It is the final album by the original line-up, as the following year bassist Pete Farndon was dismissed and guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died in the same week.

Pretenders II was released two months later to mixed critical reception arguably because many of the songs were viewed as too similar to (though not quite as groundbreaking as) the band's debut.

"Talk of the Town", though rumoured to be about her relationship with Davies,[14] was inspired by a fan Hynde had encountered on the band's first tour and whom she regretted not speaking to at the time.

[15] The album also includes the sexually-forward tunes "Bad Boys Get Spanked" and "The Adultress", with perhaps the album's most ambitious track, "Day After Day" spinning a common second-album narrative of unaccustomed celebrity, with the band rushing from gig to gig, hotel to hotel, head-spun from the swiftness of it all.

Tracks 1-15 on the reissue bonus disc were recorded at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium 4 September 1981The Pretenders Additional personnel Technical ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.