Chrissie Hynde
Photo: MTV News

Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde puzzled fans and colleagues alike when she announced from a New York stage on Saturday that the band was playing "one of our last shows ... ever." Were the Pretenders, who'd just released a box set covering their 27-year career, now calling it quits? Or was it just an April Fools' Day joke?

It turns out that the reports of the Pretenders' demise were, if not exactly exaggerated, at least premature, as Hynde later clarified.

"When I said this is our last show, I meant this is the last show of this tour," she said in a statement released Wednesday (April 5). "I think I said I am real tired, but maybe I was so tired that it sounded like I'm retired. I often think about leaving everything and spending the rest of my days on a beach somewhere, but then, who doesn't?"

Hynde had alluded to the lure of warm beaches when MTV News asked her about the band's future at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, last month. "I'm a rocker — I don't want to work. I want to goof off," Hynde said. "So if it feels fun, I'll do it, and if I'm doing other things — like hanging out on a beach in South America — that suits me, too."

That South by Southwest showcase was the very reason the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers (see "U2, Pretenders Among Rock Hall Inductees; Grandmaster Flash, Sex Pistols Denied") had launched their tour in the first place. Traveling from England for just one show in Texas didn't make financial sense, even to promote the Pirate Radio box set, so they booked a 12-date tour, which wrapped on April 2 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

"That's how I like it, to just break even," Hynde said. "Keep the thing moving along nice and keep it as small as possible, and not get too crazy.

"The thing between you and the audience, it's an intimate relationship, and no one can take that away," she continued. "I don't know about the Internet and all that business. It's not my thing — I've never really been on the Internet; I don't even care about it. But the show — not in a stadium, not on a screen — when you're standing there and you can see the band and they can see you, to me, that's my favorite thing. What could be better than that?"

While Hynde said that putting out a career retrospective feels like a "preemptive early retirement," she decided to get involved with Pirate Radio because "it was going to happen with or without me." Each disc contains 20 songs — including classics such as "Brass in Pocket," "Back on the Chain Gang," "Night in My Veins" and "Don't Get Me Wrong" — but fans will probably be more interested in the rarities, which include demos of "Precious" and "Watching the Clothes," alternate versions of "When I Change My Life" and "Worlds Within Worlds," and covers of Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done," Morrissey's "Everyday Is Like Sunday" and the rock classic "Louie, Louie."

Hynde is forthcoming about the quality of these newly released tracks: "Some [are] good, some not so good," she said. "Some stuff people who bought the Pretenders records won't have, and those who haven't any records [will get] some idea what we've been up to."

As for what the Pretenders will be up to next, Hynde said she has no idea, noting that she doesn't feel pressure to record a new album anytime soon. "We'll see," she said. "If this [tour] feels really good, when I get around to it, we'll put some songs together. I don't have any plans and I'm not bothered about that. If it happens, it happens."

• The Pretenders

Bono at the 2005 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony

NEW YORK — Amongst the gilded walls and crystal chandeliers of the grandiose Waldorf Astoria hotel there stood the sons of sharecroppers and ministers, cotton farmers and postmen. Grown-up kids from deepest Alabama and southernmost Ireland, in tuxedos and wraparound shades, clutched shiny black trophies and turned — left! now center! now right! — for throngs of popping flashbulbs, each of them different, yet with so much in common: They were all members of the 2005 class of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (Click for photos from the event.)

Of course, Dublin, Ireland's U2 topped the list of honorees at Monday night's ceremony. Bono was like a politician and a priest all rolled into one, shaking reporters' hands and fielding question after question about his supposed run for the presidency of the World Bank. But there were also the Pretenders, the new wave/rock quartet made up of three nice lads from England and one badass chick from Ohio, and another group of Ohio players — the O'Jays — funk and soul hitmakers so prodigious that none other than Justin Timberlake himself chose to deliver their induction speech.

And then there was Buddy Guy, the elder blues statesman who, even while pushing 70, could still

	Click for photos from the event.

teach Jack White a thing or three about coaxing every guttural squeal out of an old electric guitar. And sweet-faced Percy Sledge, whose soul standard "When a Man Loves a Woman" proved good enough to chart as a hit in three different decades. And there was a label man (Sire's Seymour Stein) and a booking agent (Frank Barsalona), all gathered at a bizarre yet sweetly nostalgic ceremony honoring (while ignoring large chunks of) rock's past.

For all the talk of acts that the Hall has snubbed — the Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath, Patti Smith, Television — perhaps it's best to focus on the artists honored. Sure, it can be stuffy and grandfatherly, but judging by Monday's awards, it can also be fun, funky and even downright profane.

