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(2003)
"I'd put a needle to her disc, if you know what I mean."
"Heh, I'd spin her till she skips, if you know what I mean."
"Yeah, well I'd flip her around and play Side B, if you know what I mean."
...and so forth.
A cash in on the disco boom relesed in 1979, but still a good track. I remember taking my record magazines to school, (Record Mirror & Sounds) and the girls in my class asking to look at them to read about Leif. I got them back with holes in the papers where they had cut out all the photo's of him!
Here's the youtube link
Another picture disc i have by the Police with 2 songs, one on each side. "De do do do de da da da" and "Don`t Stand So Close to Me". Purchased back in April of 1983. This one is in great condition actually.
What, you thought Killdozer was just an underfunded attempt at imbuing heavy machinery with a penchant for offing its fleshy operators?!? No. You are full of error. They were also an underfunded attempt at imbuing your stereo with a penchant for offing its fleshy operators.
Flickr Friday theme: Recall
Kodak picture discs (Floppy discs) from the 1990's
Thanks to everyone who took the time to view, comment, and fave my photo. It’s really appreciated. 😊
A great disco track from 1979 and the follow on from Knock On Wood. Another cover version, can't imagine that fans of The Doors were impressed though.
Here's the youtube link
A quel tempo Scranno non dormiva. Mai. Pareva un fantasma.
Trascorreva le sue notti al teatro dell'acqua oppure ubriaco su qualche vecchio divano gorato di fortuna. All'alba saliva sulla A112 gialla e percorreva i cinquanta chilometri che lo separavano dalla compagnia assicurativa, il posto dove faceva finta di lavorare. Per non addormentarsi al volante, talvolta si era risvegliato improvvisamente nella corsia opposta con qualche autotreno che suonava alla disperata, adagiava una bacinella d'acqua sul sedile del passeggero e nei momenti critici si faceva impacchi sulle palpebre con pezzuole di carta igienica. Sosteneva che fosse un metodo degno di essere brevettato.
Prima di entrare al lavoro poi, per mezzo di chili di brillantina, trasformava la cresta in una sorta di riporto, si toglieva i dodici orecchini, e cercava di cancellare le tracce di eyeliner dagli occhi.
La sera tornava in città per una nuova nottata brava e così via.
Il venerdì sera poi saliva sul treno per andare a trovare la fidanzata a Stoccarda; il lunedì mattina era di nuovo a Santa Maria Novella. Immaginavo che quel treno fosse l'unico posto al mondo dove potesse - almeno per brevi tratti - chiudere gli occhi.
Questo regime di vita infernale forse contribuì nel suo delirio alla continua ricerca del nuovo gruppo emergente d'oltremanica. Leggeva tutti i settimanali inglesi e conosceva qualsiasi band londinese che avesse fatto anche un solo concerto in qualche piccolo club davanti a venti persone. Inviava le sue wanted list a negozietti di dischi sperduti nei più disparati angoli d'Inghilterra e così via. Sembrava quasi lo facesse di lavoro.
Solo che ad un certo punto accadde una cosa tremenda, imprevedibile.
Da qualche parte, per vie molto traverse e ancora oggi abbastanza oscure, apprese dell'esistenza di una versione picture dell'esordio discografico di uno dei suoi gruppi preferiti, i Bauhaus. Si trattava, o almeno così si mormorava, di un Bela Lugosi in vinile bianco con sopra un enorme pipistrello nero.
In breve questo divenne l'argomento principale delle serate al teatro dell'acqua. Tutti ne parlavano e per Scranno era diventata una vera ossessione. Non che non ci dormisse la notte, non dormiva comunque, ma doveva assolutamente reperirlo. Ne aveva fatta una seria malattia.
Nel giro di qualche giorno venne fuori che in quella Firenze degli anni ottanta due sole persone possedevano quell'oscuro feticcio.
Uno era un certo Piero, l'altro era il perfido Mocassato. Piero da parte sua mise subito le cose in chiaro: per niente al mondo si sarebbe disfatto di quel dodici pollici, il pezzo più prezioso della sua collezione privata, dischi tzigani a parte.
