Pat Benatar - Why Did Her Career Fade?

Her fugly husband perhaps?

Pat's career benefitted from her well known album cuts as well as her hit singles. Rock Radio played the Hell out of non-singles like:

No You Don't

I'm Gonna Follow You

Hell Is For Children

Little Paradise

Just Like Me

Precious Time

I Want Out

The Victim

After 'Get Nervous' in 1982, the Album Tracks dried up and only the singles were popular on radio, Rock or otherwise. Did this lead to the demise of her career?

R1 her hubby is hardly fug

I think in Pats case you have to chalk it up the ever changing tastes in the pop music world .Every artist has a shelf life and Benatar was no different. Plus she had more rock hits and less pop friendly songs. Amazing talent and voice. She did deserve a longer run than she had.

It was Pat's 1980 cover of "Withering Heights" that led me to my Kate Bush obsession.

I stole Pat's career during the second half of the '80s.

Pat's legendary legacy:

Heartbreaker

We Live For Love

You Better Run

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Treat Me Right

Fire And Ice

Promises In The Dark

Shadows Of The Night

Looking For A Stranger

Little Too Late

Love Is A Battlefield

We Belong

Invincible

Sex As A Weapon

That's six years of huge hits, and then her popularity faded quickly.

Yeah, her husband was hot. She traded up.

She made the wrong career choices. The opportunity was there in the late 80s for her to be the Queen of Rock. Tina Turner was really doing pop at that point. She should have grabbed Mutt Lange or Desmond Child or Billy Steinberg or Jim Steinman and just been cheesy and overwrought. That's what she did best. That's what was selling albums and stadiums across the country.

In a Def Lepperd, Lita Ford, Poison, Bon Jovi and Heart world...the fact that she disappeared during the whole Hair Band era is her own fault and the reason she's not a superstar. FIVE years when cheesy rock was the major popular music genre. And she was no where to be found. And to reference the Madonna thread...Pat Benatar just was not as ambitious or savvy or hard working.

GOOD points about Heart's comeback in 1985 and Tina's emergence in the Rock world in 1984!

Pat's music became much more pop oriented, more radio friendly, so there was little for her Rock Radio base to play. Wile Rock Radio could play Heart's "If Looks Could Kill" and Tina's "Steel Claw", there was little Rock music being produced by Pat to garner airplay.

Instead, she put out music like "Le Bel Age", which, though lovely, was something neither Pop nor Rock radio was interested.

I saw her in concert once. The Precious Time tour. It was pretty boring. I'm pretty sure David Johansen opened for her, promoting Here Comes The Night.

Anyone have a pic of her husband preferably shirtless?

I love her. The powerful rock voice of hers belting out songs. Her tough girl...I'll kick your ass, swagger. Yes please. BTW, her husband wasn't ugly in any universe.

Fire and Ice

I'm Gonna Follow You

You Better Run

Heartbreaker

We Belong

..Benatar was a fixture of early Mtv. She should never have gone soft but kept her hard edginess, her music and image took a hit when she did. She hit us with her vest shot, and it was a TKO, for me anyway.

I think her marriage to Giraldo probably hurt her in that she stayed loyal to him as a songwriting partner and had him produce most of her stuff. She didn't broaden her horizons and work with more of the most in demand producers at the time.

If you have 5 good years as a singer in the public eye then you've done well. Pat Benatar had hit singles from 1980 - Heartbreaker being her first - until 1988 - All Fired Up - being her last hit. I'd say that she had a pretty good run.

I think Pat told MTV that her sound changed in 1984 with her 'Tropico' album because she was pregnant with her daughter and singing rock songs did not feel right at the time.

I did love how Pat embraced the New Wave sound in 1982 with several of her songs on 'Get Nervous'. The eerie synths on "Tell It To Her", "Anxiety", and "Silent Partner" sounded like they would go great alongside Talk Talk, Missing Persons and Flock of Seagulls.

She was expanding her style but still very rock-oriented.

Could she have extended her career a little longer through certain means, sure, but most artists have a shelf life and really she had gone out of date.

You know who released her debut album in 1983, it was a modest success but became bigger when You Know Who released her follow up album around Christmas 1984, that album BLEW UP and became the first album by a woman to hit #1 on the Billboard albums charts in 4 years and the first album in HISTORY by a woman to sell 5 million in the US alone, it's now at over 10 million in the US, not to mention the fact that virtually every teenage girl dressed like her, the cover of TIME magazine in 1985, she simply became the biggest female artist ever with that one album laying the foundation and the older women couldn't compete with her commercial success. And then to add insult to injury You Know Who's follow up album in 1986 sold even more, especially worldwide and becoming the biggest selling album worldwide by a female artist of the entire 80s decade.

