The Pretenders' "Boots Of Chinese Plastic" the first single off the band's ninth studio album, the Shangri-La Music release Break Up The Concrete, and the album dethroned Coldplay for #1 at the AAA Chart according to FMQB.
Fueled by the single, great press and a unique on-line campaign the album sold over 16,000's in its first week, doubling the number of copies of the band's previous album album Loose Screw, this all achieved in a depressed album sales market which is down over 40% from six years ago when the previous album was released.
Break Up The Concrete's 11 songs were recorded in 12 days making for an album both gritty and immediate which recalls the band's earliest days. Hynde, along with the other Pretenders: guitarist James Walbourne, bassist Nick Wilkinson and long time drummer Martin Chambers introduced new songs from the album on Late Show With David Letterman and the Today Show week of release.
Shangri-la Music took an unprecedented step of giving a new MP3 download per week leading up to the release of the vinyl album. 11 different partners made available a different song each week with AOL/Spinner, Apple Quicktime, Clear Channel, CMT, iLike, iMeem, MP3.com/Download.com, MSN Windows Media, Vh1 Classic, Yahoo, and CBS Radio Online all making downloads available creating a buzz and anticipation that no Pretenders album has had in over a decade.
Print press has been buzzing with positive reviews and features in places like Rolling Stone, Spin, Blender, and Pitchfork along with dailies USA Today, New York Times, New York Daily News, Boston Herald, Cleveland Plain Dealer. The New Yorker commented, "...Hynde has written a superb set of songs here."
Fueled by the single, great press and a unique on-line campaign the album sold over 16,000's in its first week, doubling the number of copies of the band's previous album album Loose Screw, this all achieved in a depressed album sales market which is down over 40% from six years ago when the previous album was released.
Break Up The Concrete's 11 songs were recorded in 12 days making for an album both gritty and immediate which recalls the band's earliest days. Hynde, along with the other Pretenders: guitarist James Walbourne, bassist Nick Wilkinson and long time drummer Martin Chambers introduced new songs from the album on Late Show With David Letterman and the Today Show week of release.
Shangri-la Music took an unprecedented step of giving a new MP3 download per week leading up to the release of the vinyl album. 11 different partners made available a different song each week with AOL/Spinner, Apple Quicktime, Clear Channel, CMT, iLike, iMeem, MP3.com/Download.com, MSN Windows Media, Vh1 Classic, Yahoo, and CBS Radio Online all making downloads available creating a buzz and anticipation that no Pretenders album has had in over a decade.
Print press has been buzzing with positive reviews and features in places like Rolling Stone, Spin, Blender, and Pitchfork along with dailies USA Today, New York Times, New York Daily News, Boston Herald, Cleveland Plain Dealer. The New Yorker commented, "...Hynde has written a superb set of songs here."
