A few months ago I asked readers what they considered to be Linda Ronstadt's signature song. Much to my surprise, it seemed more than 50% of respondents didn't seem to understand what "signature" meant -- one cited a B-side from her Spanish-language "Canciones de Mi Padre" LP! -- even though I specifically said that by signature I don't meant what's your favorite. So with that in mind, I'm wondering what your pick is for Pat Benatar, an artist I only came to fully appreciate after her heyday.
I've always thought of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" as the one. It's definitely not her best -- "Heartbreaker" is my No. 1, and there are dozens more. ("I'm Gonna Follow You" gives me chills.) But I've always thought of it as the song that really exemplified her tough-girl images and made her a household name. Decades later I asked my guy his pick and he said "Love Is a Battlefield." He's 10 years my junior, so he really only remembers MTV Pat, and I think we can all agree that "Battlefield" was her signature video, what with the dancing and cries of "leave me alone"! Much to my surprise, Spotify concurs with me -- "Hit Me" is her most-played song -- and even goes so far to put "We Belong," another favorite of mine from her pivot to MOR, just ahead of "Battlefield."
So let's do both: What's your favorite Pat song?
And what do you consider her signature song?
This one from "Tropico" has really grown on me over the years. According to Wikipedia, Benatar and husband Neil Giraldo discovered they were expecting their first child while filming the video.
8 comments:
Love Is a Battlefield > > >
Love is a battlefield.
I love Pat Benatar. Her catalog is so deep, it's frustrating that Hit Me With Your Best Shot seemingly gets about 90% of all her radio airplay today. I guess that makes it her signature song. I too love Painted Desert. So many other favorites. Just a few: Invincible (from The Legend of Billie Jean), You Better Run, Fire And Ice, Le Bel Age and some from her lesser known later albums--Cerebral Man, Everybody Lay Down, Somebody's Baby. She and hottie husband Neil Giraldo still tour :)
I would think most people would say Hit Me With Your Best Shot, but Heartbreaker gets my vote as that’s the song that drew me to Pat’s music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnDijNVpngA
I think it's a B-side from Linda's Spanish LP.
Favorite: You Better Run
Signature: Love is A Battlefield
Signature: Battlefield or Best Shot. Underrated gems: Painted Desert, Le Bel Age, Wuthering Heights and Go.
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