She ended a LOT of other female artists careers between 1984-1987, Cyndi Lauper (despite starting at the same time), Donna Summer, although she did get one more top 10 hit and Olivia Newton John also suffered from You Know Who 's dominance with ONJ even "sexing up" her image to compete with You Know Who

It didn't work

She got boring after she had a baby. Her music changed/lost the fire and energy. I love her greatest hits album.

What r17 said. When many female artists have a baby, their music isn't the same afterwards. Like the above posters said, Pat's switch from hard rock to a more pop sound also kind of halted her momentum.

And then there was the simple fact that once grunge and hip-hop soul (aka New Jack Swing) hit in the early 90s, most 80s artists were suddenly over. The change happened fast.

Nancy Sinatra was the first gritty rock babe with her iconic "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" from the 1960's. Then along came Pat Benatar with her anthem "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" in the early '80's. Both ladies raised the bar for women in rock/pop music.

Ugh, Vadge-Bot at R16.

Take your fight with Jabba elsewhere.

In the lull between 1981's 'Precious Time' and 1982's 'Get Nervous', Quarterflash tried to fill Pat's place on the airwaves and even succeeded with a few hits.

Joan Jett also broke out in Early 1982. Plus, Stevie Nicks' 'Bella Donna' was still racking up hit singles and millions of units sold. 'Bella Donna' even knocked Pat's 'Precious Time' out of the Number One spot atop Billboards Album Sales chart.

Only Stevie Nicks is still around selling out arenas like the Forum in L.A. and Madison Square Garden this year - solo!

r16, Madonna didn't end Donna Summer's career. Donna unfortunately did that all by herself, although not intentionally.

I used to dance alone in front of the mirror to Shadows of the Night.

One of the funniest threads I've ever read on Datalounge was a discussion of Pat's unbelievably 80s "Love Is A Battlefield" video. It was hilarious.

Oh, Pat Benatar. I loved her as a kid. I remember reading X-Men comics in a tent in our backyard and having Tropico on repeat. "We Belong" still brings to mind Wolverine and Storm.

[quote]She got boring after she had a baby. Her music changed/lost the fire and energy. I love her greatest hits album.

I did really like Wide Awake in Dreamland (1988) and the gorgeous Don't Walk Away (which is the only song I still listen from her from time to time; the video is terrible, though) but it's obvious she just wasn't passionate enough about being a superstar. Because Tropico was the first album I heard from her (I was 12) I never even thought she was supposed to be a rock chick. I always saw her as a pop singer, until a greatest hits came out with Hit Me With Your Best Shot which made me curious about her past, and her rocker past was revealed. Somehow I don't think she cared about being a real rock star and just went for the softer sound, with a slight rock edge.

BTW, she still doesn't have her own Youtube channel and her official vids are hosted on EMI Music's channel. Wonder how much money she's losing because of it. Or she made a terrible deal with EMI.

Her official website is called benatargiraldo.com which probably tells all there is to say about what she thinks of herself as an artist. Nothing wrong with that, I guess. She's been with Giraldo for over 30 years so I guess they do everything together. It's still a bit of a shame to see such a big female figure, a feminist role model one might say, to make herself mostly known as a part of a husband and wife duo.

"And now the hands of time are standing still

Midnight Angel, won't you say you will?"

I always wondered if 1985's "Sex As A Weapon" was designed as a grab at controversy with "SEX!" in the title of a song which was just "Invincible" with different words.

She's fucking dickmatized. All she cares about is her stupid ass husband. Plus she had problems with being a "sex" symbol in the industry and grabby hands managers, etc. I think she just got fed up with the industry and refused to play the game.

R16 I'm just reporting STATISTICAL FACTS and I LOVE Pat Benetar.

I would of loved to have seen her continue her career as a big selling artist

DL Classic from 1985, 'The Legend Of Billie Jean' -

WE WILL BE INVINCIBLE!

R28 "Benetar"

Oh dear.

"You Better Run" was the SECOND EVER video played on MTV in 1981!

Neil was the epitome of 1980/1981 HOTNESS in this video!

It's unfortunate that her beautiful song, "Here's My Heart," from the 1984 'Metropolis' soundtrack was released at the exact same time as her hit single, "We Belong," from 'Tropico." "Here's My Heart" could have been another huge single for Pat, since the other singles from 'Tropico' could not succeed.

