Pat Benatar.Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
It’s been more than 40 years sincePat Benatarfirst rocked the stage with her gritty, powerful voice, skintight spandex suits and a refreshingly fierce attitude that rejected any notion that rock n' roll was strictly a boys' club.
Now, as she turns 70, the star’s career is still kicking; in November, the four-time Grammy winner snagged a covetedspot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Famealongside husband and longtime collaborator Neil Giraldo. That same month, she and Giraldo, who married in 1982, celebrated the launch ofInvincible, their jukebox musical reimagining ofRomeo and Juliet.
“It has been an incredible ride,” Benatar— who was raised on Long Island and briefly worked at a bank before her music career — said in her Rock Hall induction speech.
In honor of her 70th birthday on Tuesday, take a look back at some of Benatar’s most essential tracks.
“Heartbreaker”
A glittering rock anthem that served as her breakthrough single, “Heartbreaker” was a sleeper hit that featured on her 1979 debut albumIn the Heat of the Night.
Though it failed to crack the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release, the song has endured as one of Benatar’s most recognizable, andshe told Vulturein December she considers it her career-defining song.
“It’s the culmination after three and a half years of trying to convince everybody of what I was talking about — they were all patting me on the head saying, ‘Yes, we understand,’ but they didn’t understand me until I found [Giraldo], who was the person I was looking for,” she said. “‘Heartbreaker’ was the song that initiated everything, because we played it together first. It was the first song we recorded, and it was the first song [Giraldo] played.”
“Hit Me With Your Best Shot”
With its distinct guitar riff and snarling challenge to a lover who could most certainly treat her better, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” became Benatar’s first Top 10 hit in the U.S. when it was released off her 1980 albumCrimes of Passion.
Though Benatar told Vultureshe still considers it “a fabulous song” that “everyone loves,” the star has said that in the wake of gun violence and an uptick in mass shootings in America, its meaning has changed for her, and she will no longer sing it on tour.
“I stopped performing it for multiple reasons. It’s too juvenile for me to sing. People get angry when I say this, but they’ve got to understand that you have to believe it. You have to mean it,” she said. “So if something changes for you, I’m not going to pretend and sing the song just because everyone wants to hear it. I can’t do that. That’s just sacrilegious to me. I’m not saying I won’t find it again.”
As she explained toUSA Todayin July: “[The title] is tongue in cheek, but you have to draw the line. I can’t say those words out loud with a smile on my face, I just can’t. I’m not going to go on stage and soap box — I go to my legislators — but that’s my small contribution to protesting. I’m not going to sing it. Tough.”
“Love Is a Battlefield”
War becomes the ultimate metaphor for love in this single off Benatar’s 1983 albumLive from Earth.
The song — which includes Benatar’s signature battle cry “We are young!” — has even found popularity among new generations of fans thanks to its frequent use in media, likeGlee,30 Rockand13 Going on 30.
“This is the reason why you want to be able to be diverse, because otherwise songs stay locked in time, which I don’t ever want. The definition of the song, or what people’s definitions of the song is, stays solid,” Benatar told Vulture. “It’s a living thing — every time it comes in a different incarnation, it enhances what it means to you. It changes the meaning. That’s what13 Going on 30did for me. That’s the spark. If it happens organically, which it must, that’s what gives you the inspiration to continue.”
“Shadows of the Night”
A music video set during World War II starred Benatar as a riveter dreaming of seeing Nazi-fighting action, and costarred Bill Paxton and Judge Reinhold.
“Invincible”
The lead single off Benatar’s 1985 albumSeven the Hard Way, “Invincible” saw silver screen success when it was used as the theme for the movieThe Legend of Billie Jean.
The Top 10 hit — which Benatar told Vulture she considers her most anthemic song — includes lyrics with calls to action like, “We can’t afford to be innocent/Stand up and face the enemy/It’s a do-or-die situation/We will be invincible.”
“‘Invincible’ is massive, especially now because of the Me Too movement,” Benatar said.
source: people.com
