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Viva El Amor!

Certain Songs #1643: Pretenders – “Legalise Me”

September 29, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Viva El Amor!
Year: 1999

. . .

My favorite song on Viva El Amor! — and one of my favorite Pretenders songs period — was buried on the second half of the album, and featured a ringer on lead guitar.

Kicking off with what sounds like electronic drumbeats before a shouted “1, 2, 3, 4!” brings Martin Chambers in for real, “Legalise Me” (using the British spelling, natch) is pure forward momentum, guitars beeping and buzzing and Chrissie Hynde singing about one of her favorite things, weed.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #1643: Pretenders – “Legalise Me”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Legalise Me, Pretenders, Viva El Amor!

Certain Songs #1642: Pretenders – “Popstar”

September 27, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Viva El Amor!
Year: 1999

. . .

Finally! After almost 15 years of not quite getting it right, the Pretenders were well and truly a band again — Chrissie Hynde and Martin Chambers now augmented by Adam Seymour on guitar and Andy Hobson on bass — and so they made their best album since Learning to Crawl.

The album, entitled Viva El Amor! after Sire balked at her original title, Biker, featured a number of strong performances, and their cover of the Divinyls “Human” even got some airplay. But by 1999, the guitar rock that Hynde specialized in was beginning to go out of vogue, something she addressed in the scathingly hilarious opening track, “Popstar.”

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #1642: Pretenders – “Popstar”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Popstar, Pretenders, Viva El Amor!

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2744: Todd Snider – “Thin Wild Mercury”
  • Certain Songs #2743: Todd Snider – “The Ballad of The Kingsmen”
  • Certain Songs #2742: Todd Snider – “Guaranteed”
  • Certain Songs #2741: Todd Snider – “My Generation (Part 2)”
  • Certain Songs #2740: Tobin Sprout – “All Used Up”

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