Over the years we've had a few funny threads about Love is a battlefield video:

"Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield

Whoa whoa whoa whoa OH!

30 year-old Pat is running away from home and she's like "fuck you mom and dad, I'm gonna be a WHORE!" And then she gets on that Greyhound bus of dreams. Yeah Pat!

And that's just the beginning! The best part is the pimp's horrified reaction when Pat busts a move 80s style. And then Pat and her fellow whores do their titty-shaking dance on the overpass!

Why can't everything be like the 80s?"

I loved "The Ooh Ooh Song" but it failed to keep the momentum from "We Belong" going.

It's another hidden pregnancy video like "We Belong."

"Love Is A Battlefield by Pat Benatar

The most craptastic video ever to come out of the 80's!

Pat running away from home - at age 30.

Pat writing letters to her brother about trying to survive on the mean streets.

The pimp's horrified reaction when Pat busts a move 80's style.

And of course the iconic finale - Pat and her gang of whores doing the famous titty-shaking pterodactyl dance on the highway overpass.

They just don't make shit like this anymore."

How were the whores supposed to give their customers access to their money-makers? All of those artfully-tied rags and shreds of material to make those COMPLEX Whore Apocalypse outfits!

The john would probably lose his hard-on by the time the whore shifted around her skirt-o-rags.

Oh, above, I forgot 1987 in the overview of Pat's output.

This was completely forgettable from 1987. I'm sure Michael J. Fox doesn't even remember it either.

Yup, she gave too much control to her husband and things just fizzled. He's a real tool and just this summer when she was touring he did more talking (blathering) than she did. He'd be nothing without her and maybe she's ok with letting him call the shots. Still has an amazing voice.

Just recently - maybe a month ago? - I saw a show on the Audience Network (I have Direct TV, don't know if other cable/satellite systems carry this channel) that was Pat w/ Neil doing some new and old material in a club setting (in LA I think) and talking with the host about their personal and professional collaborations. It was really interesting and she still sounds good, although inevitably her voice has lost some of its power and range over the years. I was always a HUGE Pat Benetar fan. Her original drummer played in a "local" (three-state flyerover area) band that I liked. They played the local clubs for 3-4 years around the area when I was in my late teens/early 20's and then he (the drummer) got his big break with Pat's band.

My favorite song from Pat's first album in 1979.

"No naughty clone ladies

Allowed in the Eighties!!"

I saw her in concert a few years ago--she opened for REO Speewagon; I left 3 songs into their set--and she was good. Couldn't really belt out like in her heyday, but she still sounded pretty good.

I shot many a teen load to Neil in his super tight jeans in the "Promises In The Dark" video. He would have dickmatized me too.

Love Painted Desert...

She belongs in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

You would have thought she might pop up on The Voice. She certainly can sing rings around the likes of Stefani and Keys

R44, they want currently relevant acts on The Voice. Not 80s stars like Pat.

Ooh, R39, I love "My Clone Sleeps Alone" too! Especially her live verison, featured on the "Live from Earth" album. It takes me back to my early 80s youth.

Dear R46, "My Clone Sleeps Alone" is not on 1983's "Live From Earth.

However, you are probably thinking of the excellent Live Versions on "08-15-80" or "Alive In America: Live 11/22/1979".

"Shadows of the Night" was my jam when I was a freshman in high school. I loved the cheesy video, too, which seems to be available online only as a crappy low-quality version.

Pat's DISCO debut from 1974!!!!!!!!!

Pat won FOUR STRAIGHT Grammy awards as best Female Rock Vocalist. This is a feat that has never been matched, and the record will stand for eternity.

The original 1978 version of "Heartbreaker"! Listen to those synths!!!!

"OOH, BABY, GOT A HOLD ON!

I WANT OUT!!!!!!!!!!"

I would NEVER go to a REO Speedwagon concert.

Because she was part of the '80s suckfest.

Pat had her time. I'm in the biz, Pat's a very difficult artist to work with. She's never been nice, but her husband is way cool. (Ann and Nancy Wilson are sweet as can be.)

My friend has met and photographed Pat many, many times and says that Pat is exceptionally nice while Neil is quite standoffish.

R56 Then your friend must have been photographing an imposter. I've had to do business with her on and off for many years and she's always been bitchy. You can also throw David Gilmour in the bastard file too.

My friend gives me ALL the super-secret scoop on the rock stars she photographs.

She would definitely give me all the dirt on Pat's character if she knew of any or witnessed any bitchiness.

But there is none. Only friendliness and humor.

I continued to buy Pat's music long after her heyday.

