After all these years as a heavy hitter …

Benatar still packs a punch

By ALAN K. STOUT
Times Leader Staff Writer
October 28, 1997    

 “Can you hold on one second?” asks singer Pat Benatar, only a few minutes into the interview. “I’ve got to get my babysitter in here.”

With the sounds of young children at play echoing through the receiver, Benatar returns.

“Let me call you right back,” she says.
   
A few minutes later, the phone rings. Polite and extremely cordial, the refocused singer offers to continue the conversation.
   
“Sorry about that,” she says with a laugh. “It’s impossible to concentrate when someone is screaming in your ear.”
   
No problem, Pat.
   
This is, after all, Pat Benatar. The woman whose pouty stare graced the walls of countless teen bedrooms throughout the ’80s, who has won four Grammy Awards and sold millions of albums in both the pre-MTV and post-MTV eras.
   
Now quite comfortable in the role of rock ‘n’ roll mom and enjoying the fruits of a 17-year marriage to guitarist and collaborator Neil Giraldo, Benatar, 44, has a sleek new album, “Innamorata,” in stores. Benatar describes the record as more “lyric-heavy” and says the project allowed more musical experimentation between herself and Giraldo.
   
“It’s not just about getting out there and cranking out bombastic songs,” says Benatar. “There are fiddles, cellos. … I wanted a lot more vocals, harmonies, and different instrumentation. It has a lot more of an acoustic-driven feel for me.”
   
Not surprisingly, Benatar says her professional working relationship with her husband has strengthened their marriage.
   
“It’s always pretty chaotic,” she says with a laugh. “Our personal life is very smooth, and our musical life is always combative, which is great. I have very set ideas about where I want to go with lyrics, and he has very set ideas about where he wants to go musically.
   
“We have a lot of different dynamics going on. We’re parents, we’re lovers, we’re collaborators, and each one contributes to the other. It’s very invigorating.
   
“Together, it works itself out. We’re respectful of each other, but at the same time, we duke it out.”
   
Benatar, of course,  is a musical collaborator with some muscle. The singer won four consecutive “Best Female Rock Vocal Performance” Grammy Awards from 1981-84 with “Crimes of Passion,” “Fire and Ice,” “Shadows of the Night” and “Love is a Battlefield.” Mixed emotions now spill through Benatar’s words when recalling that period of her career.
   
“Grammys … it’s not the same thing as winning an Oscar,” she says with a pause. “It’s a blessing, and a curse. You want to win it really badly, because you want to be recognized by your peers. At the same time, you don’t want to be part of the ‘mainstream.’ You’re always having this conflict. … I was really happy to win, but at the same time you feel like ‘Oh, God. I’ve crossed the line. Now I’m into this ‘pop thing” and I don’t really want to be winning this.’  But in retrospect, it’s a great honor to have won all of those years in a row.”
   
With radio now so fragmented, Benatar has seen a decline in commercial success. She admits she’s not been sure where she fits into today’s market of Top-40, classic rock, and adult contemporary radio.
   
“I’m not making records to repeat what we’ve done. I’m interested in moving forward. And it’s very frustrating, because you’re considered a ‘vintage’ act. Classic rock stations will play everything that you do except for your new (material), because that’s not ‘vintage.’  And modern-rock stations really don’t play any of what you do, because you’re considered a vintage act.
   
“It’s like a Catch-22.”
   
Regardless, Benatar knows “Innamorata” is a good album. And she’s determined to see it finds its right home.
   
“I don’t want to lose this record,” she says. “I’m a relentless person. We’re just going to stand here and try to break down the barrier and find where the hell it belongs. I’m not sure myself, but I really hate having it dictated to me where I do belong. We’ll try to go as far as we can with it.”
   
That also means hitting the road. And Benatar is headlining clubs across America.
   
“We’re pulling out stuff we haven’t played - things I haven’t even heard in 15 or 17 years,” she says. “We’re doing a blues segment, an acoustic segment of reworked older songs and newer songs, and the ‘hits’ section.

 “I’m having the best time I’ve ever had.”

The full audio version of this interview can be heard with this link:

 https://youtu.be/Y5oKkfYt5mc?si=Zuq3HWfTY6vsKD-6   

 

  

 

WHAT JOE DIDN’T KNOW ...

(To hear the audio of the interview, click the arrow)

Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott once did something pretty nice for Brian May of Queen. Elliott had no idea how much May appreciated it. Until this interview.

By ALAN K. STOUT

MUSIC ON THE MENU

March 8, 2025

As any writer will tell you, there are times when you might be interviewing someone, and though you’re being professional and asking all of the right questions that you hope will make for a good story, sometimes – if the interview is going really well, it can turn into a more relaxed conversation. In essence, you and the interviewee just end up shooting the breeze. And sometimes, those parts of the conversation, no matter how interesting they might be, never make it into the published story, simply because they don't really fit the flow of the article.

  

Elliott and May at the Concert For Life

Such was the case with me and Joe Elliott, back in 2000, when I told him how I had once read an interview with Brian May in which May had noted how much a kind gesture Elliott had once made towards him had meant to him. Elliott said that though he clearly remembered the incident with the legendary Queen guitarist, he did not know that May had even remembered it, nor that he had mentioned it in an interview. Elliott seemed somewhat moved that May had recalled it, and what made it pretty cool, for me, was that I was the one that got to tell him.

Poster for "The Concert For Life"

The scene was “The Concert For Life,” one of the greatest all-star rock benefit shows ever assembled. The year was 1992, and the reason for it was to honor the memory of Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury, who had died of AIDS just a few months prior. Some of rock’s best acts took the stage at Wembley Stadium in London, including Elton John, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Robert Plant, David Bowie and Def Leppard. May, still grieving the loss of his friend and bandmate, was a busy man that day. He performed with several of the acts on the bill and he also seemed to be in the role of event organizer and host. Apparently, Elliott felt May was too busy to fully appreciate the magnitude of the day, so he pulled him aside, told him to take a look at the crowd, and suggested he take a moment to simply take it all in.

May did. And he really appreciated it.

Freddie Mercury tribute at Wembley Stadium - 1992. 

But Elliott never knew how much. Until I told him. During my interview with Joe, I told him of how I had once read that interview with May, during which, while reflecting on that epic show, he talked about his gesture. And, apparently, Elliott had never read the interview, or had heard of it, and thus had no idea that, years later, May still recalled it with fondness. 

"It's nice that he remembered," said Elliott, when I relayed the story to him. "I didn't even know that he ever talked about it." 

It's just a little rock and roll story, really. But it's one of my fondest little memories from all of those years I spent interviewing rock stars. 

You can listen to it at the 21:15 mark on the link above. 

I chatted with Joe Elliott a few times over the years and always thought he was a good guy. And based on little stories like this, and the way his band hung in there with drummer Rick Allen after his horrific accident back in 1984, I’m pretty sure that he is.  

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Def Leppard perform at the Concert For Life 

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Alan K. Stout has covered rock and pop music in Northeastern Pennsylvania since 1992. His weekly radio show, "Music On The Menu," can be heard every Sunday from 9-10 p.m. on 105 The River (104.9-FM) in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Follow Alan's thoughts on music on Facebook at:

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