Since she was 14 years old, Chrissie Hynde knew she had to leave Akron, Ohio. Her perfect 1950s American childhood was overturned by a newfound taste for rock 'n' roll, motorcycles, and the 'get down boys' she saw at concerts in the Cleveland area — with names like Mitch Ryder, the Jeff Beck Group, the Velvet Underground, and David Bowie influencing her. Entangled in the turbulent times of Kent State University and dangerously involved in the local motorcycle and drug scene, she fled to Mexico, Canada, Paris, and eventually London, where she found herself on the back of the emerging punk scene, before managing to form her own band, the Pretenders. Names like Iggy Pop, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Vivienne & Malcolm, Ray Davies parade across every page as we move from room to biker hangout, from squat to rehearsal space, from beer to concerts to Top Of The Pops – the long and crooked path to glory, and for the Pretenders, ultimately, tragedy. That Chrissie Hynde is alive to tell her story is, as she admits, a miracle. With unprecedented honesty, laugh-out-loud humor, and always with high entertainment, she has written one of the most iconic and vivid music autobiographies published in recent years.
Pages: 448, Dimensions: 12.6x12.6cm
