The Pretenders’ Hit Chrissie Hynde Was Reluctant To Record

Here’s a thought experiment: What would happen if a popular band had avoided releasing its most popular song? That could have been a reality for The Pretenders when frontwoman Chrissie Hynde nearly refused to release “Brass In Pocket”. Thankfully she didn’t. But here’s how her band’s breakout hit almost didn’t happen.

Aiming for the Motown Sound

Written by Hynde and guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, “Brass In Pocket” became the Pretenders’ first No. 1 single. It was also the first U.K. No. 1 of the 1980s as the band’s self-titled debut ushered in a new era of jangly rock and roll. But Hynde really didn’t want to release the song.

“I did not like it at first. I said that would go out over my dead body. That was my famous quote,” she told American Songwriter in 2020. “I didn’t like it because I didn’t think I knew what it was. I thought it sounded like it was trying to be a Motown song, but it didn’t quite get it. It didn’t quite make it,” she said.

Though she liked Honeyman-Scott’s riff, Hynde was bashful about the sound of her voice. Still, she’s grateful for “Brass In Pocket” and how it helped sustain, as hit songs tend to do, the Pretenders’ career.

What Does It Mean?

The title originated with a Northern musician who had dropped a suit off to be dry-cleaned and asked, “Was there any brass in pocket?” Hynde liked the phrase and combined it with a Cockney slang for “a**.”

“So bottle and glass rhymes with a**. In England, to say somebody has a lot of a**, they have a lot of funk. So you say, ‘That guy has a lot of bottle’,” she explained.

Got brass in pocket,
Got bottle, I’m gonna use it.
Intention, I feel inventive,
Gonna make you, make you, make you notice.

The Pretenders’ debut topped the U.K. albums chart and reached the Top 10 in the U.S. It was a pivotal release as punk, post-punk, and new wave bands were redefining rock music.

Along with tracks like “Kid”, “Precious”, and “Stop Your Sobbing”, “Brass In Pocket” may have echoed the music of the 1960s, but it remains an 80s touchstone.

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