Brian Cox’s love of Chrissie Hynde: “She’s the only rock chick there is”
Prolific actor Brian Cox has always been talented, but it’s only been in the last few years that he has properly reached ‘iconic’ status. As Logan Roy, the foul-mouthed Rupert Murdoch substitute on HBO’s Succession, Cox has made audiences giggle and gasp in equal measure as he watches his various bratty kids squabble over who will get the keys to the kingdom when he pops his clogs.
Those in the know recognised Cox’s icon potential years before his antics in the boardroom. He played Hannibal Lecter way before Anthony Hopkins did, bringing his terrifying interpretation of the character of Michael Mann’s Manhunter. Roles in X-Men 2, Zodiac, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes showed how good he could be as a bit-part player, laying the groundwork for Succession to take over the world a few years later.
He doesn’t usually have much to do with music, save getting confused with astrophysicist Professor Brian Cox, who used to be in the pop band D:Ream. He once confessed to being a fan of the Spice Girls in a ‘Carpool Karaoke’ session with Alan Cumming and was also asked by The Guardian back in 2009 who he liked to listen to. “As I’ve got older the thing I’ve listened to more is Johnny Cash, especially late Johnny Cash,” he told the British newspaper. “I like women songwriters: Carole King, Joni Mitchell and I absolutely adore Chrissie Hynde; she’s the only rock chick there is as far as I’m concerned.”
Chrissie Hynde is perhaps best known as the lead singer of The Pretenders, whom she has fronted since 1978. Her melodic voice and warm guitar playing can be heard on tracks like ‘Brass in Pocket’, ‘Back on the Chain Gang’, and Christmas favourite ‘2000 Miles’, and she’s guided the band to four top ten albums in the UK (including a number one) and two in the US. She’s also released three solo albums, including one of Bob Dylan’s covers, and appeared on UB40’s version of Sonny and Cher’s ‘I Got You Babe’, which topped the British charts in 1985.
Hynde and Cox have a teensy bit in common. During her marriage to Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr, Hynde lived in Cox’s native land of Scotland. The Pretenders’ song ‘Talk of the Town’ appears in the Succession episode ‘Hunting’, AKA the one with ‘Boar on the Floor’. If you know, you know.
It’s possible that Cox is just a big fan of Hynde’s music, but the way he singled her out as a ‘rock chick’ implies that he’s also an admirer of her outspoken ways. She was a vocal supporter of Julian Assange, calling for the charges against the WikiLeaks founder to be dropped so that he could walk free. She’s also used her platform to promote issues like environmentalism and animal rights, but her freewheeling mind has also gotten her into trouble. While promoting her autobiography in 2015, she suggested that she was responsible for an incident during her youth where she was raped, sparking a backlash against her supposedly victim-blaming.
Whatever it is he likes about her, Cox can rest easy knowing he is on a similar pedestal to his rock hero. Both are legends, both are responsible for so much good in the world and although they are both now in their eighth decade, neither is showing any signs of slowing down.