Mocassato fu più vago e dopo averci pensato per un paio di giorni fece finalmente la sua richiesta: l'unica cosa per la quale avrebbe ceduto il raro picture era la altrettanto fantomatica valigetta dei Throbbing Gristle, un oggetto talmente raro che nessuno lo aveva mai visto. Si sapeva solo che conteneva ventisei nastri con registrazioni risalenti agli albori del gruppo. Mi immaginavo che tortura tremenda doveva essere ascoltarsi ore ed ore di rumori di catene di montaggio, segherie, sirene, chiavi inglesi, ingranaggi, allarmi. Ma Mocassato era abituato a questo ed altro.
Scranno scrisse a tutti i suoi negozietti ma niente valigetta. Pareva che ne esistessero pochissimi esemplari, forse una cinquantina sparsi per il globo, e che la quotazione fosse già allora astronomica.
Scranno non ne faceva comunque un problema di soldi, il fatto è che proprio non c'era verso di trovarla.
A sentire parlare in continuazione di quella valigetta mi scoprivo a sorridere da solo, era più forte di me. Immaginavo lo scambio in piena notte al chilometro ventisette della strada statale, Scranno che porgeva la valigetta e Mocassato che finalmente con un leggero cenno della testa invitata il suo ostaggio a scendere dalla macchina. A quel punto Bela Lugosi in persona sarebbe apparso, vecchio e un po' paralitico, bianco in volto e con il mantello nero, e a passi incerti avrebbe raggiunto il suo liberatore Scranno.
Ma la realtà era assolutamente diversa. E così una sera Scranno, disperato, dopo avere ricevuto due di picche da tutti i negozi del regno unito e dopo avere per un attimo pure dubitato della reale esistenza di quella valigetta, preso da un comprensibile sconforto, bleffò spudoratamente.
Prese Mocassato da una parte e gli disse che quella stronza di valigetta l'aveva trovata, che l'indomani avrebbe finalmente ricevuto il pacco, che tirasse quindi fuori quel picture del cazzo una volta per tutte. Fu allora che Mocassato, rosso in volto e con voce tremante, ammise che quel disco non lo aveva, anzi a dirla tutta non lo aveva neppure mai visto. Si era inventato tutto. Scranno rimase senza parole, lo avrebbe volentieri picchiato a sangue ma rimase senza parole.
Poichè era diventata una questione di principio alla fine Scranno scrisse a Peter Murphy. La risposta fu perentoria: il picture non esisteva, non era mai esistito, non era mai uscito.
Ma per qualche strano gioco del destino anni dopo qualcuno in Italia pubblicò un Bela Lugosi picture taroccato che era l'esatta riproduzione di quello che Scranno si era allora immaginato.
Eppure vi assicuro che non fu Scranno a stamparlo.
© Marco Ortolani Kuemmel
racconto pubblicato sulla rivista Rosso Fiorentino, n° 6 - giugno 2004
short story published in Rosso Fiorentino magazine, n° 6 - 2004 june
(thanks to Carpa deejay)
For all of my lifelong obsession with the Beatles, this is probably my all time favourite album. I have seen King Crimson 3 times over the years going back to 1971. I picked up this beautiful picture disc when I last saw them in 2015 at Manchester's Lowry...
Shake your 90's Dance Mix on an Akai record player
Shake your Bootie with The Jungle Brothers, Richie Rich and Funtopia on a 45rpm 12 inch black vinyl picture disc - with 2 tracks on each side.
Week 8/52 - Music theme
Latest album - recorded live. Double picture disc vinyl, gatefold sleeve. This is the inside of the gatefold (should have used this for the front!)
logistics' new track on picture disc
www.rolldabeats.com/release/hospital/nhs104pd
fat artwork, fat music
"Recording of your favorite Christmas carols as sung by your L&M T.V. Quartet. 33½. rpm, 200 plays."
A cardboard picture disc. Whoever cut it out didn't follow the circle precisely. Even though the disc is a bit misshapen, it looks like it might still play. I'm not sure what television show the L&M T.V. Quartet appeared on, but they look like an enthusiastic group of fellows.
You mean you never heard of Art Kassel And His Orchestra? Neither have I but I found – "Sooner Or Later" A 10INCH 78RPM Picture Disk R781. The label, Vogue, 1946-1947, manufactured in Detroit by SAV-WAY INDUSTRIES FYI-This disc sound great, most picture discs don't.
