"Precious" is a song written by Chrissie Hynde and performed by her band the Pretenders. First released on the band's self-titled debut album in 1980, the song features punk-inspired music and aggressive lyrics. The song was released as a single in some countries and reached number 28 on the US dance charts as part of a medley. The song has since seen positive critical reception and has been included on compilation albums. Music and lyrics AllMusic critic Stewart Mason described "Precious" as Hynde's "true calling card." Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised James Honeyman-Scott's "phased, treated guitar" playing for how it supplements the "pounding rhythm." Music critic Simon Reynolds described the lyrics as a "strafing stream of syllables" mixing "speed rap, jive talk, baby babble," and the song as "punk scat, all hiccoughs, vocal tics, gasps and feral growls, weirdly poised between love and hate, oral sensuality and staccato, stabbing aggression." Mason notes that the music of "Precious" maintains some restraint, but still sounds more threatening than other songs which sound angrier. The climax of "Precious" comes when Hynde sings the line "But not me, baby, I'm too precious/I had to fuck off!" Rolling Stone critic Bud Scoppa noted that Hynde swallowed the words "I had to" during the song's recording, making the phrase somewhat inaudible. Scoppa also notes the "fearlessness" with which Hynde sings this line. Spin critic Charles Aaron noted that Hynde's singing this line "over whipsaw guitars" made it clear that Hynde "was more than a bewitching pout." Rolling Stone critic Ken Tucker noted that he gets "startled and shivery when Hynde rejects a would-be lothario" with this line. According to Mason, the restraint until that point makes this climax "more explosive." Ariel Swartley wrote in Mother Jones about the cathartic effect of this line for women in dance clubs: Dozens of women, otherwise amicably engaged with partners, would stop short and mouth along with Hynde's switchblade-sharp delivery of her famous "Fuck off" line. (Predictably, there were men on the same dance floor bemoaning Hynde's "macho" stance, so different from the women they knew. Hmmm.) Mr. Stress, referenced in the line "Now Howard the Duck and Mr. Stress both stayed", is the stage name of the Cleveland blues musician Bill Miller. Hynde briefly became a member of the Mr. Stress Blues Band, but Miller felt that Hynde's interest in original rock music did not fit in with