Some 30 years ago, they were starving musicians who engaged in a sordid fling.

They became big rock stars, but Pretenders singer/guitarist Chrissie Hynde and former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones also remained friends, and they got nostalgic Wednesday, both on the airwaves and later on stage in Los Angeles.

Hynde, 54, an American who has lived in London most of her life, has just launched a brief Pretenders tour of the United States, coinciding with the release of a CD boxed set.

Jones, 50, a Londoner who lives in Los Angeles, interviewed Hynde on his midday radio show, and immediately brought up their romantic past.

"So when we had sex many years ago--we did, right?" he said, a little hesitantly.

Hynde, who rarely talks about her personal life, admitted that when she had nowhere to live in the mid-'70s, she would meet up with Jones in the Sex Pistols' rehearsal studio in London's Denmark Street.

Jones recalled a liaison in a bathroom at a party. But Hynde said the most memorable thing about that encounter was that she briefly dropped her vegetarian ways and ate a piece of meat afterward.

The Akron, Ohio, native and Jones would go to pubs together to watch bands and dream of being musicians. Jones' career took off first as the Sex Pistols formed in 1975 and led the brief punk-rock revolution.

He said he never paid much heed at the time to Hynde's aspirations of forming a band.

"I thought you were another bird ... I was proud of you, that you actually got all that together," he said.

The Sex Pistols had been defunct for a year by the time the Pretenders released their first single, "Stop Your Sobbing," in early 1979.

While Jones and Hynde ruled out a romantic reunion for old time's sake--they both prefer younger partners--they did hook up musically a few hours later at the House of Blues, the second of two Pretenders shows at the Sunset Strip venue.

Jones took the stage during the first encore to accompany the Pretenders on a version of the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant," with Hynde reading the lyrics from sheets taped to the floor. They also covered the early Small Faces hit "Whatcha Gonna Do About It," a tune recorded by both of their bands.

The excitement was not limited to the stage. Former Sex Pistols vocalist John Lydon strode into the mosh pit for the last few songs and took a spot in the first row, gleefully dancing like Courteney Cox in a Bruce Springsteen video. Hynde handed him the microphone and he yelled out some expletive-laden compliments.