18-09-2015 Today, forty-five years ago passed away the most influential guitarist in the pop history Jimi Hendrix
Lightning Records
Cruisin'
Pictures Supplied by Street Machine
1. Lonnie Mack - Memphis, 2. Casinos - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye, 3. Del Vikings - Whispering Bells, 4. Drifters - When My Little Girl Is Smiling, 5. Jody Reynolds - Endless Sleep
6. Johnny Tillotson - Princess Princess, 7. Bobby Darin - Mack The Knife, 8. Everly Bros - Devoted To You, 9. Billy Bland - Let The Little Girl Dance, 10. Fendermen - Mule Skinner Blues
11. Chris Montez - Let's Dance, 12. Ketty Lester - Love Letters, 13. Del Vikings - Come Go With Me, 14. Drifters - Save The Last Dance For Me, 15. Teddy Bears - To Know Him Is To Love Him
16. Johnny Tillotson - Poetry In Motion, 17. Bobby Darin - Dream Lover, 18. Everly Bros - Bird Dog, 19. Earls - Remember Then, 20. Jewel Akens - Birds And The Bees
Created with fd's Flickr Toys
Revolver rebel turntable,Grace Jones Slave to the rhythm 12" picture disc released in 1985 and my beloved sennheiser PXC 350 headphones
From a discussion with a colleague, trying to make a picture with the record actually spinning. Have uploaded two speeds, Both look very psychedelic.
Picture disc LP
1984
I first became aware of The Sweet during the early 1970s. A decade later, this compilation took me straight back to my childhood.
From a discussion with a colleague, trying to make a picture with the record actually spinning. Have uploaded two speeds, Both look very psychedelic.
This is a picture disc sold at Disneyland and Walt Disney World featuring music from the attraction, IT'S A SMALL WORLD. I bought this at a Disneyana show but it retains its Disneyland/WDW price tag selling for $1.59, like the picture discs for The Main Street Electrical Parade/Electrical Water Pageant. Side One features medley of music arranged by Buddy Baker and Side Two features two versions of the song by The Jack Coleman Singers and the Bobby Hammack Orchestra.
The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-woman band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts.[1]
The Go-Go's rose to fame during the early 1980s. Their debut album, Beauty and the Beat, is considered one of the "cornerstone albums of new wave" (Allmusic), breaking barriers and paving the way for a host of other new American acts. When the album was released, it steadily climbed the Billboard 200 chart, ultimately peaking at number one, where it remained for six consecutive weeks. The L.P. sold in excess of three million copies, and reached double platinum status, making it one of the most successful debut albums of all time. In the beginning, they played primarily a pop-inflected form of the emerging punk sound, and later defined themselves with the distinct sound of 1980s rock music. The Go-Go’s had five U.S. Top 40 hits. Musical influences include the Ramones, the Shangri-Las, the Buzzcocks, The Runaways, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Blondie. During their career, the Go-Go's have sold more than seven million albums
Formed in Los Angeles, California in 1978, the Go-Go's initially consisted of
Belinda Carlisle (vocals),
Jane Wiedlin (guitar, vocals),
Margot Olaverra (bass),
Elissa Bello (drums).
They were formed as a punk band and had roots in the L.A. punk community; they shared a rehearsal space with X, and Carlisle (under the name "Dottie Danger") had briefly been a member of punk-rock band The Germs. Due to illness, she left The Germs before playing a gig.
The band started out playing at seminal punk rock venues such as The Masque and the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles. Charlotte Caffey (lead guitar, keyboards) was added later in 1978, and in the summer of 1979, Gina Schock replaced Bello on drums. With these line-up changes, the group began moving towards their now more-familiar "power pop" sound.
During late 1979, the band recorded a 5-song demo at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, and in 1980 supported the British ska revival group Madness in both Los Angeles and England. The Go-Go’s subsequently spent half of 1980 touring England, earning a sizable following and releasing the demo version of "We Got the Beat" on Stiff Records, which became a minor UK hit.
Cover image from the 1982 hit single, "We Got the Beat"
During December 1980, original bassist Margot Olaverra fell ill and was replaced with Kathy Valentine, who had played guitar in bands such as Girlschool and the Textones. Valentine had not previously played bass guitar.
The Go-Go's signed to I.R.S. Records in April 1981. Their debut album, Beauty and the Beat, was a surprise hit; it topped the U.S. charts for six weeks in 1982 and eventually received a double platinum certification. The album was also a success outside the U.S. charting at #2 in Canada, where it received a platinum certification, and #27 in Australia. In 2003, the album was ranked number 413 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. "Our Lips Are Sealed" and a new version of "We Got the Beat" were extremely popular singles in North America in early 1982. In this period the Go-Go's became America's sweethearts and started to have a cult following[3].
