MUSIC: Real Thing

As a woman rocker leading an otherwise all-male band, Chrissie Hynde has long been one of pop music's most fascinating and contradictory figures. Fond of skintight jeans, torn T shirts and excessive amounts of black eye shadow, she combines a punkish disdain for the world with an expressive, let's-get-it-on sexuality. As the songwriter and singer of the Pretenders, she manages to create buoyant, invigorating rock 'n' roll by weaving pop music's tunefulness with punk's aggressive energy. With pulsing, loping guitar work and a ragged- edged style that retains the sound of a great garage band, the Pretenders' early records produced an...