Man, look at that subject line – TOTAL 80’s awesomeness right there. You’d think that I’ve probably been waiting weeks for the chance to drop it on unsuspecting ATV readers everywhere. And you’d be completely wrong.
Mel got in touch with me mid-last week and suggested that this would make for a perfect Cage Match “battle of the sexes,” er, “sexy battle,” um….oh, nevermind. She actually suggested this one with the informational inclusion that Pat Benatar and Blondie are going on tour together this summer.
Oh hell yes they are, and The Donnas are coming along for the ride too!
The tour has been christened as the “Call Me Invincible” trek and they are going to rock the f*ck out from city to city to city.
Except Cleveland.
What? How the HELL did this happen? You’re tellin’ me I gotta go to Cincy to check this out?
Let’s take a look at our two contenders this week.
I have SO many thoughts about Benatar that I could share with you.
(I bet you do, Matt.)
Let’s start with a guy (me) that is hosting heavy metal karaoke with a live band weekly for a couple of years with local guitarist Billy (The Kidd) Morris. We all die inside just a little bit more each time that the guy who looks like Dio gets up to sing “Iron Man” by Sabbath in a not-so-good way.
And then you really shudder when you see a girl approaching the stage. This means that she’s going to sing one of two songs – Pat’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” or Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock and Roll.” Gets real old, real fast.
The only exception would happen on occasion when someone like my high school comrade Lisa would come along. Lisa would put her balls right out on the bar, climb on stage, and drop something along the lines of Led Zep’s “Rock and Roll” on the unsuspecting crowd. Times like these fell into the “hell yeah” side of life and left you with no complaints.
When you talk of “no complaints,” I had at least one of them after I finally saw Pat live for the first time a few years ago. Having missed THE show in the 90’s when Pat played a VERY intimate date at the old Peabody’s Down Under while touring in support of Gravity’s Rainbow, it would be a long time before I would finally catch my 1st Benatar concert. Benatar was booked at the House of Blues, and I swung on out with my sister to the HOB for the Benatar experience.
I had no idea that Pat would leave me hanging at the end of that night without hearing my favorite Benatar track – “Shadows Of The Night”.
It didn’t matter though, because she still looked mega-hot 643 years after playing her first show in Cleveland in the late 70’s. And that’s one of many areas where our good pal Pat B. probably gets a leg up vs. Debbie Harry and Blondie in 2009.
We could have picked any one of a number of Benatar tunes for this week’s Cage Match, and Mel suggested one that plenty of Clevelanders wore out on vinyl – “Treat Me Right.”
“Treat Me Right” goes up against Blondie’s “Call Me” – an undeniable smash and anthem for many.
Many girls, that is.
I of course chose “Turn Me Loose” by Loverboy as my anthem. Explains a lot, doesn’t it?
Regarding this week’s match, Mel says “I might be biased here even before song selection because there is NO WAY that Blondie can kick Pat’s ass! :)”
What do you think? Benatar or Blondie – who’s it gonna be?
I’m on a big Blondie kick. And I’ve always thought that you could do the “Call Me” break on a pedal steel and it’d rock.
My wife is a big Pat fan.
It comes down to song choice. If you had gone with “Hell is for Children”, I think I’d go for Pat, but instead, Blondie.
Not even close. Even though Benatar’s a fellow native Long Islander, Blondie takes this one. Better song, and she’s got a far better band behind her, especially the incomparable Clem Burke on drums.
it kills me to say it (I LOVE YOU PAT!) but “treat me right” just isn’t one of her better songs. i will say “love is a battlefield” would have clinched it for her. that video is AMAZING!! creepy pimp and all. here’s to you blondie.
Between these two songs… I gotta go with Blondie.
Gotta go with Blondie on this one. “Treat Me Right” is just weak. Many other Pat Benatar songs would have won out over “Call Me”.
-Craig
Blondie wins this one. Even though I have a hard time not thinking of Richard Gere when I hear it, it’s a great tune.
Pat has a lot of good songs also, but this is a knockout for Debbie and company.
“Call Me” is just too played out to get my vote. It was Blondie’s biggest hit and the #1 song of 1980, and as a result the song goes right through me. Some songs are so played, you don’t even “hear” them anymore, even when they’re playing. I, often times, prefer the lesser hits, so “Treat Me Right” gets my vote. If it was going up against Blondie’s “Dreaming”, I might have voted the other way. However, after seeing all of the votes for “Call Me”, I realize I’m making about as big a dent in the battle as “Treat Me Right” did on the charts.
MyCool44 is on the money. “Call Me” is played and I can’t appreciate it anymore. Besides, Pat Benetar has one of the best female voices in pop music and out sings most bitches (except Ann Wilson). Sorry Debbie. Keep eating cars.