How the Pretenders Attempted to Move Forward With ‘2000 Miles’

Not each vacation tune is pleased. Elvis Presley waxed poetic about his yuletide loneliness in “Blue Christmas,” Joni Mitchell cursed herself for leaving an incomparable lover in “River,” the Eagles begged for his or her child to come again in “Please Come Home for Christmas.”

And the Pretenders mourned the lack of one in every of their very own in “2000 Miles.” “The snow is falling down / Gets colder day by day / I miss you,” Chrissie Hynde sings in the first verse, however she seemingly wasn’t fascinated about a former lover.

“2000 Miles” was written following the demise of Pretenders guitarist James Honeyman-Scott. In 1982, at the age of 25, Honeyman-Scott was discovered lifeless, the results of a drug overdose. It was a crushing loss for the remainder of the band, and significantly for Hynde. Though they’d solely identified one another since 1978 — 4 quick years — there had been an unequivocal musical connection between them.

“James Honeyman-Scott is the reason you’re even reading this,” she wrote years later in her 2015 autobiography, Reckless, “because, without him, I’m sure I would have made only the smallest splash with my talents – probably nothing very memorable.”

The Pretenders, Without James Honeyman-Scott

Sometimes, the factor that makes life the most bearable in the face of loss is the easy continuation of it.

For Hynde, a part of that meant attempting to reconcile with the approach the earlier 4 years had gone. The Pretenders had loved a great deal of success — their 1980 self-titled debut went to No. 1 in the U.Ok. and No. 9 in the U.S., Pretenders II in 1981 additionally made the prime 10 in each nations, plus loads of TV appearances and hit singles.

When requested in 1981 if fame was what he’d imagined it to be, Honeyman-Scott did not hesitate: “Oh, yeah! Non-stop partying, yes. Yes, it was exactly as I imagined it – it all happened.”

READ MORE: How the Pretenders Roared to Life With a Career-Making Debut

That was the 12 months earlier than bassist Pete Farndon was fired from the band due to his escalating drug use. His departure date fell on June 14, 1982. Two days later, Honeyman-Scott was lifeless. It was the precise situation Hynde had hoped to keep away from and would later really feel she did not precisely do a lot to cease.

“Well, I didn’t discourage the drug-taking, and I was part of it,” she advised Record Collector in 2023. “So, you know, not that I was their mother, and we went on the road, and it was very hardcore.” (Farndon himself died at the age of the 30 the very subsequent 12 months, having drowned in the bathtub after a heroin overdose.)

“I am guilty,” Hynde stated. “It’s not a big word if you are guilty. It’s big if you feel guilty and you’re not guilty. But if you really are guilty, then you should put your hand up and say, ‘Guilty as charged.'”