Chrissie Hynde

It's a bright, sunny morning after a gig, and Chrissie Hynde is doing what any good rock star would: hanging out in her hotel room, casually flipping the pages of a magazine and eyeballing porn. Not the kind about sex -- the kind about luxury goods. "I opened this thing while I was waiting," Hynde, 57, says, referring to the high-fashion magazine on the square glass top of the breakfast table where she's seated in West Hollywood, reading photo captions sarcastically.

PRETENDERS leader Chrissie Hynde stood on the House of Blues stage in West Hollywood on Tuesday and scoffed playfully at the notion of promoting "Pirate Radio," the veteran band's new box set that's chock-full of rarities. "I've never asked you to buy anything," she said in that husky purr of a voice, one of rock's most distinctive.

Twenty-three years ago, Pretenders leader Chrissie Hynde made us notice she was special, so special, as her sexy alto sauntered through "Brass in Pocket" with a mannish yet feminine bravado that had scarcely been heard before. And the way she commanded attention during the band's sold-out Thursday show at the Wiltern proved she and the group are still vital originals.

"I've never seen 'The Rugrats,' I've only met Bruce once, sort of in passing, and we weren't together when we did the duet." Even after all these years, Chrissie Hynde, the famously feisty leader of musical group the Pretenders, plays by her own rules.