In 1982 the group was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
The follow-up album, Vacation received mixed reviews and sold far less than the Beauty and the Beat. However, the Album was certified Gold in the U.S. and spawned another top 10 US hit with the title track. Other singles released from the album were "Get Up and Go" and "He's So Strange". None of them made it in the top 40. In 1983 Vacation was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Packaging. During the album's promotion the group was forced to go on hiatus when Schock underwent surgery for a congenital heart defect.
In 1984 the group returned with the Martin Rushent produced album Talk Show. The album tracks "Head over Heels" and "Turn to You" were both top 40 hits in the US.
Nevertheless, personality conflicts and creative differences were also taking a toll, as were drug addiction problems for some band members. Jane Wiedlin announced her departure from the group in October 1984. The band sought a replacement for Wiedlin, and finally selected Paula Jean Brown as their new bassist, with Valentine moving to lead guitar. This line-up debuted at the 1985 Rock in Rio festival, playing two shows, but Carlisle and Caffey soon realized their hearts were no longer in the group and decided to disband the Go-Go's in May 1985.
n 1990, the Go-Go's classic line-up (Caffey, Carlisle, Schock, Valentine and Wiedlin) reunited to play a benefit concert for the California Environmental Protection Act, a 1990 ballot initiative. This led to more show dates later that year. The band also entered the studio with producer David Z. to re-record a cover of "Cool Jerk" for a greatest hits compilation.
In 1994, the same line-up got together again to release the 2-disc retrospective Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's, which featured three new recordings. The single "The Whole World Lost Its Head" 'bubbled under' on the US charts at #108, but became the band's first and only top 40 hit in the UK, peaking at #29. The band toured again to promote the release; ex-Bangle Vicki Peterson stood in on several dates for Caffey, who was pregnant.
In 1997, Schock sued the other members of the group, claiming that she had not been properly paid for her contributions since 1986 and that a songwriting agreement with Caffey had been breached. The suit was resolved by 1999 when the band reunited for a brief tour and they finally began to resolve their personal differences.
In 2001, the band (still with the "classic" line-up) released an album of new material, God Bless The Go-Go's. Green Day's lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong co-wrote the only released single "Unforgiven". The album was well-received by critics, and peaked at number #57 in the Billboard 200 chart.
Also in 2001, the Go-Go's, along with artists Elton John, Billy Joel, David Crosby, Paul Simon, performed at the concert "An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson" at Radio City Music Hall, hosted by the TNT network.
Lightning Records
Cruisin'
Picture Supplied by Street Machine
1. Chris Montez - Let's Dance, 2. Lonnie Mack - Memphis, 3. Ketty Lester - Love Letters, 4. Casinos - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
5. Del Vikings - Come Go With Me, 6. Del Vikings - Whispering Bells, 7. Drifters - Save The Last Dance For Me, 8. Drifters - When My Little Girl Is Smiling
9. Teddy Bears - To Know Him Is To Love Him, 10. Jody Reynolds - Endless Sleep, 11. Johnny Tillotson - Poetry In Motion, 12. Johnny Tillotson - Princess Princess
13. Bobby Darin - Dream Lover, 14. Bobby Darin - Mack The Knife, 15. Everly Bros - Bird Dog, 16. Everly Bros - Devoted To You
17. Earls - Remember Then, 18. Billy Bland - Let The Little Girl Dance, 19. Jewel Akens - Birds And The Bees, 20. Fendermen - Mule Skinner Blues
Created with fd's Flickr Toys
UK (Welsh) Heavy Metal Band Budgie's First Album Released in 1971
This CD IS A Limited Edition Picture Disc on Repertoire Records RR 4012-C out in 1989
Patricia Mae Andrzejewski was born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to Andrew and Mildred Andrzejewski, a sheet-metal worker and a beautician. Her family moved to Lindenhurst, New York on Long Island, when she was 3 years old. "I have wonderful childhood memories of picking berries in the 'woods' by our house, driving to the 'docks' on the South Bay to get freshly harvested clams", she recounted once.
