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To mark her well-deserved induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which took place on November 5, 2022, we celebrate Pat Benatar with a "narrated" playlist of her 20 best songs (in our view), plus a bonus track chosen by fans. From the wholesome, no-frills hard rock of her late-70s debut to the more new-wave- and pop-rock-oriented productions of the eighties, from torrential live workouts to ballads and unexpected covers: a playlist to remind us that her Hall of Fame induction, her 4 Grammys (including "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" from 1980 to 1983), her 4 further nominations (1985, '86, '88 and '89), and her many chart successes didn't come out of nowhere.

Bonus track

We Belong

By popular demand from fans, we're including as the playlist's only bonus track a song for which yours truly has never had any particular fondness, but which certainly ranks among the hits that cemented the fame of the singer of Polish descent (whose surname, however, remained that of her first husband, Dennis T. Benatar, the boyfriend she met in high school). A delicate exotic-pop litany that slinks along between plasticky keyboards and hazy backing vocals, building to a solid crescendo. It would carry the album "Tropico" to success, complete with a fifth-place finish on the US singles chart and, inevitably, a Grammy.

20. Treat Me Right

“Don’t want to be no martyr, I know I’m no saint… Open your eyes, maybe you’ll see the light”. There she is, the sex-war guerrilla, in full action in 1980. Written by Benatar herself, one of the hits from "Crimes Of Passion" is a full-throated ultimatum, delivered beneath a layer of white-hot feedback. If Diana Ross and her Supremes ordered her man to stop (“Stop! In The Name Of Love”), the feminist Pat wants to drastically put an end to the typical hesitations of male cowardice (“You want me to leave, you want me to stay/ You ask me to come back, you turn and walk away/ You wanna be lover, and you wanna be friend”). An easy refrain, but it works.

19. I Don’t Want To Be Your Friend (I Want To Be Your Lover)

We also give due representation to one of the records from the American rocker's "minor" period, when the showbiz machine had prematurely cast her aside. Seventeen years after "Treat Me Right", her old aversion to typical male back-and-forth resurfaces, with a clear statement of intent paired with sinuous melodic lines, for a ballad that holds its own against those of her golden years. Recorded for the small label Cmc, the album "Innamorata" (1997) shows us a dignified, middle-aged Benatar turned chanteuse, equally at ease venturing into folk-leaning territory.

18. True Love

The Pat you don't expect, wrapped in silk and velvet gloves for a foray into jump-blues and old-time swing. With a drastic shift in production and arrangements: gone are the bombastic keyboards of her recent albums, replaced by a leaner, more direct approach, aided by the Roomful Of Blues, a big band complete with horn section and drummer. This is the "True Love" project (1991), a covers album on which the Giraldo-Grombacher duo still take part, both instrumentally and as writers. And one of the three original tracks is precisely the velvety title track (credited to Benatar-Giraldo), with its plucked double bass and bluesy guitar wrapping around this unpredictable frontwoman of a 1940s Chicago bar band.

17. Wuthering Heights (cover)

But if the blues-swing version was unpredictable, this foray into minefield territory is even more so, as Benatar tackles the treacherous, near-unreachable climb up Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights. This cover, included on "Crimes Of Passion" (1980), might have seemed a gamble, yet the Polish-American rocker pulls it off with ease, injecting it with a few rock streaks while tracing almost the same steep contours, vocal flourishes and high notes included. Chapeau!

16. Hit Me With Your Best Shot

With “Crimes Of Passion”, a warrior Pat bursts onto the scene, though she doesn't hold back from showing her more sensual (and, admittedly, slightly tacky) side on “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”: a dirty, lascivious slab of rock, gripping in its arsenal of blazing guitars, if fairly conventional in itself. Still, it would become her first single to crack the Top Ten, selling over 4 million copies in the US alone.

15. Sex As A Weapon

Once again the battle of the sexes, a central theme in her repertoire, but this time recast as an invitation to lay down arms. “Love is more than a one way reflection. Stop using sex as a weapon”, Pat pleads in the sky-high slogan-chorus of this 1985 hit single (No. 10 on the US charts) which, without going overboard, recaptures the hard-rock energy of her golden years, giving Pat the chance for another one of her fired-up performances. A shame about the production, a bit too glossy, and about arrangements that fall into some of the pitfalls of American mainstream rock. But the song is a fine adrenaline shot that polishes up this born-and-bred rockeuse. Unilateral disarmament of sex in the age of the Cold War.

14. Hell Is For Children (live)

The emotional peak of “Crimes Of Passion”, on the other hand, was inspired in Pat by a series of articles she read in the New York Times about child sexual abuse in the United States. The result is another fiery performance, one that would stand as a testament to her vocal power, a tour de force skillfully steered between reflective moments and explosions, well supported by searing guitar solos and a relentless rhythm section. We've chosen the live version from 1983's “Live From Earth” because it's even more forceful and gripping.

