Pat Benatar “Anxiety (Get Nervous)” released this month as a single

Anxiety (Get Nervous) Pat Benatar

Writer(s): Neil Giraldo, Billy Steinberg (see lyrics here) Released: July 1983 First Charted: -- Peak: 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.83 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Singer/songwriter Pat Benatar was born in 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. She started taking voice lessons in grade school and got involved in musical theater in high school. She aborted plans to attend Julliard in favor of Stony Brook University, but dropped out there after a year to marry her first husband, Dennis Benatar. She started working as a bank teller, but quit to pursue singing. She released her first single, “Day Gig,” in 1974 and her first album, In the Heat of the Night, in 1979. The album featured “Heartbreaker,” which became her first chart hit, reaching #23 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was followed by the 1980 album Crimes of Passion, which sold four million copies. Its follow-up, 1981’s Precious Time, hit #1 on the Billboard album chart. She became a favorite at album radio with “Heartbreaker,” “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” “Treat Me Right,” and “Fire and Ice,” all of which became top 40 hits at pop radio. Next up was 1982’s Get Nervous, her fourth of six consecutive platinum sellers and third consecutive top-5 album. It generated three more top-40 hits in “Shadows of the Night,” “Little Too Late,” and “Looking for a Stranger.” A fourth single, “Anxiety (Get Nervous),” was released in Europe and failed to chart but was accompanied by an entertaining video in which Benatar goes insane from a trip to a psychotic dentist’s office. In a review of the album, All Music Guide’s Alex Henderson noted that the album was an effort on Benatar’s part to embrace new wave and put a strong emphasis on melody. She was determined not be pigeon-holed as a hard rock artist. He said that “Anxiety (Get Nervous)” and other songs were “intense, forceful jewels that rock aggressively.” AMG Resources: AMG All Music Guide review by Alex Henderson of Get Nervous Related Links: First posted 10/27/2022.

Pat Benatar’s Get Nervous released

First posted 9/20/2020.

Get Nervous Pat Benatar

Released: October 29, 1982 Peak: 4 US, 73 UK, 16 CN, 15 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.2 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Shadows of the Night (D.L. Byron) [4:20] (9/21/82, 13 US, 3 AR, 50 UK, 12 CN, 32 AU) Looking for a Stranger (Franne Golde, Peter McIan) [3:24] (4/23/83, 39 US, 4 AR) Anxiety (Get Nervous) (Neil Giraldo, Billy Steinberg) [3:42] Fight It Out (Giraldo, Steinberg) [3:56] The Victim (Giraldo, Steinberg) [4:43] Little Too Late (Alex Call) [4:06] (1/19/83, 20 US, 38 AR) I’ll Do It (Giraldo, Benatar) [4:09] I Want Out (Giraldo, Steinberg) [3:43] Tell It to Her (Roger Bruno, Ellen Schwartz) [3:44] Silent Partner (Giraldo, Myron Grombacher) [3:45] Total Running Time: 39:07

Rating: 3.966 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings) Awards:

About the Album: Benatar’s fourth album was her third to reach the top 5 of the Billboard album chart. Like its predecessors, it was supported by two top-40 singles and sold a million copies. Something was different, however. Benatar was tired of being stereotyped as a hard rocker, often saying interviews that she “preferred new wave's melodic keyboards over hard rock and metal's crunching guitars.” AMG It didn’t mean she abandoned rock. Indeed, “songs like like Anxiety (Get Nervous), The Victim, and Silent Partners are intense, forceful jewels that rock aggressively.” AMG However, Get Nervous was overall “the most melodic album she’d done since In the Heat of the Night.” AMG “The album’s pop elements and strong emphasis on melody leave no doubt that the last thing on Benatar’s mind was recording another Crimes of Passion.” AMG To that end, lead single Shadows of the Night showcased a more pop-oriented, new wave sound than previous guitar-driven songs. The song was written by D.L. Byron for the 1980 film Times Square, but rejected for lack of commercialism. Helen Schneider released it as a single in 1981 and Rachel Sweet recorded it that same year for her …And Then He Kissed Me album. Benatar’s version was a top 20 hit which won her a third Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. The album’s second single, Little Too Late, was also a top-20 hit with a more new-wave feel. The song was penned by Alex Call, who’d previously co-written Tommy Tutone’s 1981 top-5 hit “867-5309/Jenny.” He also wrote the 1988 song “Perfect World,” a #3 song for Huey Lewis & the News.

Resources and Related Links: Pat Benatar’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry AMG All Music Guide review by Alex Henderson WK Wikipedia

Pat Benatar “Shadows of the Night” charted

Shadows of the Night Pat Benatar

Writer(s): David Leigh Byron, Rachel Sweet (see lyrics here) Released: September 18, 1982 First Charted: September 30, 1982 Peak: 13 US, 13 CB, 18 GR, 8 RR, 3 AR, 50 UK, 12 CN, 19 AU, 10 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 15.4 video, 29.04 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Rock singer/songwriter Pat Benatar was born in New York City, New York in 1953. She released her first single, “Day Gig,” in 1974 but it failed to chart. Five years later, she had her breakthrough with a cover of John Mellencamp’s “I Need a Lover,” a chart hit in Belgium and the Netherlands. The song was the lead single from her debut album, In the Heat of the Night, which also produced “Heartbreaker.” That was her first Billboard Hot 100 hit, reaching #23. Her second album, Crimes of Passion, gave Benatar her first top-10 hit with “Hit Me with Your Best Shot.” The album reached #2 and sold 4 million copies, the biggest seller of her career. She followed it up with the #1 album Precious Time. At this point, each of her three albums had produced three top-40 hits. Her fourth album, Get Nervous, broke the streak – by landing three songs in the top 40. The album’s first single, “Shadows of the Night,” reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it her second most successful chart entry at that point (she would go on to rack up three more top-10 hits). Benatar was not the first to record the song. David Leigh Byron wrote the song for the 1980 movie Times Square about two New York City runaways. The song failed to make it into the movie WK so Byron intended to record it for his second album. His record label, Arista, rejected it as lacking commercial appeal and Byron left the label. SF It was then recorded and released in 1981 by Helen Schneider, an American singer who worked primarily in Germany. Bryon claims the song went five times platinum there. WK Ohio-born singer Rachel Sweet also recorded the song in 1981 with slightly different lyrics. The song had yet to experience any chart success in the United States. Then Benatar recorded it, also making some minor lyrical changes. Sweet was angry when she didn’t receive any writing credit. It turns out Byron submitted it to Benatar without mentioning Sweet’s lyrical changes. SF The video stars Benatar as a flying ace during World War II fighting against the Nazis. In the end, it turns out it was a dream and she is really a riveter. The video features Judge Reinhold as a pilot and Bill Paxton as a Nazi radio operator. Benatar’s husband, Neil Giraldo, wasn’t a fan of videos, saying that “as videos got more popular, they became little stories or vignettes, and…didn’t represent the song anymore.” SF Still, he acknowledged how much impact the video had on making the song a hit. SF The song earned Benatar her third consecutive Grammy win for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/23/2022; last updated 12/27/2022.