Post by erik on Jul 31, 2021 12:28:44 GMT -5
The final Top Ten hit (so far) for 1980's hard rock queen Pat Benatar is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight, and it comes from an 80's female vigilante film.
INVINCIBLE (Pat Benatar; Chrysalis; 1985)—With a wide vocal range, much of it via training in opera and Broadway that she got during the 1970’s, Pat Benatar was arguably the premiere mainstream new wave/hard rock queen of the first half of the 1980’s, with aggressive hits like “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, “Fire And Ice”, “Heartbreaker”, “Treat Me Right”, “Shadows Of The Night”, and “Love Is A Battlefield”. With Neil Giraldo as not only her lead guitarist but also her husband, her records were frequently played on FM rock radio and on Top 40 AM radio as well, though one of her best known songs, “Hell Is For Children”, released in the wake of “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, was exceptionally controversial because it dealt with the abuse of kids, but was widely misinterpreted as actually advocating such abuse. Pat’s biggest hit came at the end of 1984 and the beginning of 1985 with the acoustic-influenced “We Belong”; and in the interim, she had to turn down an invitation to sing on the USA For Africa “We Are The World” charity recording because of her pregnancy (as did Linda Ronstadt due to influenza). But she was back in her hard-rock (with synthesizers) comfort zone when she pulled another rock anthem from her sleeve in the form of “Invincible”. Originally a track from her 1985 album Seven The Hard Way, the song, written by Holly Knight (who had written “Love Is A Battlefield”) and Simon Climie, became the theme song for the 1985 female vigilante film The Legend Of Billie Jean, with Helen Slater in the title role. The film itself was a critical and commercial failure; but Pat’s contribution didn’t exactly go unrecognized, as “Invincible” managed to reach #10 in mid-September 1985. In succeeding decades, Pat experimented with blues rock, as well as continuing to do the vintage hard rock she was known for, but the more provocative Madonna, and later uber-divas like Whitney Houston, eventually overshadowed her; her last two Top 40 hits to date were 1986’s “Sex As A Weapon”, and 1989’s “All Fired Up”. She was a nominee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, but has yet to get in.
INVINCIBLE (Pat Benatar; Chrysalis; 1985)—With a wide vocal range, much of it via training in opera and Broadway that she got during the 1970’s, Pat Benatar was arguably the premiere mainstream new wave/hard rock queen of the first half of the 1980’s, with aggressive hits like “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, “Fire And Ice”, “Heartbreaker”, “Treat Me Right”, “Shadows Of The Night”, and “Love Is A Battlefield”. With Neil Giraldo as not only her lead guitarist but also her husband, her records were frequently played on FM rock radio and on Top 40 AM radio as well, though one of her best known songs, “Hell Is For Children”, released in the wake of “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, was exceptionally controversial because it dealt with the abuse of kids, but was widely misinterpreted as actually advocating such abuse. Pat’s biggest hit came at the end of 1984 and the beginning of 1985 with the acoustic-influenced “We Belong”; and in the interim, she had to turn down an invitation to sing on the USA For Africa “We Are The World” charity recording because of her pregnancy (as did Linda Ronstadt due to influenza). But she was back in her hard-rock (with synthesizers) comfort zone when she pulled another rock anthem from her sleeve in the form of “Invincible”. Originally a track from her 1985 album Seven The Hard Way, the song, written by Holly Knight (who had written “Love Is A Battlefield”) and Simon Climie, became the theme song for the 1985 female vigilante film The Legend Of Billie Jean, with Helen Slater in the title role. The film itself was a critical and commercial failure; but Pat’s contribution didn’t exactly go unrecognized, as “Invincible” managed to reach #10 in mid-September 1985. In succeeding decades, Pat experimented with blues rock, as well as continuing to do the vintage hard rock she was known for, but the more provocative Madonna, and later uber-divas like Whitney Houston, eventually overshadowed her; her last two Top 40 hits to date were 1986’s “Sex As A Weapon”, and 1989’s “All Fired Up”. She was a nominee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, but has yet to get in.