Pat Benatar: The Ultimate Poll

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Pat Benatar Ultimate Collection is the definitive PB anthology. But what is the definitive PB song?

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Love Is A Battlefield 10
Heartbreaker 4
Hit Me With Your Best Shot 3
Promises In The Dark 2
Shadows Of The Night 2
Little Too Late 1
Fire and Ice 1
Precious Time 1
Hell Is For Children 1
We Belong 1
Invincible 1
La Bel Age 0
Sex As A Weapon 0
All Fired Up 0
Don’t Walk Away 0
One Love (Song Of The Lion) 0
Let’s Stay Together 0
In The Heat Of The Night 0
Payin’ The Cost To Be The Boss 0
True Love 0
I Feel Lucky 0
The Good Life 0
Everybody Lay Down 0
Somebody’s Baby 0
Painted Desert 0
The Outlaw Blues 0
We Live For Love 0
Treat Me Right 0
You Better Run 0
Never Wanna Leave You 0
Just Like Me 0
It’s A Tuff Life 0
Looking For A Stranger 0
Anxiety (Get Nervous) 0
The Victim 0
Lipstick Lies 0
I Need A Lover 0
Diamond Field 0
Ooh Ooh Song 0
Every Time I Fall Back0


kornrulez6969, Friday, 8 August 2008 15:58 (seventeen years ago)

Easily "Shadows of the Night," the ultimate in "Let's stick together, 1980s geeks!" anthems. "Cause we got nobody else" always breaks my heart.

A lot of dreck after "Sex As A Weapon," though.

Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:14 (seventeen years ago)

All Fired Up is the last good one. It's amazing how many good songs she has though. She was a hitmaker.

Precious Time is my favorite right now.

kornrulez6969, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:15 (seventeen years ago)

"Promises in the Dark" seems like the best one to me, but there are plenty of winners from those first few albums.

J0hn D., Friday, 8 August 2008 16:16 (seventeen years ago)

I absolutely love "Invisible," which sounded weird and dated in 1985: one of those oldster attempts at New Wave, filtered through eighties triumphalism. In fact, it's better than "Eye of the Tiger" (there, I said it).

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:18 (seventeen years ago)

I forgot how odd "We Live For Love" is.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:18 (seventeen years ago)

I'm just happy to see any love at all for her here. I don't think she gets enough love, though I can see how it's possible to overrate her, too. I've got a DVD at home of a whole bunch of her videos, I'd like to watch that soon.

I don't have a clue what to choose in this poll, though. Yikes.

Bimble, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:24 (seventeen years ago)

I want to vote for "We Belong" because it's great and is likely to be overlooked, but "Love Is A Battlefield" came up on shuffle the other day and it wrecked me and so I voted for that.

Euler, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:25 (seventeen years ago)

Alfred, did you mean "Invincible"? Not one of my faves, but hey.

Bimble, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:26 (seventeen years ago)

"Heartbreaker." Then "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." First two albums were best. And there are definitely less bloated best-of sets out there than this one.

how odd "We Live For Love" is.

I just always thought of it as her Blondie-disco move.

xhuxk, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:26 (seventeen years ago)

"Never again...isn't that what you said..."

Bimble, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:27 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah, "Invincible."

I can't even hum "La Bel Age" or "Ooh Ooh Song."

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:28 (seventeen years ago)

The later is all humming anyway.

Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:33 (seventeen years ago)

latter

Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:33 (seventeen years ago)

The last line of this Xgau review always bugged me:

Best Shots [Chrysalis, 1989]
Does anyone remember anymore that she was originally a "cabaret" act? Does anyone remember anymore that early on she was sold as "new wave"? Cher without innocence, chutzpah, acting ability, or "Gypsys, Tramps, and Thieves," she finally semiretired to family life. This best-of is her artistic legacy. I'm sure she's a good mom--pretty sure, anyway. C

Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:35 (seventeen years ago)

Well, she ain't Chrissie Hynde.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:37 (seventeen years ago)

i.e. she's been rated exactly right over the years.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:38 (seventeen years ago)

Chrissie Hynde ain't no Chrissie Hynde either.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:38 (seventeen years ago)

But the dig at her motherhood skills? ELP got off better than that with worse grades.

Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:50 (seventeen years ago)

"Shadows Of The Night" is awesome lyrically, but fails due to excess of Springsteen.

My inner Alex in NYC knows the correct answer is "Hell Is For Children"... yet somehow I am compelled to vote for "We Belong".

"Le Bel Age" is the ringer, for its best use of melodic snatches of "The Kids Are Alright" since "The Kids Are Alright"...

rogermexico., Friday, 8 August 2008 16:52 (seventeen years ago)

Oh wait. "Promises In The Dark"

rogermexico., Friday, 8 August 2008 16:54 (seventeen years ago)

I'm still all about "We Belong" -- though the whistling on the ending of "Love is a Battlefield" still gets me.

Ned Raggett, Friday, 8 August 2008 16:55 (seventeen years ago)

her career-long claim of four and half octaves has always bugged me. I mean she has crazy range, no question. but four and a half octaves sounds like a little gilding of the lily. anybody know if it was ever substantiated?

trying to find out I found this awesome 20/20 puff/profile on her

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aElVaRXHY2g&feature=related

J0hn D., Friday, 8 August 2008 17:06 (seventeen years ago)

outstanding one-two punch on the YouTube comments thread for the "We Belong" video


helmuthoorn (10 hours ago) Show Hide
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Being a 49 yr old Dutch reverend I'm not really into popmusic, but this touches me. It's nearly allways on my mind when baptizing babies.

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I love your comment helmuthoorn. Praise be to our Eternal God

J0hn D., Friday, 8 August 2008 17:21 (seventeen years ago)

Somebody should play the good Reverend "Hell Is For Children"

kornrulez6969, Friday, 8 August 2008 17:41 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah - the dig at her motherhood skills? In a record review? WTF? That's pure misogyny right there, folks. I'd like to see a review about a man that questions his ability to be a good father.

fails due to excess of Springsteen

LOL

Bimble, Friday, 8 August 2008 17:44 (seventeen years ago)

this thread is basically how I'm coping with my hangover today

pretty awesome (the parts you can hear: annoying canned laughter/dialogue throughout) PB singing "We've Only Just Begun" (!) accompanied only by acoustic guitar here

J0hn D., Friday, 8 August 2008 17:44 (seventeen years ago)

She's another one of those eighties artists (Rick Springfield, Corey Hart) who had lots of Top 40 hits no one's heard in 20 years.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 August 2008 18:18 (seventeen years ago)

re: the Springsteen thing, it's really just the chorus, which is just smeared all over with mid-80s radio-hit Landau butter.

Which is a goddamn shame, since the turns that end each verse are sublime. DL Byron, I hope you're still dining out on the royalties.

rogermexico., Friday, 8 August 2008 18:22 (seventeen years ago)

Low-fat or regular butter?

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 August 2008 18:23 (seventeen years ago)

xx-post^^ I know I'd rather hear "Love Somebody" or "Never Surrender" way more than I'd ever want to hear "Jessie's Girl" or "Sunglasses at Night" again.

Johnny Fever, Friday, 8 August 2008 18:24 (seventeen years ago)

How did I miss this quite ambitiously-titled album and why is it not on iTunes

1993 -- Gravity's Rainbow -- which is produced by Neil Giraldo and Don Gehman (of R.E.M. and John Mellencamp fame) -- is released. All songs from the release are written or co-written by Giraldo as well. From the dub echoes of "Everybody Lay Down," to the shuffling bar blues of "Crazy" (featuring Giraldo's Hendrix-influenced Wah-Wah guitar), Pat continued to redefine her sound in a 90's context.

J0hn D., Friday, 8 August 2008 18:46 (seventeen years ago)

I had a roommate who would listen to Gravity's Rainbow all the time when it came out. I was NOT a fan in 1993, and I'm pretty sure I'd still hate it now.