My understanding is it was her choice to dial it back after having her daughter. She was older and didn't want to be the 'sexy rocker chick' anymore.

Her later stuff was still up to snuff ............ but she no longer got airplay

Here's 'Somebody's Baby'

'Papa's Roses'

Young Neil Giraldo

Damn, he was beautiful!!!

I loved Pat's post-1991 music except for 'Go!', which I thought was devoid of a single song with a catchy tune. Dreck.

I stand corrected, R47. I believe I had the version from 08-15-80. Love it!

i love her song "strawberry wine".

There were a few good songs on 'Go'

'Brave' starts at 3:00

'Please Don't Leave Me' from 'Go'

i hope she doesn't still open shows for that REO Shitwagon.

I loved how Pat would film elaborate videos for non-singles/album tracks! Great songs like:

I'm Gonna Follow You

Precious Time

Anxiety

Painted Desert

The incredible "Precious Time" video from 1981!

I think Pat challenged herself. I LOVE her blues album True Love but it was a huge flop. By then grunge took over, she was hitting 40, and she decided to become a touring act with her husband.

I do love Wide Awake in Dreamland, a good compromise of her rock and pop. One Love is gorgeous.

'Angry' from 'Innamorata'

I think the 'Tropico' album is what started the death of Pat's time at the top.

While "We Belong" was a smash, none of the other songs on 'Tropico' had "hit quality" to them. To many had weird synthetic sounds in them, like the pinball machine synths in "Temporary Heroes", the third single. I LOVED "A Crazy World Like This" and "Diamond Field" but neither had that hit single sound to them, which is what Pat needed in order to sustain her career.

She tried to correct course in 1985 with the back-to-back hits "Invincible" and "Sex As A Weapon" but by then Tina Turner had already overtaken the Rock Woman slot allowed on the radio right before Heart's comeback started. Even Stevie Nicks had to play catch up in Late 1985 when she released 'Rock A Little' and the music landscape had changed quite a bit in the year and a half it took to record that album.

So, I blame 'Tropico.'

R57, maybe there's just something about you that rubs Pat the wrong way.

That's my vote, too, R73.

R373 I don't think so since Pat's bitchiness is pretty much an industry consensus. Also, my position in the biz is one where she would have to suck up to me, not the other way around.

See? You prove that you are an arrogant asshole that Pat would clearly dislike.

My friend, the photographer, is a nice person and Pat has always been very nice to her the last 25 years.

R76 You wouldn't know what Pat likes.

Precious Time is a great song, one of her many..

Her hubby Neil "Spyder" Giraldo was boning Linda Blair way before he got with Pat.

Hubby looks hot here.

Neil was smoking hot.

One love is great. Wide Awake in Dreamland had some really good songs on it.

Spider Giraldo (no one calls him Neil, not even Pat) plays the guitar solo on Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl."

They're selling their Maui home and moving to New York, apparently.

Love please dont leave me

Forgot how much I love this song, plus the hubby looks particularly gorgeous in this video. The 80's were really a blast, miss the music most of all.

r5

It was actually I who stole it

r88

Like you stole my song

all of this pat benatar talk made me compile a pat playlist. loving listening to her songs again.

Everybody Lay Down from GRAVITY'S RAINBOW is a true gem. Blistering vocals and guitars.

r90, great track. love that song!

She started a family and she didn't need to work. I think she had a dream career. Emmys, platinum albums and well sold tours.

Pat's 1993 look was a little desperate, though, with the bell bottoms and paisley everywhere, trying to look all Grunge/Alternative Rock.

Still, "Everybody Lay Down" is a great song and the CD-Single has a fantastic live version of "Promises In The DarK" on it!

Because she was weird looking and fell into the black hole between rock chick and new wave/alt woman along with Patty Smyth and The Motels woman. She wasn't quite crass hot bod chick enough for the rockers and was soon usurped by much more interesting female singers/icons on the alt side.

Stevie Nicks beat out Pat (and all other women) for Sexiest Female of 1983 in ROCK Magazine's year end poll. That was the year of "Love Is A Battlefield" and the Whore Apocalypse. Stevie's "Stand Back" and "If Anyone Falls" must've been more alluring to the ROCK voters of Late 1983.

Her career faded because she was a product of the eighties. A lot of music acts from that era lost steam after their initial success in that era.

