Pat Benatar's Best Song On Each Of Her Studio Albums

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Pat Benatar built one of rock’s greatest catalogs through a run of eleven studio albums packed with unforgettable hits and deep cuts. This list highlights the standout song from each studio release while celebrating the power, range, and personality that made Benatar one of rock’s defining voices.

Pat Benatar's Best Song On Each Of Her Studio Albums

Feature Photo: Andrew F. Kazmierski / Shutterstock.com

Pat Benatar was born in New York City on January 10, 1953. In 1979, with the release of her debut album, In the Heat of the Night, she made all of us who grew up in New York City very proud, watching one of our own become one of the biggest rock stars in music. The second anybody heard the song “Heartbreaker,” heads turned, asking, “Who is that?” She was no one-hit wonder; she would dominate the radio throughout the 1980s with hit after hit.

Overall, she has released eleven studio albums since her debut in 1979. Her most recent studio album, Go, was released in 2003. It would be wonderful for her fans if she and her husband, Neil Giraldo, would release a new studio album, but I guess only time will tell. For now, we must celebrate the eleven studio albums she has released as we pick our favorite songs from each record.

Heartbreaker – In the Heat of the Night

Runner-Up: I Need a Lover

We open our list with Pat Benatar’s debut album, In the Heat of the Night. This album blew us all away when we first heard it. Pat Benatar was a unique rock and roll singer who sounded unlike anyone we had heard before. Her voice carried such passion and had an “I’ll knock you out” attitude. Sometimes, when you think back and try to pick a favorite song, you have to remember what it was like the first time you heard the album. If you do, you’ll remember that “Heartbreaker” pretty much knocked you out. It was definitely the strongest song on the album, although there are a lot of great tunes on there. This one, though, is just killer, and it’s the one that broke her big time.

The runner-up was John Mellencamp’s “I Need a Lover.” It didn’t have the long introduction found in Mellencamp’s version, but Benatar nails it. Other great songs on the album included “We Live for Love,” The Alan Parsons Project cover “Don’t Let It Show,” and the great Sweet cover “No You Don’t.” Additionally, one of my favorite songs on the album is the side one closer, “My Clone Sleeps Alone,” written by Pat Benatar and Roger Capps.

Hell Is for Children – Crimes of Passion

Runner-Up: You Better Run

Continuing with our list of Pat Benatar’s best songs from each of her albums, we turn to her second album, Crimes of Passion. This album was released on August 5, 1980. It was recorded in California and released on Chrysalis Records. Keith Olsen produced the album. The big hit single from this album was “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” However, my favorite song on this album is the very passionate and emotional performance that Benatar delivered on the closing track, “Hell Is for Children.” The song was written by Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo, and Roger Capps. A runner-up for this one is the Rascals cover, “You Better Run,” written by Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati.

This is one of our favorite Pat Benatar albums, and it was tough to pick a favorite from this one because there are just so many great songs, including, of course, the opener “Treat Me Right,” “Never Wanna Leave You,” “Prisoner of Love,” and the wonderful Kate Bush cover, “Wuthering Heights.”

Promises in the Dark – Precious Time

Runner-Up: Fire and Ice

Pat Benatar’s third album kept the hits coming and her rock fans happy. Entitled Precious Time, Benatar’s third release would become her first album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and remains her only album to hit the top spot. The album’s lead single, “Fire and Ice,” is the runner-up on this list, while our favorite song on the album is the phenomenal opening track, “Promises in the Dark.” Written by Neil Giraldo and Pat Benatar, the song perfectly defines Benatar’s style and energy in so many ways—from the soft opening to the cranking pre-chorus, this one just took off.

Looking for a Stranger – Get Nervous

Runner-Up: A Little Too Late

Pat Benatar’s fourth album, Get Nervous, continued her string of Top 20 hits with the single “Shadows of the Night.” It was a very successful song for Pat Benatar, which helped her win a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Nonetheless, our favorite song on this album was the track that followed “Shadows of the Night,” titled “Looking for a Stranger.” There was just something about this one that rocked really hard, and the addition of new keyboardist Charlie Giordano added a bit of rock swing to the tune. Giordano would, many years later, replace Danny Federici in the E Street Band. Our runner-up is the opening song on side two, the great rocker “A Little Too Late,” written by Alex Call.

Love Is a Battlefield – Live from Earth

Pat Benatar - Live From Earth - Chrysalis - 40 647 0

Runner-Up: We Live for Love (Live)

We don’t usually put live albums on these types of lists, but since this live album contains a few studio tracks—one of them being the huge hit “Love Is a Battlefield”—we decided, why not? There were only two studio tracks on the album, one being “Love Is a Battlefield” and the other being “Lipstick Lies.” Of course, “Love Is a Battlefield” would be our pick as our favorite song from this album since it was brand new, a huge hit, and quite simply, we love this tune. For the runner-up, we decided to go with a live track, the scorching version of “We Live for Love,” a song that was originally released on In the Heat of the Night. Live from Earth was released in the fall of 1983.