Patti (as she was known) became interested in theater and began voice lessons, singing at Daniel Street Elementary School her first solo, a song called “It Must Be Spring,” at age eight. She said, "As a kid, I sang at any choir, any denomination, anywhere I could." At Lindenhurst Senior High School (1967-71), Benatar participated in musical theater, playing Queen Guinevere in the school production of Camelot, marching in the homecoming parade, singing at the annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony, and performing a solo of "The Christmas Song" on a holiday recording of the Lindenhurst High School Choir her senior year.
Benatar was cut off from the rock scene in nearby Manhattan though because her parents were "ridiculously strict - I was allowed to go to symphonies, opera and theater but I couldn't go to clubs". Her musical training was strictly classical and theatrical. She said, "I was singing Puccini and West Side Story but I spent every afternoon after school with my little transistor radio listening to the Rolling Stones..."
Training as a coloratura and accepted to The Juilliard School, Benatar surprised family, friends and teachers by deciding a classical career was not for her and pursued health education at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. At 19, after one year at Stony Brook, she dropped out to marry her high school sweetheart Dennis Benatar, an army draftee who trained at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then served with the Army Security Agency at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, before being stationed at Fort Lee, Virginia. Specialist (E-4) Dennis Benatar was stationed there for three years, and Pat worked as a bank teller in Richmond, Virginia.
In 1973, Benatar quit her job as a bank teller to pursue a singing career after being inspired by a Liza Minnelli concert she saw in Richmond. She got a job as a singing waitress at a flapper-esque nightclub named The Roaring Twenties and got a gig singing in lounge band Coxon's Army, a regular at Sam Miller's basement club. The band garnered enough attention to be the subject of a never-aired PBS special, and the band's bassist Roger Capps also would go on to be the original bass player for the Pat Benatar Band. The period also yielded Benatar's first and only single until her eventual 1979 debut on Chrysalis Records: "Day Gig" (1974), Trace Records, written and produced by Coxon's Army band leader Phil Coxon and locally released in Richmond. Her big break came in 1975 at an amateur night at the renowned comedy club Catch a Rising Star in New York. Her rousing rendition of Judy Garland's "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" earned her a call back by club owner Rick Newman, who would become her manager. Benatar said:
I came in from Virginia one night. I had straight red hair and I wore a dress. I sang a Judy Garland song and I don’t know what happened, I never sang in New York before in my life, even though I grew up there, everybody just went crazy. I didn't do anything spectacular. I don’t know what happened, it was just one of those magical things. [Rick Newman] came right in and said, 'Let's talk about you playing here some more...' Newman said, 'It was 2:45 in the morning. We had 30 performers and she was about #27. I was on the other side of the room drinking with some friends--then I suddenly heard this voice!'
The couple headed back to New York following Dennis' discharge from the army, and Benatar went on to be a regular member at Catch A Rising Star for close to three years, until signing a record contract. Catch A Rising Star was not the only break Benatar got in 1975. She landed the part of Zephyr in Harry Chapin's futuristic rock musical, The Zinger. Benatar's first foray into rock. The production, which debuted on March 19, 1976, at the Performing Arts Foundation's (PAF) Playhouse in Huntington Station, Long Island, ran for a month and also featured Beverly D'Angelo and Christine Lahti. Benatar noted: "I was 22 by the time I started to sing rock, so at first I was very conscious of technique and I was overly technical. That proved to be inhibiting so it was a disadvantage until I began to sing intuitively. That’s the only way to sing rock – from your gut level feelings. It's the instinct that the best singers have."
Halloween 1977 proved a pivotal night in Benatar's early, spandexed stage persona. Rather than change out of the vampire costume she had worn to a Greenwich Village cafe party that evening, she went on-stage wearing black tights, black eyeliner and a short black top. Benatar has stated: “I was dressed as a character from this ridiculous B movie called Cat-Women of the Moon.” Despite performing her usual array of songs, she received a standing ovation. Benatar has said that "[T]he crowd was always polite, but this time they went out of their minds. It was the same songs, sung the same way, and I thought, 'Oh my god ... [i]t's these clothes and this makeup!'"
Between appearances at Catch A Rising Star and recording commercial jingles for Pepsi Cola and a number of regional concerns, she headlined New York City’s famous Tramps nightclub from March 29 - April 1, 1978, where her performance impressed representatives from several record companies. She was signed to Chrysalis Records by founder Terry Ellis the following week."There was a long period of three years, when I spent my time taking demo tapes around and being rejected by one record company after another. Then just two days after the debut concert with the band, we were signed to a record contract...." Recorded in June and July 1979, Benatar debuted the week of August 27, 1979 with the release of I Need A Lover from the album In the Heat of the Night. She said, "My album was the last of a bunch by female singers to come out so I was told not to expect much, even though Mike Chapman was producing."