I never could stand Pat Benatar. She was promoted as a sex symbol, which was weird because she was not much to look at: oversized eyes, big teeth, short, no tits, no ass. And those spandex leotards that were cut so high up in back only emphasized her lack of an ass. In interviews she came across as an egotistical idiot; I remember one where she referred to herself as "a beautiful woman." She had some hits in the eighties, but they were all disposable, trivial pop trifles that have no staying power. She was always mediocre, at best.

Sounds like Ann Wilson at R96 is jealous at Pat for stealing her career. Ha ha!!

Most women, even rock stars, just want to be mommies most of all. Pat obviously preferred life in a nursery to life in a tour bus. A tale as old as time.

R97 is a retarded Pat Benatar fangurl. Benatar "stole" Ann Wilson's career? Ha ha! What an idiot!

R97, Ann Wilson is laughing from the Rock and Roll aHall of Fame.

From 1979 to 1984, Pat KICKED Ann's legendary fat ass with hit after hit, like "Heartbreaker", "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", "Promises In The Dark", "Shadows Of The Night", "Love Is A Battlefield" and "We Belong."

In that time frame, Ann only had a hit with COVERS of "Unchained Melody" and "Tell It Like It Is" plus blips on the radio landscape with the flops "How Can I Refuse", "Allies", and "This Man Is Mine."

Pat rightfully and easily STOLE AWAY Ann's career before Capitol forced Heart to undergo a MASSIVE change in sound and style (with songs written by others, of course).

R101 is truly moronic, a raving Pat Benatar fangurl who is out of touch with reality. What an asshole!

R76, the idiot who keeps mentioning some photographer "friend" who says that Pat Benatar was always "nice", sounds like a mewling Pat Benatar fangurl who is trying to salvage his or her idol's reputation. Pat Benatar has never been know to be "nice" or "friendly"; quite the opposite, in fact. She's always been said to be egotisical and bitchy. Judging from her interviews and that crummy memoir she wrote, I'd say that assumption is correct.

[quote][R97] is a retarded Pat Benatar fangurl. Benatar "stole" Ann Wilson's career? Ha ha! What an idiot!

Why oh why is there such a big need to have pissing contests about singers? I don't care if Madonna did this and this better than Janet, or vice versa, I enjoy both of their music. (I'm looking at you Janbot. You pretty much alone are the reason people dislike Janet Jackson so much at DL these days.) I'm perfectly fine with Benatar and Heart. There's plenty of room in the music business for everyone. Some last, 99.9999999% don't. It's a shame Benatar's stardom didn't but she can pretty much blame herself for that. Then again maybe she's perfectly fine with her career, who knows. She's apparently touring constantly so she's still in the business.

Pat's 1980 cover of "Withering Heights"...

Seriously? You bitches are slipping.

I have friends who were roadies, and they unanimously described Pat as "a cunt".

[quote]I'm looking at you Janbot. You pretty much alone are the reason people dislike Janet Jackson so much at DL these days.)

An ardent fan being the reason a bunch of mentally unstable people dislike a woman they don't even know says more about the mentals than it does about the ardent fan.

The extended version of Invincible is synthtastic 80s rock at its best, along with stevie's I can't wait

"Shadow of the Night" was a cover. This version was also excellent.

R101, most of Pat's songs were written by others as well. At least Ann and Nancy were songwriters in their own right at the beginning of their career.

Pat wrot/co-wrote two of the songs for which she won Grammys (Fire and Ice, Shadows of the Night).

R106 = Janbot. My dear, even you must realize you've gone totally over the top with your Janet posting. And yes, normal people do get tired when something is shoved down their throat time and time again.

Had forgotten about that song, r90!

Pat Benatar - Fire And Ice [1981]

She blew dead bears.

You're making the world a better place R32.

She should have kept doing more choreography in her videos like she did with Love Is A Battlefield. Her videos after that were boring, and videos were very important in the MTV era.

Why wouldn't her career fade? She was very much an 80's MTV video type.

To be honest, half the time somebody brings up Benatar I picture Toni Basil.

It's a Taco/Falco situation for me.

r117, are you the guy who came here and claimed he got fucked by Falco? Were you mixing him up with Taco all this time?

No. I was the guy who pointed out that the OP of that previous thread couldn't have fucked Falco as Falco was dead and that he'd probably fucked Taco instead.

To be honest, he probably just fucked some rando, but you know, I wanted him to preserve a shred of dignity if possible.

Now that guy who fucked Jani Lane before he committed suicide---well, there was nothing I could do to help him.

[quote]No. I was the guy who pointed out that the OP of that previous thread couldn't have fucked Falco as Falco was dead

r119, you're my hero. That thread was hilarious!

She didn’t experiment with different producers, which gave her a limited sound.