Which album, Which song?
They kind of wandered all over the territory, not quite absolute anything.
Reading the same thread I posted in multiple times 9 years ago… I really need to get a life! :smack:
I hear ya. I saw this thread come up and recalled posting to it I was thinking “uh oh, any egregious missteps??” but I actually still agree with younger me 
Same here - up until I apparently misattributed a quote to the wrong Cash! :o
I’m laughing so hard, I’m crying. They are tears. My teenager sends me messages with some emojis sometimes and I ask her the same question.
I remember it was sophomore year in college, because I can picture the posters on the dorm walls. One debate was who was hotter (and whose music better) Deb Harry or Chrissie Hynde.
I was firmly in the CH camp on both points. But since i brought up the Pretenders, how would folk classify THEIR music?
I repeat - much of what was/is characterized as New Wave was my fave at a time at which I and my friends were music obsessed, and we thought it a meaningless term.
The Pretenders are Punk and anyone who says otherwise is incorrect. 
And yeah Chrissie was my favorite as well over Debbie Harry. Edgier and harder edged music - yay. And both are strong female personas but Chrissie is more badass.
I was actually thinking about this while re-reading this thread, but wasn’t sure how to incorporate the question into the topic. I’d say the early stuff (first two albums) was more punk and the post-punk side of New Wave, while the following albums a bit more on the polished side of New Wave, if that makes any sense.
Yes, Learning to Crawl is New Wave (man).
Punks don’t sing Christmas songs.
Meh, they sing Sinatra. There are no rules and in punk
I am going back to the point of my post on the first page: The Pretenders were part of the U.K. Punk scene The fact that there music evolved, yeah, that’s where the categories get slippery.
How about the Goo Goo Dolls ;).
Sure they do![spoiler]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zgol2NQhlM[/spoiler]
Good lord, folks! Give it a rest for another 9 years or so! 
Woah, talk about category bending. I saw them do a great punk show that included a great mid-tempo punk version of “My Girl”. Then three years later, a drummer I know is becoming their new drummer during their Adult Contemporary phase.
Is anybody punk? Depends on what day you’re talking about.
I was going to say The Zombies, but I think they are more 60s psychedelic pop.
Buffalo, NY traditional alt-rock.
Eat to the Beat is Blondie’s punk side
Call Me isn’t.
The Goo Goo Dolls were basically the Replacements run through a xerox machine.
[throws gloves down]
I’ll disagree with you both: the Pretenders were a straight up pop/rock band, like The Cars. Timeliness doesn’t signify genre. (Blondie was a straight up pop/rock band, too, IMO).
I don’t know. Their early stuff really had some arty and weird beats that aren’t straight-up pop/rock. Like “The Phone Call” with its post-punky hurky jerky rhythms (in 7/8), or “Tatooed Love Boys” with its odd oscillation between 4/4 and 7/8, or “Precious” with its percussive punk vibe. Of course, they had more pop rocky numbers on those albums, too, but there was a punk and post-punk sensibility that doesn’t sound like straight-ahead pop/rock to me on those albums especially.
Genre-wise, I have no quarrel with you guys. But they were part of the London/ U.K. Punk scene alongside the Clash, the SP’s and many others.
Just like Blondie was part of the NY Punk scene. I get that history will favor the genre approach and probably should - it’s clearer. . But to just leave off the fact that bands like Talking Heads, Blondie and The Pretenders were OP’s (Original Punks ;)) feels incomplete.
I’m happy to leave it there.