeze, The Specials, Elvis Costello, Kate Bush - and The Pretenders were among the brightest jewels in that particular crown.

I've got a nostalgic yearning for that era like you wouldn't believe, and it is taking the strongest effort of will every morning to prevent myself from digging out one of my old skinny ties and my 1980 chorus pedal...