13. Lipstick Lies

A little-known gem tucked inside one of her most beloved records, the aforementioned “Live From Earth”. Written by her inseparable partner/guitarist Neil Giraldo together with drummer Myron Grombacher, it's a well-crafted, exuberant number in the vein of Blondie, complete with the requisite whimsical music video. Once again, it's about deceit and lies, hidden behind the scarlet streaks of lipstick. A classic 80s pop-rock sound that could have suited other female MTV regulars of the era too, like Heart, Belinda Carlisle and Martha Davis of the Motels.

12. In The Heat Of The Night

Her debut album “In The Heat Of The Night” tempers a punk-rock schooled fierceness with the sly poses of a Debbie Harry (see also the extremely sensual cover art). Pat floors the American audience, alternating lashes and caresses like a seasoned mistress, starting with this sinuous title track, which unwinds with a “nocturnal” feel even in its sound, muffled and murky, with a pulsing bass and a fine central guitar solo. The album would climb to No. 12 and earn the first of a string of platinum records, establishing Benatar as rock's newest star.

11. Invincible

Another call to arms from "Seven The Hard Way" (1985), which is also the theme song of the film "The Legend of Billie Jean" with Helen Slater. A hot-blooded single that finally brings Pat Benatar back to the rock arena where she belongs, after one too many mawkish moments on the previous album. This time she dons the armor of an invincible, furious heroine ("We've got the right to be angry"), unleashing dazzling new vocal flourishes over swarms of piercing guitar feedback. Overproduced and probably too grossier to win over her detractors, but for everyone else it's another love battlefield to savor.

10. Looking For A Stranger

Who mentioned The Cars? It seems odd to link a mainstream rocker like Pat Benatar to the cerebral wave alchemy of Ric Ocasek and co., yet some echo of the Bostonians' quirky pop'n'roll filters through the jangling, syncopated keyboards and the electric jolts of the guitars on this second track from "Get Nervous", which portrays her with tousled eighties hair and a wild-eyed stare against a white background. Then again, can you really talk about musical neurosis without sounding wave?

9. Heartbreaker

Although she occasionally tried to let herself be positively influenced by the trends of the era (new wave and electronic pop chief among them), Pat Benatar remains proudly anchored to her hard-rock roots, on display from her very debut single. Tough and hot-blooded, but not overly so. Perfect for breaking into the charts, in the America of 1979. The muscular drumming intro is the ideal entry point into this bionic rock, where Pat's crystal-clear voice shines, as "clean" in the upper register as it is rough and sensual in the lower one. A vocal so bold it's showcased even a cappella or backed only by the rumble of the drums, though it ultimately finds its most faithful ally in Giraldo's guitar forays. The lyrics, meanwhile, are the first of many romantic upheavals to come: "Your love is like a tidal wave, spinning over my head". Just to make things clear right from the start.

8. 7 Rooms Of Gloom (cover)

To everyone who has always tried to pigeonhole her into the stereotype of the rock panther built for American arenas, Pat has always answered by wrong-footing and surprising them. Starting with her covers. After her unpredictable version of Kate Bush's celestial "Wuthering Heights", here's a classic black hit from the glorious Motown era, courtesy of the Four Tops: entrusted to Pat's poignant delivery - somewhere between spoken word and daredevil vocal runs - and Giraldo's roaring guitars, the soul ballad of the seven dark rooms is transformed into a spectacular electric torch-song. It's the gem that enriches the "Seven The Hard Way" album and, in a sense, foreshadows the daring blues-soul gamble of "True Love" six years later.

7. We Live For Love (live)

Another knockout from the debut: a sensual, velvet-gloved ecstasy that plays out in a tense ballad of whispers and malevolent feedback, expertly guided by Benatar's vocals, which show off the full breadth of her range, including an "operatic" quality unknown to the vast majority of rock singers. It would prove to be the other hit from "In The Heat Of The Night", also landing in the US Top 30. We've chosen it in the blazing version from "Live From Earth", which captures two years of an extremely successful tour, confirming her as a vibrant performer with a high sensuality quotient, aided by her provocative, aggressive outfits, backed by her now well-seasoned band, who prove on stage to possess considerable firepower.

