Pat Benatar: Between a Heart and a Rock Place

Pat Benatar was the first pop star I liked to listen to. Shadows of the Night, Get Nervous, We Belong, etc. As what we now call a 'tween, I really didn't pay any attention to rock music before then. But Benatar drew me in. She was powerful, she sang well, and she was independent. She was the immediate follow-up to Debbie Harry and Blondie: The new, don't-[censored]-with-me woman of rock.

We didn't know just how independent until she passed her time as a teen idol and began to develop out of the limelight. She released a blues record that I still love to listent to. Her new rock releases showed more personality, more Benatar. She and her band proved she's intelligent and sensitive, and can do great music even if it doesn't hit the top 40.

So today, when I went to a bookstore and saw her new autobiography (written with Patsi Bale Cox), Between a Heart and a Rock Place, I pretty much bought it without a second thought. It'll be one of the next books I read.

Random quote:

The woman we talked to about wedding arrangements was named Mary Estrella. From the moment we introduced ourselves, we knew this had been the right decision. Our names meant nothing to her. Nothing. After dealing with fame for the last three years, we were only too ready to be anonymous.