We Belong – Tropico

Runner-Up: Ooh Ooh Song

Pat Benatar’s fifth studio album, Tropico, was released on November 1, 1984. The album contained another huge hit for Benatar with the single “We Belong.” The song sailed all the way to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. We’ve always thought this was one of the best singles she ever released, and there was no doubt that this is our favorite song on the album. The follow-up track, “Suburban King,” became a fan favorite and was the opening song on side two, written by Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.

Le Bel Age – Seven the Hard Way

Runner-Up: Sex as a Weapon

Pat Benatar’s sixth album, Seven the Hard Way, was her sixth album release in six years. At the start of her career, she was pretty consistent, but of course, that probably had a lot to do with her recording contract. We went with a sleeper on this one for our favorite track, the wonderful “Le Bel Age,” written by Myron Grombacher and Robert Tepper. For those Rocky fans out there, you may recognize Tepper as the artist behind the hit “There’s No Easy Way Out,” his big solo success.

The runner-up is the great opening track “Sex as a Weapon,” written by Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg. Of course, the big single from this album was “Invincible,” which was also the theme song to The Legend of Billie Jean.

Don’t Walk Away – Wide Awake in Dreamland

Pat Benatar - Wide Awake In Dreamland - Chrysalis - 209 146

Runner-Up: All Fired Up

Pat Benatar’s Wide Awake in Dreamland was her final album of the 1980s. It would also mark the end of her run of successful hit singles. Nonetheless, despite not scoring any more hits, she continued to tour with her husband, Neil Giraldo, and released a handful of albums over the next decade. While the album’s hit single “All Fired Up” was definitely the record’s most popular, we chose the second single, “Don’t Walk Away,” as our favorite. The song was written by Nick Gilder, who many people may remember from his hit single “Hot Child in the City,” and Duane Hitchings.

Payin’ the Cost to Be the Boss – True Love

Runner-Up: Please Come Home for Christmas

Pat Benatar entered the 1990s by releasing a blues album, which was a shock to many of her longtime rock and roll fans. With all the success she had, she earned the right to head in any direction she wanted. The album was mostly covers, with a couple of original songs: “True Love” and “I Feel Lucky,” written by Neil Giraldo, Pat Benatar, and Myron Grombacher. The CD also included our runner-up song, “Please Come Home for Christmas.”

Nonetheless, our favorite track from this album is the B.B. King classic “Paying the Cost to Be the Boss,” which Benatar recorded with a full horn section called Roomful of Blues. This is a smoking album that stands out in her career as the only record of blues music she ever released.

Somebody’s Baby – Gravity’s Rainbow

Runner-Up: Everybody Lay Down

Pat Benatar’s Gravity’s Rainbow marked a return to her rock and roll sound. It was released in 1993 during the height of the grunge era and was pretty much buried because of it. There is definitely a ’90s sound to the record, and it sounds nothing like her 1980s output. It’s a great record that has gone somewhat unnoticed. My favorite track is the third song, “Somebody’s Baby,” written by Neil Giraldo and Pat Benatar, which, of course, has nothing to do with Jackson Browne’s big hit single. Our runner-up is “Everybody Lay Down,” the album’s opening single that did well on the Billboard Album Rock charts but did not break into the Top 100.

Read More: Top 10 Pat Benatar Songs

Strawberry Wine – Innamorata

Runner-Up: Dirty Little Secret

By the time Pat Benatar released her Innamorata album in the late 1990s, she was in her mid-40s. As a songwriter, writing music in your mid-40s is quite different from writing songs as a teenager or even in your twenties or thirties. You’re looking for your music to mature, which can be challenging in the rock and roll business. Innamorata was a very mature album filled with songs written by both Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, with a few exceptions.

Our favorite track on the album also happens to be the record’s only single release, entitled “Strawberry Wine.” It’s a scorching mid-tempo rocker that once again showcases a much more mature sound from Benatar and Giraldo. “Dirty Little Secret” came in a close second.

Go – Go

Runner-Up: Sorry

We close out our Pat Benatar songs list with her final album, Go. This is a really good rock and roll album, although you may have a hard time finding it anywhere. The title track is sensational and stands as one of the best songs she’s ever written and recorded. You can’t go wrong with this one, and it’s sad that I don’t think many people know about this record. The album lacked a major label to distribute it. It’s crazy that someone as big as Pat Benatar was in the 1980s and 1990s would have to put out an album on an independent label. The times were definitely changing.

Read More: 10 Best Pat Benatar 80s Songs