Songoftheday 2/17/15 - ... if I'm looking kind of dazzled, I see neon lights whenever you walk by...

"Don't Get Me Wrong" - The Pretenders
from the album Get Close (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's Song of the Day comes from the Pretenders, who had rebounded after the deaths of two of their members with their biggest album, Learning To Crawl, which spun off a top-5 pop hit with "Back On The Chain Gang" as well as two top-40 follow-ups in "Middle Of The Road" and "Show Me". However problems arose from the start in recording their follow-up album, Get Close, with original drummer Martin Chambers canned after one song, and bassist Malcolm Foster leaving as well. With lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Chrissie Hynde the sole remnant from the classic Pretenders lineup, studio musicians were subbed in to record the rest of the album until drummer Blair Cunningham (formerly of Haircut One Hundred) and T.M. Stevens were hired on as replacements. The first single, "Don't Get Me Wrong", pushed Hynde from her rock roots into a jangly proto-Britpop territory  with a video placing her in a mock-up of The Avengers...

"Don't Get Me Wrong" became the Pretenders' second top-10 pop hit in America in December of 1986. The single also was the act's first to go to #1 on the Mainstream Rock radio chart in Billboard, and even crossed over to the adult contemporary (or "easy listening") radio list at #28. Internationally, the record returned Chrissie to the top-10 for the first time in the UK since 1981, while making the top-10 in Australia and top-40 in Canada, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.

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An alternative version of the video was released that featured the band at least...

and finally, here's the Pretenders (with original drummer Martin Chambers returning) in 2009...

Up tomorrow: eclectic art-rock band has a crazy existence.