Witness Ice-T — who inducted his former label boss Stein — and let fly with an impressive string of profanities that ended with the send off "And now, without further ado, here's my mother----ing n---a, Seymour Stein!" Or the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, who, while waiting for drummer Martin Chambers to set up his kit, told a fabulously dirty joke about a guy, his wife and a duck.

There was the raw, ripping live performance featuring Guy, B.B. King and Eric Clapton, which brought the house down and the crowd to its feet. Guy howled and stomped around the mic, bending notes out of his lips and his hips and moaning "Damn right, I got the blues." And a spry Jerry Lee Lewis, who took about 0.8 seconds to launch into a dirty boogie-woogie version of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On."

But that was the past. Rock's present and future were on display, too. Timberlake — dressed in a natty black suit and shiny white kicks — seemed like a somewhat nervous, honest-to-goodness fanboy when he inducted the O'Jays. He quoted their greatest hits ("Back Stabbers," "Love Train") and then urged everybody to "get your butts out of your seats for the O'Jays!" And in a move many attributed to him not wanting to snatch the spotlight away from the act he had just praised, JT pulled a no-show in the backstage pressroom, a prime example of the present paying homage to the past.

The greatest amount of tribute, though, was reserved for U2. Bruce Springsteen inducted them, giving a smart speech that poked fun at Bono's "Irish mullet" and "shaman/spinster" tendencies, but also heaped praise on his powerful-yet-doubting voice, the Edge's icy guitar and the "sensuality" of the band's rhythm section. And when the bandmembers strode to the podium, they seemed genuinely touched by the honor. Bono was humble and witty, referring to the evening as "an Irish wedding" (complete with, as he put it "the O'Jays, from West Ireland.") The Edge took reading a thank-you list to new technological heights when he whipped out a BlackBerry, and Larry Mullen Jr. said what was on a lot of people's minds when he gave shout-outs to punk pioneers Television, Smith and the Pistols, artists that were, he said, "in our own rock and roll hall of fame."

And that was kind of the point of the whole evening. There were some dull moments: a video package showing the "greatest moments" from the Hall's previous 19 inductions seemed to prove that neither Clapton nor Springsteen are ever too busy to pass up a good ceremony, and some of the performances took exorbitantly long to set up for. Then there was the issue of those not just in rock and punk, but in hip-hop and R&B as well, that the Hall has snubbed (see "U2, Pretenders Among Rock Hall Inductees; Grandmaster Flash, Sex Pistols Denied"). But as U2 closed the evening out with a thunderous performance — Bono walking amidst the guests dinner tables, flubbing an occasional line, grabbing champagne and spraying it into the air — it was grandiose, a bit imperfect, sexualized and silly.

Just like the Rock Hall itself.

• U2
• Bruce Springsteen
• Justin Timberlake
• The Pretenders
• Ice-T

U2 (file)
Photo: U2.com

Twenty-five years after the release of their debut — and just weeks after they topped the charts with their latest album — it's been announced that U2 will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Irish rockers lead the 20th anniversary class of inductees, which also includes R&B vocal group the O'Jays, soul singer Percy Sledge, the Pretenders and blues guitarist Buddy Guy (see "U2, Grandmaster Flash, Sex Pistols Lead Rock Hall Of Fame Nominees").

The class of 2005 will be inducted at a ceremony on March 14 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

U2, who formed in 1976 as teenagers in Dublin, Ireland, released Boy in 1980 and became one of the biggest and most iconic bands in the history of rock by the mid-1980s, thanks to such landmark hits as "With or Without You," "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday."

The O'Jays had a string of hits in the 1970s, including the smash "Love Train," while soul-stirring singer Percy Sledge is known for his signature ballad, "When a Man Loves a Woman."

The Pretenders, led by the smoky-voiced singer Chrissie Hynde, are known for such hits as "Brass in Pocket" and "Back on the Chain Gang." Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy has been a force on the electric guitar for more than 25 years, influencing everyone from Eric Clapton to Jimi Hendrix with his energetic playing and wild stage show.

Passed over for the Hall of Fame were legendary British punk rockers the Sex Pistols, whose singer, John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten), once said the Cleveland museum is where "old rockers go to die." The Pistols were among a group of 10 artists who were eligible for induction but passed over this year.

Fellow punkers Patti Smith and the Stooges also didn't make the final cut, along with Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd and one of the pioneering acts in hip-hop history, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, who would have been the first rap act to be inducted into the hall.

Inductees in the non-performer category include early rock and roll booking agent Frank Barsalona (Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen) and Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein, known for signing everyone from Madonna and the Ramones to the Talking Heads.

Artists are eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record.

• U2
• The Pretenders
• Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
• The Sex Pistols

One way to make it in this business is by having a great voice. Another is to marry a big-cheese music mogul. Latin pop singer Thalia has both bases covered.

