![Array]](https://backingtracksfullcollection.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Array.svg.svg+xml "“I did get some bad reviews. Some people called me ‘the guy who ruined the Pretenders’”: Robbie McIntosh on his trial by fire when he replaced the late James Honeyman-Scott 18"){kind=small}
Robbie McIntosh has reflected on his trial by fire when officially joined the Pretenders in the 1980s.
McIntosh big shoes to fill when he helped the Pretenders reform for 1984’s Learning to Crawl, two years after their cofounding guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died from a drug overdose.
Chrissie Hynde led their revival, with McIntosh – who had already been in talks with Honeyman-Scott about bolstering the band’s line-up – as their new lead guitarist. It was a vital hire for Hynde, but the press weren’t too kind about his first record with the band.
“Some people called me ‘the guy who ruined the Pretenders,’” McIntosh tells Guitar World. “But you can’t take reviews seriously, good or bad ones. The album did extremely well; it went double platinum in America. I was young and confident, so I just plowed on.”
Although Honeyman-Scott is rightfully remembered as a talisman of the British new wave movement, the band continued to have great success in the wake of his passing.
Part of that was thanks to McIntosh and the immediate impact he made. Fans might have taken a while to warm to him, but the influence his own style had on the band is undeniable.
“I’m extremely proud of the album,” McIntosh adds. “It was a big jump for me, working with a famous band and with Chris Thomas, an established producer.
His audition process had been no frills. He says they “just jammed” for around 20 minutes. He thought he’d lost the gig.
“Martin [Chambers] was playing drums. Chrissie and Dave Hill, the manager, sat in front of the stage,” he recalls. “A few days later, I got the call from Chrissie. I didn’t have a clue that I’d passed the audition.”
He feels the fact that he, like Honeyman-Scott, wasn’t a punk guitarist perhaps made him the ideal counterweight to Hynde’s angst and attitude. There was a contrast to their musical personalities.
“I remember she played quite loud,” he notes. “But that didn’t worry me. I was more concerned with how I could complement her and play off what she did.”
McIntosh would also feature on 1986’s Get Close, before departing a year later. He would go on to work with the Who’s enigmatic vocalist, Roger Daltrey, and Paul McCartney, among others across a glittering session career.
Hynde, meanwhile, has paid tribute to Honeyman-Scott, calling him the sound of the Pretenders.
McIntosh’s full interview features in the latest issue of Guitar World, which includes new interviews with David Bowie’s guitarists, Alice Cooper’s new hire, and Stray Cats’ great, Brian Setzer.
Copies can be ordered from Magazines Direct.
