Pat Benatar - In the Heat of the Night

I am a latecomer to the Pat Benatar party, but I'll never be able to explain why. She just flew under the radar for me for way too many years. I rocked out to Tiffany, Belinda Carlisle, The Bangles, The Go-Go's and many other ladies of the 80's (I feel like a creep saying it that way. I think it's because of that Dmitri Martin joke) but somehow missed Pat Benatar who is one of the greatest female artists of her era. Anyway, I made up for lost time by buying Pat Benatar's first four (and four best) records on vinyl, and this is the first of the bunch.

In the Heat of the Night opens with "Heartbreaker." It's an amazing song that still absolutely rocks, but I can't escape the mental image of Steinbrenner from Seinfeld singing it in the episode where George builds a nap space under his desk. "We Live for Love" is the other major hit on the album, but I was most blown away by the awesomeness of "I Need a Lover," but was sad to find out it was a John Cougar Mellencamp song. Anyway, In the Heat of the Night is a great debut for Pat Benatar. She rocks the weird non-shirt on the cover and rocks all the tunes on the album. I like me some Pat Benatar, and this is as nice a slice as any.