Time for a little rock! Not surprisingly I’ve never really been a rocker. However, Rock Music was one area where the men didn’t really do it for me but the women certainly did!
In 1985 “Love is a Battlefield” by Pat Benatar was re-released in the U.K. Not that I knew at the time, this song wasn’t really Pat’s usual rock style, it was more an 80s synthesizer pop dance song. They even made Pat dance a little in the music video which she hated doing!
Still it was the kind of stuff I liked so having bought the 12 inch single and loved it, I then went out and bought her current “Tropico” album.
Again at first I was unaware that this album was a slight change in direction for her and a little softer than her usual style. I loved the album so much that I decided to delve into her back catalogue.
That’s when I discovered her true rock style and her powerful passionate voice. “Heartbreaker”, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, “Fire and Ice”, “Invincible” etc.... featuring the amazing guitar playing of her husband, since 1982, Neil Giraldo.
Her first album “In The Heat Of The Night” was released in 1979 and after I heard it in 1985 it very quickly became one of my all time favourite albums. I simply love every track. The album never originally charted in the U.K. but it did hit the dizzy heights of number 98 in 1985. Which naturally must have been because I'd gone out and bought it!!
Sadly Pat has never really had the chart success in the U.K. that I feel she deserves. “We Belong” reached number 22 in 1985. “All Fired Up” reached 19 in 1988 and that re-release of “Love Is A Battlefield” peaked at number 17 and remains her biggest hit. A handful of other singles have made the lower regions of the U.K. charts.
Some of her albums have done a little better and her Best of collection in 1987 “Best Shots” reached number 6. Aged 67 Pat is still rocking.
