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