Music Week: Pat Benatar

For the conclusion of Music Week, Pat Benatar is the perfect way to end off the week.  I love her voice, and she is one of the many amazing trailblazers for women in rock and roll.

I have to say though, it is kind of cool to listen to my iTunes library and realize that some of my all-time favorite artists are either women fronting a rock-&-roll group (like Heart), or women artists like Pat Benatar.

I'd heard Pat Benatar's material on the radio and enjoyed it, but it wasn't till either my freshman or sophomore year of high school that my English teacher, Mrs. Westmore, introduced me to some of her deeper cuts.  And I absolutely adored the ones I got to listen to like Sex as a Weapon, I Need A Lover (which was a John Cougar Mellancamp cover, oddly enough), and Heartbreaker.

And of course, I cannot get out without mentioning the song Love is a Battlefield, one of my all-time favorite songs from Pat Benatar, and also one of the stranger music videos.  I have to wonder how the video was made.  And I certainly do not think it was shot in New York City, where the video was set.  My theory is that it was shot in Cleveland, Ohio, a place where I have spent a lot of time over the years to see my stepmother's family (and where Neil Giraldo grew up, strangely enough).  The house Pat Benatar's character gets kicked out of is definitely in Cleveland architecturally, and I visited almost that exact house to visit my stepmom's sister practically every Christmas until she moved out to move closer to my stepmom's father's house so she could keep an eye on him as he gets older.

So, what are my favorites of Pat Benatar's catalog?  Love Is A Battlefield, We Belong, Invincible, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Shadows of the Night, Heartbreaker, I Need A Lover (the aforementioned John Cougar Mellancamp cover), We Live For Love, Promises in the Dark, and Helter Skelter (a Beatles cover).  That could comprise a greatest hits compilation all on its own.  You're welcome, Pat Benatar.