Pat Benatar – It Wouldn’t have been the 80s without her, not to mention MTV.
Diving into the 80s for this Lunch Hour – Pat Benatar at The Old Waldorf in San Francisco, recorded on August 15, 1980 and broadcast live over KSAN-FM.
Back in 1980, when MTV was just getting started on a national scale, one of their staples was Pat Benatar – you could say she was made for MTV or conversely, MTV was made for her – voice, looks, catchy tunes and a slew of music videos all made for an indelible impression on 1980s America.
Almost from her start in 1979, Pat Benatar was ringing cash registers and leaping up charts, churning out an impressive string of hits staying that way all through the 80s. Although clearly, she would have done nicely anyway had there not been an MTV, it was the 24 hour video channel and being part of the dramatic shift from music videos being straight performance pieces (with occasional odd cutaways to artists and band members walking and mugging) to conceptual ideas that were, for the most part scripted (yes; Scripted) with storyboards, incorporating sets, choreography, elaborate hair and makeup and fully fleshed-out story lines that one director once referred to as “poparettas” – this was what MTV was all about and Pat Benatar was the perfect fit.
But the initial question always was; how do you get the same intensity and level of performance from a live concert that you could from a music video? The answer was, in Pat Benatar’s case; easy. She was gifted with an impressive range of voice and a stage presence capable of grabbing and holding an audience.
To get an idea of that, if you missed the 80s or were off doing other things, here is a sample of what Pat Benatar was doing on stage in 1980, just at a time she was breaking through and well on her way to becoming a household name.
Grab a salad and enjoy the show. Might make for a bouncy lunch, but hey . . .