Johnny Fever, Friday, 8 August 2008 19:28 (seventeen years ago)

Even worse: Her "blues" album a few years later:

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/patbenatar/albums/album/132734/review/5944846/true_love

xhuxk, Friday, 8 August 2008 19:31 (seventeen years ago)

(I think I actually was nicer to that one than it deserved, though.)

xhuxk, Friday, 8 August 2008 19:33 (seventeen years ago)

(And duh, 1991 is before 1993, not after.)

xhuxk, Friday, 8 August 2008 19:35 (seventeen years ago)

Her daughter looks just like her, minus the post-modern haircut:

http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/53250855.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939847EC77F5F8D1CE4060A6015711AC91A40A659CEC4C8CB6

kornrulez6969, Friday, 8 August 2008 19:39 (seventeen years ago)

Low-fat or regular butter?

http://sfmcclures.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/plugra.jpg

rogermexico., Friday, 8 August 2008 19:53 (seventeen years ago)

that butter rocks!

Euler, Friday, 8 August 2008 19:59 (seventeen years ago)

High fat content ftw!

There's a reason That Landau Sound dominated rock radio playlists post-Born In The USA... but it's very rich and best enjoyed in small portions.

rogermexico., Friday, 8 August 2008 20:18 (seventeen years ago)

does anyone here OWN Tropico or Seven the Hard Way?

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 8 August 2008 20:21 (seventeen years ago)

That picture of her daughter looks like a mug shot of some girl who got picked up for assault at a honky tonk bar.

Johnny Fever, Friday, 8 August 2008 20:31 (seventeen years ago)

She gets a little love from the early-20s hipster contingent here, with her stuff on one or two jukeboxes that I've noticed. I don't really get it, but then I'm not in love with "Eye of the Tiger" either.

"We Belong."

If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Friday, 8 August 2008 20:32 (seventeen years ago)

here = Seattle

If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Friday, 8 August 2008 20:32 (seventeen years ago)

"hit me with your best shot" is THE pat benatar song, but i've loved "heartbreaker" since i was 10 years old and nothing has ever supplanted it.

tipsy mothra, Friday, 8 August 2008 20:42 (seventeen years ago)

Chuck I gotta give you props, I generally don't enjoy reading pan reviews (because I am Mr. Positivity obv) but I thought that was right on and I loved reading it.

J0hn D., Friday, 8 August 2008 20:48 (seventeen years ago)

I'm going to need to hear that Benatar/Giraldo "Please Come Home For Christmas"...

rogermexico., Friday, 8 August 2008 21:08 (seventeen years ago)

how odd "We Live For Love" is.

I just always thought of it as her Blondie-disco move.

Considering that Mike Chapman produced her first album, then yes.

Elvis Telecom, Friday, 8 August 2008 23:37 (seventeen years ago)

As much as I think of her as one of the quintessential 80s rocker riding the new wave train (see also Tom Petty - who also had a drummer who's better than you realize), I gotta admit that her run of singles up through 1986 or so is pretty much unstoppable.

I've always liked "Little Too Late." It sounds like it's a cover of something the Music Machine or the Shadows Of Knight would have done.

Elvis Telecom, Friday, 8 August 2008 23:55 (seventeen years ago)

see also Tom Petty - who also had a drummer who's better than you realize

Mellencamp too, surely. Unless we just always realized his drummer was that good.

rogermexico., Saturday, 9 August 2008 00:08 (seventeen years ago)

Kenny Aronoff? Hells yeah !

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 9 August 2008 00:11 (seventeen years ago)

Kenny Aronoff is not screwing around. Listen to Lonely Ol' Night for proof.

In the Heat Of The Night should be in the Pat Benatar pantheon. Man that is a good one.

kornrulez6969, Saturday, 9 August 2008 00:24 (seventeen years ago)

Oh shit, people. Look.

John D. knows this thread. John D. told what the winner was but you all didn't listen to him. Damn you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3O2JGB0xXs

Listen to John D. this is the end of Pat Benatar, this is it.

Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Sunday, 10 August 2008 05:33 (seventeen years ago)

Oh my god Elvis Telecom is on this thread.

