Recorded in the wake of tragedy, The Pretenders' Learning To Crawl was an indestructible triumph of sheer will

The Pretenders.

The Pretenders might easily have folded after lead guitarist James Honeyman-Scott’s sudden death in June 1982 – two days after the sacking of bassist Pete Farndon (who would also expire within months). But Honeyman-Scott’s influence continued to shape the band’s immediate future. 

“For a long time afterwards, I had such a strong sense of him,” Chrissie Hynde explained to Classic Rock in 2014. “All my musical decisions were still based on what he would do. ‘Who would Jimmy get to play this? He’d get Billy Bremner.’ I always knew the kind of thing Jimmy would like.”