How Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo Saved ‘Love Is a Battlefield’

If Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo had listened to the record company, you might not have ever heard hits like “Love is a Battlefield.”

As it turns out, 1985’s Seven the Hard Way would be appropriately named, because they’d released six albums leading up to that moment and battled with executives on a number of different points along the way. Starting with Benatar’s 1979 debut, In the Heat of the Night, they released an album each year, while touring relentlessly. The arrival of 1983’s Live From Earth would hypothetically provide a very small breather — but Chrysalis Records wanted a couple of new studio tracks to accessorize the live material.

One of the songs, “Love is a Battlefield,” was written by hitmakers Holly Knight and Mike Chapman. Hearing the demo, as was often the case, Benatar and Giraldo took the song in a new direction. For the guitarist, it was the first time he had a chance to use a Linn Drum and he liked the results. The label was less enthused. “They refused it and told me, either change the beat, change the tempo, take the talking out, take the whistling out [or we won’t release it], Giraldo remembered during a conversation with the UCR Podcast. “I don’t like the context — I don’t know what it is. What is it, an R&B song? I said, ‘No, but I can’t change it. I refuse to change it. Eventually, they listened to me complain enough that they released it.”

The dedication to the cause paid off and “Love is a Battlefield” became their 10th Top 40 single, going all of the way to No. 5. Giraldo can point to another reason for his persistence and he uses “When Doves Cry” by Prince to make his case. It’s a song that also used the Linn Drum to great effect — and as the Minneapolis musician so often did, the single was something on the radio and MTV music fans hadn’t heard before. “I like to follow that path, not because of being a jerk, and you just want to do something different because you’re above all that,” he explains. “No, it’s not it. It’s because I hear things like that. I want to challenge the listener, just like I challenge myself. So that’s very, very important.”

Watch Pat Benatar’s ‘Love is a Battlefield’ Video

What’s Happening With Pat and Neil These Days?

The pair amassed a total of 15 Top 40 singles and have sold more than 35 million records worldwide. Deservingly, they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. In addition to continuing to play live (including dates this fall with Bryan Adams), they remain engrossed in a variety of projects. September will see the release of a new children’s book, My Grandma and Grandpa Rock! As Giraldo told UCR, they also continue to write new songs — and have shared some of them with fans during recent concerts. He’s loaded up with no shortage of additional musical projects, including a Christmas record, plus a collaboration with former drummer Myron Grombacher and a solo album that will feature a flurry of special guests.

He’s particularly excited about Three Chord Bourbon, an idea which sprang up one night as he and friends were sipping bourbon in his recording studio. As they talked about music, he began to wonder how he could similarly blend the “tones” of various whiskeys together. The idea spawned a variety of collaborations in the past decade with artists like Halestorm, Dinosaur Jr., Taking Back Sunday and recently, a variety of spirits inspired by the Allman Brothers Band. “I want to build a family of musicians and have everybody be together,” he explains to UCR. “Even some of the younger bands [that are not as well-known] around the world these days or have a smaller audience that they’re building. If they have a question, they can call me if I could be of help and if I have an answer for them. I’ll help them. This isn’t about encouraging people to drink who aren’t drinkers. This is about [a variety of things including] the connectivity of musicians.”

Listen to Neil Giraldo on the ‘UCR Podcast’