The music industry is full of pretenders. Some of them get lucky, others simply fade away into obscurity. But how many of them are truly Great Pretenders?
Let's find out...
THE PRETENDERS 1-4
We start with some doo wop. Actually the doo wop blog I found lists four (or possibly seven) different doo wop bands that used the name The Pretenders, and I'm not sure I can separate them without extensive research. But here's a brief sampling...
THE PRETENDERS #5
A spooky surf instrumental from Minnesota in 1963...
THE PRETENDERS #6
On Jerk Records out of LA in 1965, though these guys were clearly no jerks.
THE PRETENDERS #7
Though these guys might well be. Another wacky instrumental, this one from '66...
THE PRETENDERS #8
Get ready for a top New Jersey soul tune from 1969. One listen to this and you'll wonder why these guys never made it big.
THE PRETENDERS #9
Chrissie Hynde's band formed in Hereford in 1978 (although Chrissie herself is from Ohio). Chrissie's the only Pretender who's been there the whole time, although drummer Martin Chambers has been along for most of the ride.
Here's a video in which Chrissie appears to have stumbled onto the set of Minder. Watch out for the over-literal representation of the word "Special" in the lyrics...
After Chrissie made it big, no other Pretenders came forward. But which are just pretenders, and which are the real deal?
The follow on to #2 on youtube was a belting r&b track by a group called The Barons. #3 was a bit of a strange listen, I thought for a while that there were two songs playing simultaneously; (2 and 4 are very good doo wop songs), #6 is a keeper, unlike 7 (total bobbins), #8 is a pleasant listen, as is #9. But using only the songs posted here, it's #6.
ReplyDelete#9 obviously but #6 in a close second. The songwriter Don Julian had a top ten hit the year before this came out with his band The Larks. The name of that hit? "The Jerk". Possibly not a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteMore about Don Julian: https://tims.blackcat.nl/messages/don_julian.htm
And here is the hit: https://youtu.be/LZLpZtcMAoU?si=c77NhfR4vdJ4heHY
The middle Lark in that video looks like a Thunderbird baddie
DeleteEvery time I start to think I spend far too much time on this nonsense, you two come along and prove me wrong.
ReplyDeleteMust confess I just listened to snippets and most sounded pretty fair to me if nothing special but... on which note... they're all pretenders to the throne of Chrissie et al.
ReplyDelete