- Writer: Chrissie Hynde
- Producer: Chris Thomas
- Recorded: Summer and fall 1979 in London
- Released: January 1980
- Players:
Chrissie Hynde — vocals, guitar, harmonica
James Honeyman-Scott — guitar, vocals
Pete Farndon — bass, vocals
Martin Chambers — drums, vocals - Album: Pretenders (Sire, 1980)
- Also On: Pirate Radio (Sire/Rhino, 2006)
- “Mystery Achievement” was the closing track of the Pretenders‘ self-titled debut album in 1980.
- The group formed in 1978, led by Chrissie Hynde — an expatriate from Akron, Ohio, who moved to London to write for New Musical Express and work in Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren‘s clothing store, which was called Sex.
- The Pretenders’ first single was a 1979 cover of the Kinks‘ “Stop Your Sobbing.” Hynde began dating Kinks leader Ray Davies a year later and had a daughter with him in 1983, though they never married.
- Pretenders reached Number Nine on the Billboard 200, while it was a Number One hit in the U.K.
FAST FORWARD:
- Lead guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died of a drug overdose on June 16th, 1982.
- Bassist Pete Farndon, who at one time was Hynde’s boyfriend, died of a drug overdose on April 14th, 1983, shortly after he was kicked out of the band.
- During the Learning To Crawl tour, Hynde met Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr and, after a whirlwind romance, married him in May 1984. They later divorced.
- Hynde continues to lead the Pretenders, and Chambers is still in the band.
- Hynde is active in the animal-rights field as a member of PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals).
- The band’s latest studio album was 2002’s Loose Screw.
- The Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.