With nearly a decade's worth of albums in her wake, the Mexican singer/actress, who wed former Sony Music chief Tommy Mottola in 2000, is dropping her first English language album, Thalia. Thalia, following in the crossover footsteps of Shakira and the aisle-walking ones of Mariah Carey, is poised to break in the States thanks to a lead afforded by the single "I Want You," featuring Fat Joe.

With momentum of the quirky, cute and incredibly infectious "Cameltoe" behind them, Brooklyn quintet Fannypack have released their debut, So Stylistic. Three female singers and two male DJs using old-school beats and rhymes as hot as the weather, Fannypack may have created the party album of the summer (see " 'Cameltoe' Making An Impression On Booty Shakers, Bagel Buyers").

While it's not entirely new Used material, the Utah quartet's Maybe Memories features live tracks and outtakes from the Used's self-titled debut as well as the demos of unreleased tracks "It Could Be a Good Excuse" and "Zero Mechanism." The CD/DVD package also includes more than 100 minutes of home video footage and the band's four videos (see "The Used Offer Old 'Memories' In New CD/DVD Package").

Beth Orton takes on a cover of Cat Stevens' "Wild World," which is then followed by the original, on the soundtrack to "How To Deal." Sky Sweetman's "Billy S.," as wall as tracks from the Donnas, Flaming Lips, John Mayer and Liz Phair are also included.

Wu-Tang associate Killah Priest returns to the pulpit with Black August, the rapper's fourth album, and former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth is out to prove that he can still kick it in spandex on his seventh solo album, Diamond Dave.

Here's what notable releases drop this week:

Out Tuesday, July 8:

• 10 Foot Ganja - Plant Midnight Landing (ROIR)
• Aceyalone & Abstract Rude - Lab Down Under  (Basement)
• Bardo Pond - On the Ellipse (ATP)
• Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Save My Soul (Vanguard)
• The Clientele - Violet Hour (Merge)
• Club 8 - Strangely Beautiful (Hidden Agenda)
• Faith and the Muse - The Burning Season (Metropolis)
• Fannypack - So Stylistic (Tommy Boy)
• Fictional - Fiction (Metropolis)
• Figure Four - Suffering the Loss (Solid State)
• The Flesh - Death Connection (EP, Kanine)
• Grand Incredible - GI-gantic (BEC/Tooth & Nail)
• Colin Hay - Man at Work (Compass)
• cEvin Key/Ken Marshall - The Dragon Experience (Metropolis)
• Killah Priest - Black August (Recon)
• Klute - Lie, Cheat & Steal/You Should Be Ashamed (Breakbeat Science)
• Kris Kristofferson - Broken Freedom Song: Live from San Francisco (Oh Boy!)
• Vic Latino - Summer Vibes (Tommy Boy)
• The Magic Band - Back to the Front (ATP)
• Peter Malick - New York City (EP, Koch)
• Mêlée - Against the Tide (EP, Hopeless)
• Ras Michael - A Weh Dem a Go Do Wid It (ROIR)
• Sarah Jane Morris - Love and Pain (Instinct)
• Pretenders - Time Remixes by Junior Vasquez (EP, Artemis)
• David Lee Roth - Diamond Dave (Magna Carta)
• The Shocker - Up Your Ass Tray (EP, Little Pusher/Oglio)
• Slick Shoes - Far from Nowhere (SideOneDummy)
• Sparks - Lil' Beethoven (Palm Pictures)
• Thalia - Thalia (Virgin)
• Tractor Kings - Gone to Heaven (Mud/Parasol)
• TV on the Radio - Young Liars (Touch and Go)
• Unto Ashes - Empty Into White (Projekt)
• The Used - Maybe Memories (Warner Bros.)
  Read "The Used Offer Old 'Memories' In New CD/DVD Package"
  Buy Now: Maybe Memories (Warner Bros.)
  
• Von Zippers - The Crime Is Now (Estrus)
• Woggles - Ragged but Right (Telstar)
• Woke Up Falling - It's Only Your Ghost (EP, Post436)
• Yes - Remix Album (Rhino)
• Various artists - A Mess of Our Favorites, Vol. 2 (Paisley Pop)
• Various artists - Get the Blues 2 (NARM)
• Various artists - "How to Deal" soundtrack (Capitol)
• Various artists - Latin Christmas (Concord Picante)
• Various artists - Live at Telluride (Frog Pad)
• Various artists - "Rise — The Story of Rave Outlaw Disco Donnie" soundtrack (Utensil)

July 15:

• Chingy - Jackpot (Capitol)
  Read: "Chingy Set To Hit The Jackpot With Ludacris, Murphy Lee"
• Keith Murray - He's Keith Murray (Def Jam)
• RX Bandits - The Resignation (Drive-Thru/MCA)
• Various artists - "Bad Boys II" soundtrack (Bad Boy)
  Read: "50 Cent, Biggie, Justin Timberlake On 'Bad Boys 2' Soundtrack"