Please stop. How can you be mean to me when I love her damn records? It's not fair at all.

http://www.benatarfanclub.com/albums/ptime/ptime.jpg

Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Sunday, 10 August 2008 05:47 (seventeen years ago)

Alfred, tell these boys to stop! Stop it now. Stop it boys! Stop it!
Pour the wine and stop it!

Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Sunday, 10 August 2008 05:50 (seventeen years ago)

I like Pat Benatar a lot. I have liked her for over 20 years and if you go back to the start of ILM, 2000-1, I probably liked her more than anyone else on the board. But I don't know the breadth of her work as well as a lot of you do.

I'm going to have to vote for 'Love is a Battlefield' - I adored its video on the Max Headroom show in about 1984-5, loved the little narrative extras: 'You leave this house now! And don't even *think* about coming back!'. But that song aside, I don't really know much of the early work. I do own Tropico on vinyl but didn't get into it. Maybe I could dig it out still. But 'LIAB' still stands up as superb now, for sure. BTW, does anyone remember the sleeve of the 45, PB in hair-raisingly sexy outfit; the B-side 'Here's My Heart' from the rereleased *Metropolis*; or the 12" mix of 'LIAB' itself?

Possibly my favourite of the LPs is Seven The Hard Way - yes, I own that on vinyl, like it a lot, play it sometimes. 'Sex As A Weapon' - and again check out the 12" mix of that (I have the 7" AND the 12" and the LP!?!) Loads of other lovely things on that record including 'Le Bel Age' and especially, I think, 'Run Between The Raindrops'.

I bought Wide Awake In Dreamland when it came out. The record is still on my record player in the other room right now, has been for days. 'I love the excited guitar crescendo just before the drums hit on 'All Fired Up', and I like a lot of the rest of the LP - as a kid, always thought 'Let's Stay Together' was Beatles pastiche; maybe it is, partly. 'Cool Zero' has funny urban-panic lyrics. The riffs on the coda of 'Too Long A Soldier' are nice, to me. 'Cerebral Man' is a very recherché title and I still don't really get it. I like the lead guitar at the very start of 'Suffer Little Children'.

I don't think I own a PB record later than that, though Gravity's Rainbow sounds tantalizingly (though in truth I can't stand the novel), and she did a big interview with The Believer magazine that is worth reading:
http://www.believermag.com/issues/200305/?read=interview_benatar

the pinefox, Sunday, 10 August 2008 14:03 (seventeen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

ILX System, Saturday, 16 August 2008 23:01 (seventeen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ILX System, Sunday, 17 August 2008 23:01 (seventeen years ago)

no shit

I know, right?, Sunday, 17 August 2008 23:02 (seventeen years ago)

WTF

rogermexico., Monday, 18 August 2008 00:53 (seventeen years ago)

standard problem-with-polls result - best-known song wins as voters aren't really familiar with all the candidates

J0hn D., Monday, 18 August 2008 02:32 (seventeen years ago)

^^^^^

Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Monday, 18 August 2008 02:39 (seventeen years ago)

"Invincible" should have swept.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 18 August 2008 02:40 (seventeen years ago)

I love Shadows Of The Night, too, don't get me wrong.

Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Monday, 18 August 2008 02:43 (seventeen years ago)

Her black curled hair in the Shadows of The Night video just absolutely slays me. I know I said this on ILX somewhere before, but I think it bears repeating.

Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Monday, 18 August 2008 02:45 (seventeen years ago)

"We Belong" gets one vote? What in the name of all that is holy?

Mark Rich@rdson, Monday, 18 August 2008 03:44 (seventeen years ago)

two years pass...

"Invincible" should have swept.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, August 17, 2008 10:40 PM (2 years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drSCtseoNxQ

This song still gives me the goddamn chills.

Johnny Fever, Thursday, 9 September 2010 09:24 (fifteen years ago)

Big bonus points for shooting the video while pregnant too.

Johnny Fever, Thursday, 9 September 2010 09:27 (fifteen years ago)

Love the synths on "Invincible." And, boy, does she sell the platitudes.

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 9 September 2010 12:16 (fifteen years ago)


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