She won an unprecedented four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Female Rock Performance from 1980 to 1983 for her second LP, Crimes of Passion, and the songs "Fire and Ice", "Shadows of the Night", and "Love Is a Battlefield". Of the ten Grammy Award ceremonies in the 1980s, Benatar was nominated for Best Female Rock Performance eight times, including for "Invincible" in 1985, "Sex as a Weapon" in 1986, "All Fired Up" in 1988 and in 1989 for "Let's Stay Together".
Benatar also earned Grammy Award nominations in 1985 for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female with "We Belong" and in 1986 for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Duo or Group as a member of Artists United Against Apartheid for their single, "Sun City". Benatar is also the winner of three American Music Awards: Favorite Female Pop/Rock Vocalist of 1981 and 1983, and Favorite Female Pop/Rock Video Artist of 1985. Benatar was twice named Rolling Stone magazine's Favorite Female Vocalist, and Billboard magazine ranks her as the most successful female rock vocalist of all time based on overall record sales and the number of hit songs and their charted positions.
Pat Benatar was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame at the Second Induction Award Ceremony and Fundraising Gala held October 30, 2008. In her acceptance letter, she said, “My upbringing, and the values and ideals I learned back in my hometown kept me grounded. I never forget that a small town girl from Lindenhurst, LI actually got the chance to live her dreams.
In the Heat of the Night
"I Need a Lover" was the first single to be released on August 27, 1979. However both it and the next single, "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" (October 1979), were unsuccessful. Benatar's third single "Heartbreaker" was released in early December 1979 and became an immediate hit, climbing to #23 in the U.S. Benatar said "That was written by these two English guys, Gill and Wade, and it had all these little English colloquialisms that Americans would never say. So the publisher gave it to me to clean up, and I had to figure out all these lyrics. It was making me crazy. But I loved the song from the first time I heard it, so I rewrote the lyrics and we did the song as it appears here. It's one of my favorites." A fourth single "We Live for Love," which was written by her future husband Neil Giraldo, was released in February 1980, and reached US #27. Although Giraldo claims that it was written about her, Benatar has playfully accused him during interviews of having written the song long before they met, obviously about another woman.
Benatar's debut album In the Heat of the Night was released in October 1979, and reached #12. It established Benatar as a new force in rock. Producer Mike Chapman, who had worked with Blondie and The Knack, broke his vow not to take on any new artists when he heard Benatar's demo tape. Chapman personally produced three tracks on the album, while his long-time engineer and now independent producer, Peter Coleman (who also supervised Nick Gilder) oversaw the rest. In addition, Chapman and his partner, Nicky Chinn, wrote three songs that appear on the LP, "In the Heat of the Night" and "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" which were previously recorded by Smokie, as well as a rearranged version of a song they wrote for Sweet, "No You Don't". The album also featured two songs written by Roger Capps and Benatar as well as "I Need a Lover" written by John Mellencamp and "Don't Let It Show" written by Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson. The album would be Benatar's first RIAA certified platinum album.
Crimes of Passion
In August 1980, Benatar released her second and most popular LP, Crimes of Passion, featuring her signature song "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" along with the controversial song Hell is for Children, which was inspired by reading a series of articles in the New York Times about child abuse in America. "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (U.S. #9) was her first single to break the U.S. Top 10 and eventually sold more than 1 million copies (at that time, gold status) in the United States alone. The album peaked at U.S. #2 for six consecutive weeks in January 1981 (behind Yoko Ono and John Lennon's Double Fantasy) and eventually sold over 5 million copies, and a month later, Benatar won her first Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1980. Other singles released from Crimes of Passion were "Treat Me Right" (US #18) and the Rascal's cover, "You Better Run" (US #42), which gained some later notoriety when it was the second music video ever played on MTV, after the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star".[2][7][8] The album also featured a changed-tempo cover of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights. Produced by Keith Olsen, Crimes of Passion remained on the US album charts for 93 weeks and in the top 10 for more than six months, eventually becoming her second consecutive platinum certification by the RIAA. In October 1980, Benatar (along with future husband Neil Giraldo) graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
Precious Time
In August 1981, Benatar hit #1 on the Billboard U.S. Top 200 LP chart with her third LP, "Precious Time". It was also her first to chart in the UK, reaching #30. The album's lead single, "Fire and Ice", was another big hit (US #17, AUS #30) and would win Benatar her second Grammy Award, this time for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1981 and her third consecutive RIAA certified platinum album. Two more singles, "Promises in the Dark" (US #38) and "Take It Any Way You Want It" are also released.
