"MIDDLE OF THE ROAD" ● The Pretenders
THE PRETENDERS / Adam Seymour, Martin Chambers, Chrissie Hynde, Andy Hobson / Sire Records - Warner Bros. 1994 / photo credit: Simon Fowler / IVOX MEDIA collection
"MIDDLE OF THE ROAD" ● The Pretenders
The Song● Middle of the Road
Writer● Chrissie Hynde
Producer● Chris Thomas
Recorded● Summer 1983 at AIR Studios in London
Released● Fall 1983
Players●
:: Chrissie Hynde -- vocals, guitar, harmonica
:: Robbie McIntosh -- guitar, vocals
:: Malcolm Foster -- bass, vocals
:: Martin Chambers -- drums, vocals
Album● Learning To Crawl (Sire, 1983)
Also On● The Singles (Sire, 1987)
Learning to Crawl ● The Pretenders
Learning to Crawl is The Pretenders third studio album. It was released on January 13, 1984, by Sire Records after a hiatus during which band members James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon died of drug overdoses. The album's title of "Learning to Crawl" was given in honor of Chrissie Hynde's then-infant daughter, Natalie Rae Hynde. She was learning to crawl at the time that Hynde was trying to determine a title for the album.
The Song, "Middle Of The Road" was the first single from the Pretenders' third album. The song has an autobiographical edge, as Pretenders leader Chrissie Hynde reflects on events of the recent past -- including the deaths of her former bandmates Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott and the February 1983 birth of Natalie, her daughter with Kinks frontman Ray Davies.
The Learning To Crawl album introduced new Pretenders Robbie McIntosh on guitar and Malcolm Foster on bass. The album peaked at Number Five on the Billboard 200 -- the group's best showing ever -- and at Number 11 on the U.K. album chart.
Learning To Crawl also launched two other hit singles, "Show Me" and a remake of the Persuaders' "Thin Line Between Love And Hate," as well as the holiday perennial "2000 Miles." It also included the hit "Back On The Chain Gang," which had been recorded and released in 1982.
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