Songoftheday 5/29/13 - But when you own a big chunk of the bloody third world the babies just come with the scenery...

The Pretenders - "Middle Of The Road"
from the album Learning To Crawl (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #19 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9

Today's Song of the Day is by the alt-rock pioneers the Pretenders, led by Chrissie Hynde, who after losing two of her former members to overdose in the early 80s, regrouped with the stoic "Back On The Chain Gang", which became the biggest hit in the group's career in 1983. They recorded a new full-length album for release in early 1984, when Chrissie gave birth to a son with the Kinks' Ray Davies. The next single from the set after "Back.." was a welcome return to their punkish roots with "Middle Of The Road", written by Hynde and produced by Chris Thomas, and featured new band members Robbie McIntosh and Malcolm Foster...

"Middle Of The Road" became the band's third top-20 hit in February of 1984, while also going all the way to #2 on rock radio (up till then, their highest rank). In Canada, it did even better, peaking at #12, but in England it stalled down at #81. The Learning To Crawl album, though, was huge, reaching the top-5 in the spring of '84.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


The Pretenders performed "Middle Of The Road" during their set at the iconic Live Aid concert...

...and here they are more recently live...

...and for an added treat, here's Shirley Manson, Iggy Pop, and more with the Pretenders covering the song for VH1...

Up tomorrow: Dance music becomes "hip" to play again with the first bonafide "freestyle" hit from a singer from Washington DC....