July 22:

• Jane's Addiction - Strays (Capitol)
  Read: "Jane's Addiction Breathe, Gush And Pump All Over Hypersonic"
  Buy Now: Strays (Capitol)
  
• Kiss - Symphony: Alive IV (Sanctuary)
  Buy Now: Symphony: Alive IV (Sanctuary)
  

August 5:

• Various artists - The Neptunes Present: Clones (Arista)
  Read: "Summer Music Preview: Neptunes' Star Trak Presents ... Clones"

August 19:

• Tamia - Still (Elektra)

September 2:

• Mariah Carey - Remixes (Sony)

• FannyPack
• The Used
• Killah Priest
• Thalia
• Mandy Moore

Truly nailing a cover song — bringing something new to it while remaining true to the original's vision — is always a tricky proposition.

But when the track you're covering is a beloved creation from lyric master Bruce Springsteen, well that's an even tougher challenge, according to Mavericks guitarist Raul Malo.

"You can think too much," said Malo, 35. He recently recorded the Boss' "Downbound Train" for Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, due Tuesday on Sub Pop. "You can think yourself out of doing the song, and that's what was starting to happen. I just went for it."

For rock singer/songwriter Ben Harper, Nebraska is a textbook study in emotion expressed in choice details. He covered "My Father's House," and in the song the house becomes a symbol for an unreconciled relationship between father and son.

"'My Father's House' could be the house of God, Heaven," Harper, 31, said. "Or 'My Father's House' could be seeking this relationship with my father. Men have been struggling to know their fathers for years. My relationship is no different from that. It comes extremely close, if not nails my relationship with my father. He's singing to me about my dad as far as I'm concerned."

Although Nebraska is not Springsteen's best-selling album, it is widely recognized as one of the Boss' best.

Malo said it's an inspirational collection for musicians in particular, and not just for its aesthetic qualities. Coming after Springsteen's first top-10 hit in 1980 with The River's "Hungry Heart," a somber, home recording like Nebraska wasn't what most folks had in mind for Springsteen's next move.

"It blew the doors off the [record company's] expectations," Malo said. "You know what I love about a guy like that? He really does whatever he wants, and he fights for what he wants to do. That speaks volumes about an artist, that he goes against what's expected of him, and does what he thinks in his heart is the best course of action to take. That's what Nebraska represents to me."

• Johnny Cash
• Ani DiFranco
• The Pretenders
• Bruce Springsteen

On May 23, The Pretenders' lead singer Chrissie Hynde faced a judge in Manhattan Criminal Court and was told to stay out of trouble for six months if she wants her recent arrest for protesting against leather goods in a Gap clothing store to be dismissed, according to the Reuters news service.

As we previously reported, Hynde and three other supporters of the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) were arrested in March for allegedly entering a Gap store in New York City and destroying many of the store's leather and suede garments to protest the store's use of leather from India, where cattle are considered holy (see "UPDATE: Chrissie Hynde Arrested For PETA Protest").

During her appearance in court, Judge James Sullivan told Hynde and the other individuals involved with destroying the Gap's property that the criminal record against them will be sealed, and the case dismissed, if the trio is not arrested during the next six months.

Following the appearance, Hynde was reportedly defiant while addressing reporters outside Manhattan Criminal Court, saying, "We're glad we made our point. We highlighted an issue."

• The Pretenders

Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde was arrested in New York City on Thursday after slashing up leather goods at a Gap store in Manhattan as part of a protest organized by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

• The Pretenders

The smooth-voiced men of 98 Degrees will be in prestigious company Thursday night when they perform alongside a group of musical legends at a concert in New York City to honor the work of Carole King.

-- Kara Manning

• Babyface
• The Pretenders
• Carole King
• 98 Degrees

Witchy woman Stevie Nicks and the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde have been confirmed for next week's "Sheryl Crow And Friends" concert in New York City's Central Park, although David Bowie will be unable to attend, despite earlier rumors to the contrary.

-- David Basham

• Sheryl Crow
• Fleetwood Mac
• The Pretenders
• Stevie Nicks

The Pretenders make a return to store racks this week with "Viva El Amor!" It's the band's first album since 1995's live offering "The Isle of View" and its first collection of new material since 1994's "Last of the Independents."

• The Pretenders

Rihanna, Quentin Tarantino, More At "Inglourious Basterds" U.K. Premiere

• The Pretenders
• Rihanna

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 2005 Induction Ceremony

• U2
• Bruce Springsteen
• Justin Timberlake
• The Pretenders
• Ice-T