Activist Chrissie Hynde finds time to rock

[Guest guest]

from

The San Francisco Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/ex_files/default.jsp?story=X1125PRETENDERSw

Publication date: 11/25/2002

Some kind of pretender BY TOM LANHAM

Special to The Examiner

Don't ever anger mighty Chrissie Hynde. Because

hell hath no fury like a Pretender scorned. Take, for

example, a faux pas that clothing chain the Gap made

last year, one that cost them dearly.

"They sent me a letter saying they wanted a song

for their 'everyone in leather' campaign," says Hynde,

a devout vegetarian and part-time animal-rights

activist. "So there were some good newspaper headlines

on the whole thing, like 'A Gap in their

intelligence.' "

But Hynde didn't stop at a polite refusal. With

her friends in PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment

of Animals), she undertook a cross-country protest of

the company's use of black-market leather from India,

where cattle are tortured just to keep them standing.

"We started in San Francisco, at Gap headquarters,

and we showed them the Pamela Anderson-narrated video

about the Indian leather trade," Hynde recalls. In

response, the firm promised to source its leather.

Hynde adds, "But we weren't interested in them

sourcing it. We wanted an unconditional guarantee that

they would no longer buy from India."

Vancouver. Chicago. Boston. The Pretender/PETA

picket hit Gap stores across the land, culminating in

a New York-outlet fracas where Hynde and cohorts took

over a showroom window, yanked leather apparel from

mannequins, and shredded it while chanting, "We won't

go until the cows come home."

"The police were finally forced to come in and

arrest us, so I spent the night in jail," she says

with pride. "And it wasn't the first time."

All in keeping with her philosophy: "Anything that

exploits animals, kills them or uses them in any way

is very evil and misguided, and it's got to be

stopped. There's a spirit in everything that lives,

and you have to let it run its own course, have its

own life. I don't even associate with meat-eaters if I

can help it."

So fur flew. And the Gap backed down, swore off

suspect hides from India and China.

It was another victory for Hynde, 51, who'd been

adding her clout to PETA causes for nearly a decade.

(Her will even authorizes PETA to, upon her death,

continue to use her image in any way it chooses.)

The Akron-born, London-based singer attended Kent

State in the early '70s, she says, "back when there

was a voice of dissent on campus. So now I don't

understand why all these other celebrities are doing

Gap ads -- maybe they didn't read Naomi Klein's 'No

Logo'."

Hynde kicks off her heels, curls into a hotel-room

chair, and rummages through her purse for photos of

herself onstage at PETA rallies around the globe.

Passing through the Bay Area a few weeks ago to

promote her latest outing with the Pretenders, "Loose

Screw," Hynde looked as ferocious as she did on that

famous cover shot from "Pretenders," her band's

buzz-sawing 1979 debut.

The hairstyle's still the same, so are the mascara

and sneer. "But there's nothing particularly tough

about me," she says. "I just play guitar in a rock

band, and I'm certainly one of the most crap

celebrities ever, because I don't like being fussed

over or being the center of attention."

Hynde has been enjoying a high profile lately.

With the Pretenders, she recently opened several dates

for the Rolling Stones, and she appeared on Lifetime's

recent "Women Rock" TV special, alongside Chaka Khan

and Gloria Estefan.

Not to mention the eclectic "Loose Screw," which

couples soaring ballads ("The Losing") with funky dub

("Complex Person,Nothing Breaks Like A Heart") and

a vintage guitar wallop worthy of original axmen Pete

Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott ("Lie To Me,Fools

Must Die").

"I just wanted a return to the good old days,"

says Hynde, who hung with the Vivienne

Westwood/Malcolm McLaren punk crowd after moving to

Britain in 1976. "Like when you go home and put a

record on because it's a blast, not because you wanna

get bummed out."

Hynde admits that her Stateside visit has been

something of a bummer. Her punk/activist dander up,

she likens America's current political climate to

"what it must've been like in Nazi Germany. There are

flags everywhere, there's intense patriotism,

everyone's afraid and people are being very careful

not to say anything out of line."

"Loose Screw" shies away from politics. But in

person, Hynde blasts her opinions. She swears that any

individual can make a difference by becoming

vegetarian, avoiding slaughterhouse by-products ("Buy

a pair of leather boots, wear 'em until they're worn

out"); taking public transportation; tuning into news

channels fed from other countries, not our

CNN-controlled own; and supporting causes like PETA.

She also believes that water will soon be worth

more than gold; a couple of companies will eventually

control all the media; there should be a $5 million

salary cap for the wealthy, with the overflow funneled

into free health care.

"I'm certainly not interested in any political

party that doesn't put the environment and animal

welfare at the top of its agenda," she adds.

With a hand-rolled cigarette hanging from her

lips, Hynde delivers her screed with such force, she

could run for office herself.

Does she feel like a survivor after all these

years and battles?

"Survivor? I don't know," she says, packing her

suitcases. "But I guess it's better to be a survivor

than be dead."

_______________________

http://www.examiner.com

"Live in peace with the animals. Animals bring love to our hearts, and warmth to our souls."

Colleen Klaum

"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." Immanuel Kant

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