6. Anxiety

As mentioned, the wave album on the verge of a nervous breakdown... In the interviews leading up to "Get Nervous", the New York singer made clear she had no desire to be trapped in the hard-rocker stereotype, adding that she now preferred melodic wave-style keyboards to metallic, hard guitars. This shift in direction is also sealed by this disorienting hard-wave hybrid: almost a hysterical pantomime à la Lene Lovich, built on layers of glittering keyboards, with more restrained guitars backing up a vocal performance that is, as ever, masterful. It came with a hilarious music video, done in that grotesque Cars-Tom Petty style typical of the era, complete with fearsome burly nurses, oddball doctors, a dwarf in a lab coat (the legendary actor Peter Hayden Dinklage) and assorted medical torments in an attempt to cure a thoroughly dishevelled Pat of her all-consuming anxiety.

5. Fire And Ice

At the crest of her 1981 wave, Benatar had yet to conquer the absolute top of the charts. That task was accomplished by her third album, "Precious Time", which would remain the only one in her catalog to taste the thrill of the No. 1 spot, as well as the first to break through on the other side of the Atlantic (No. 30 on the UK Chart). What drove it to success was above all this other impetuous hard-rock raid, with a pulsing bass held high, backing the stunning vocal performance and the melodic openness of the refrain: it earned her a second Grammy Award, again in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance category, in 1981.

4. Promises In The Dark (live)

Even more compelling, though, is this other classic Benatar number, in which the American rocker sings of promises made in the dark and a creeping fear that paralyzes ("You desperately search for a way to conquer the fear/ No line of attack has been planned to fight back the tears"). An insinuating rock ride that starts out hushed, with the intro whispered barely above a breath, before catching fire in the chorus, with roaring guitars and a stormy drumming pushing the climax along. Live, it became a signature showstopper, literally setting the crowd ablaze. With almost legendary results on the fateful "Live From Earth", from which we once again draw this heart-pounding version, where the high notes shatter the walls.

3. Painted Desert

But even rockers have a heart, and know how to surrender to the languid moods of a love song. The experiment succeeds perfectly in this (almost) sole flash of brilliance from the softer (and flatter) "Tropico" (1984): a gorgeous ballad opened by the insistent acoustic arpeggios of its instrumental prologue, and masterfully guided by Pat's vocals as they wander through the desert amid their own sinuous melodic curves: “Walkin’ in the sundown, I search in vain/ Waitin’ on the wind that whispers out your name/ Through concrete canyons, echoing a world of other faces/ No direction looks like home, where is my oasis? … I’m lost in a painted desert/ In a painted desert without you”. A top-class number, proof that the New York rocker's career could easily have evolved toward singer-songwriter territory too, had she managed to find the right songwriters.

2. Love Is A Battlefield

A track quite far removed from her usual style, and yet extremely effective, once again confirming the versatility of a performer who might have achieved even more had she stepped outside her comfort zone more often. She did just that in 1983, spurred on by a skilled hit-crafter like Holly Knight, who co-wrote the song together with Mike Chapman. The theme is the usual one, love as a battlefield where men and women clash daily, but the tone has the romantically epic sweep of the decade: “We are young, heartache to heartache we stand/ No promises, no demands/ Love Is A Battlefield”. And, musically, the song is a bomb. Whether it's the production, luxuriously enveloping in full eighties style, the killer refrain, or yet another vocal tour de force, framed within a soft dance-pop structure. It won everyone over: longtime fans, devotees of '80s synth sounds, and casual pop-rock listeners alike. Credit also goes to a fortunate music video, in which Pat, a stunning thirty-something, reverts to a runaway teenager who ends up in a sordid men's nightclub, where she leads a female rebellion complete with a group dance routine à-la Michael Jackson. It would also prove to be her biggest hit, topping Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and the Australian chart, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 17 in the UK as well. It's no surprise, then, that it brought her a fourth consecutive Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 1983.

1. Shadows Of The Night

The rock apotheosis among the shadows of the night. On the album that marked her new wave turn ("Get Nervous", 1982), a lightning-fast single that certainly doesn't give up the hard edges of her early days, but wraps them in richer, more grandiose arrangements. The construction is flawless: a striking opening that hits you straight away with the voice-only chorus, then that mighty wall of guitars and the drumming that ramps up the pace, then the bridge, delivered with epic swagger, sharpening the pathos to an almost unbearable degree, with the inevitable keyboards holding it all together, up to the triumphant return of the chorus, now backed by the full band and followed by Giraldo's obligatory guitar solo. The emphasis on sound isn't far removed from certain contemporary productions by Jim Steinman, the man who would make the fortune of Benatar's British alter ego, Bonnie Tyler. It's the perfect song, the one that ideally blends Pat's genuinely rock spirit with her more melodic evolution in the Eighties. It would soar to No. 13 on the US charts and earn her another Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 1982.

And we want to keep remembering her this way, as the rock muse of the '80s who bewitched a generation with her promise of eternal love: “We’re running with the shadows of the night/ So baby, take my hand, you’ll be all right/ Surrender all your dreams to me tonight/ They’ll come true in the end”.

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10/01/2026