Get Nervous
A hit single, "Shadows of the Night", (US #13, AUS #19) heralded a new LP, Get Nervous, released in late 1982. The album was another smash, reaching US #4, her fourth consecutive RIAA platinum certification, and the single would garner Benatar yet another Grammy, again for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1982. The follow-up singles, "Little Too Late" and "Looking for a Stranger", were also successful, hitting US #20 and #39 respectively. The last single, "Anxiety (Get Nervous)", failed to make the Top 40. The WWII-themed music video for "Shadows of the Night" featured then-unknown actors Judge Reinhold and Bill Paxton as an American fighter copilot and a German radio operator, respectively.
Live from Earth
By 1983, Benatar had established a reputation for singing about "tough" subject matters, with a significant amount of songs featuring a "battle" metaphor. This was best exemplified by one of the biggest hits of her career, "Love Is a Battlefield" (penned by noted hit songwriter Holly Knight with Mike Chapman), released in December 1983. By then her sound had mellowed from hard rock to more atmospheric pop and the story-based video clip for "Love Is a Battlefield" was aimed squarely at MTV, even featuring Benatar in a Michael Jackson-inspired group dance number. This new pop direction was a huge commercial success, with the single peaking at #5 in the United States, and #1 in Australia for seven weeks. The song even gained some interest in the UK where it peaked at #49. The song would also net Benatar her fourth consecutive Grammy Award for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" of 1983. A live album, Live from Earth, which was recorded during Benatar's sold-out Get Nervous world tour of America and Europe in 1982 and 1983, contained two studio tracks, "Love Is a Battlefield" and "Lipstick Lies." The album peaked at U.S. #13 and became her fifth consecutive RIAA platinum winner.
Tropico
In October 1984, the single "We Belong" became another Top 5 smash in the US, and reached #7 in Australia. It was also Benatar's first ever UK top 40 hit, where it peaked at #22. In November, Benatar released her sixth album, Tropico (US #14, AUS #9, UK #31). A second single release, "Ooh Ooh Song," reached U.S. #36. It is also said by Benatar and Giraldo that this album is the first where they moved away from Benatar's famed "hard rock" sound and start experimenting with new, sometimes "gentler," styles and sounds. Despite not making the US Top 10, it earned her a sixth consecutive RIAA platinum certification. A third single, "Temporary Heroes" was also released in March 1985.
After the chart success of We Belong in the UK, Love is a Battlefield was re-released in early 1985 and became her highest chart hit there, reaching #17.
Seven the Hard Way
Benatar would hit the U.S. Top 10 with the #10 single "Invincible" (the theme from the movie, The Legend of Billie Jean) in 1985. "Sex As a Weapon" would climb as high as #28 in January 1986, and "Le Bel Age" (#54) in February. The album Seven the Hard Way peaked at #26, earning an RIAA Gold certification.
The title of the album is based on a bet in the game of craps: "Rolls of 4, 6, 8, and 10 are called "hard" or "easy" (e.g. "Six the Hard Way", "Easy Eight", "Hard Ten") depending on whether they were rolled as a "double" or as any other combination of values, because of their significance in center table bets known as the "hard ways"." The album was the band's seventh release in seven years. Benatar is holding a pair of dice on the album cover with three and a half dots each.
Wide Awake in Dreamland
In July 1988, Benatar released her eighth album, "Wide Awake in Dreamland" (US #28, UK #11). A single lifted from the album, "All Fired Up" (written by Kerryn Tolhurst, ex-The Dingoes) reached #19 in both the US and the UK, and was a #2 smash in Australia, becoming one of the biggest hits of 1988 in that country. Other singles released from the LP are "Don't Walk Away" (UK #42), "Let's Stay Together", and "One Love" (UK #59). The album also earned an RIAA gold certification.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Benatar
At this point I joined the RAF and stopped buying records so much, and so this is where my collection ends.