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Oct 272023
 
marc almond love is a battlefield

For the singles from his new ’80s covers project, Trevor Horn has already worked with a future megastar and someone who came to prominence in the ’90s. For the latest, he has chosen to work with a past collaborator and actual icon of the ’80s. “Love Is a Battlefield” is his new track with Marc Almond, who came to prominence with Soft Cell but has expanded his repertoire well beyond those pop roots.

Pat Benatar’s Cri de Guerre is her most covered song, and we picked out some great versions when she entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. There are always new entrants to the arena to take up the cudgels. Continue reading »

Oct 312022
 

Some covers are more equal than others. Good, Better, Best looks at three covers and decides who takes home the gold, the silver, and the bronze.

For someone who exuded so much snarl and toughness (“Hit Me with Your Best Shot”), you’d think Pat Benatar’s model was Joan Jett, say, or Suzi Quatro. Actually, it was hearing Liza Minnelli that inspired Benatar to give up her day job and give the music business her best shot. And a pretty impressive shot it was: Benatar enters the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this week.

Her timing was as striking as her voice. The singer’s rise coincided perfectly with the era of MTV. In fact, Benatar’s “You Better Run” was the first video by a solo artist that the channel ever played. True, she was well on her way to fame and fortune with her pre-MTV releases–she was already a radio star, in other words. But Benatar had the physicality, the charisma, and the work ethic to take full advantage of the new format.

We are looking at “Love is a Battlefield,” one of the singer’s best sellers. Unlike “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” her very best seller, Benatar is still willing to sing “Battlefield” today. The song also represents a pivot away from her early hard rock sound towards softer and more atmospheric material. In the ’90s she would shift gears again, to a blues and R’n’B focus.

While Benatar wrote some of her own hits, “Battlefield” wasn’t one of them. Holly Knight and Mike Chapman get the writing credit. Knight wrote another of Benatar’s hits, “Invincible,” as well as great material for Tina Turner, Bonnie Tyler, and others. Chapman, for his part, is famous mostly as a producer, most notably on the “Chinnichap” recordings of the ’70s and the breakthrough Blondie records. He also produced Benatar’s first album and at least one of her later recordings.

“Battlefield” may not be Benatar’s most popular song, but it’s by far the most covered song in her catalog. We found a few versions that standout from the field. Of these…
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Mar 152012
 

Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield” is an up-tempo, energetic hit full of emotion and ’80s pop fervor. Released in 1983 off of her album Live from Earth, it’s easily one of her most popular and well-known tracks. But just wait until you hear what Havana Lake – also known as the Australian Steven Heath of I Dream in Transit fame – has done with it. Continue reading »

Jan 102012
 

We’ve been playing Thao + Mirah’s xylophone Pat Benatar cover pretty much nonstop since last year, but just when we thought we were all “Love Is a Battlefield”-ed out, we stumbled upon this. Poppy folk quartet Raining Jane released their own lush cover a few months back and now we’re enjoying gals stripping down the ‘80s hit all over again. Continue reading »

Apr 282011
 

It doesn’t get much more ‘80s than “Love Is a Battlefield.” Pat Benatar’s 1984 hit features all the telltale signs: shameless synth use, paint-by-numbers drum machine, little human emotion. Well, Thao & Mirah – Mirah’s collaboration with Thao Nguyen of Thao and the Get Down Stay Down – change all that with their new cover. Continue reading »

Nov 302023
 
best cover songs
boygenius ft. Ye Vagabonds — The Parting Glass (Trad. cover)

Every year, Phoebe Bridgers releases a surprise cover around the holidays to benefit charity. This year, she brought in her boygenius bandmates as well as vocal group Ye Vagabonds to cover “The Parting Glass.” It’s a traditional Irish tune, but their version pays specific homage to Sinead O’Connor, who covered it in 2002. Sales benefit the Aisling Project, an after-school project working with children and young people growing up in a disadvantaged area of Dublin. The beneficiary was chosen by the estate of O’Connor, who died in July. Continue reading »