I had been fifteen for two months when I read a review in the January 19, 1980 issue of Billboard magazine of the debut album by Pretenders. I had been buying copies of Billboard for a while, tacking the over-sized Hot 100 and Top LP and Tapes charts on my wall each week. It was this review that inspired me to want this album.
The review read: "Led by American born Chrissie Hynde, English quartet plays raw and uncompromising new wave and avant-garde music. There are traces of Patti Smith and Velvet Underground in the songs with their bleak vistas and twisted images. "Precious," already popular in new wave circles, is not playable on the air because of language. The Lowe produced "Stop Your Sobbing" relieves the heavy atmosphere with its pop charm." (92)
I was attracted to the new wave sound, having fallen in love with Blondie's albums as well as The Cars, Nick Lowe, and Elvis Costello. I'm glad I gravitated to this album when I was fifteen: the songs felt authentic and like a New Wave to my teenage ears. The album's fitting, final track could be no other than the stunning "Mystery Achievement."
This was one of the first four albums I bought on cassette instead of vinyl, after Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, followed by the debut by The Romantics, and Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle.
Today, the music still sounds as modern and satisfying as it did 45 years ago, when I was playing the tape on the Montgomery Ward cassette player my parents had gotten me for Christmas.
