"That girl looks just like Pat Benatar"

Linda, that girl looks just like Pat Benatar.

I know. Wait, there are three girls here at Ridgemont who have cultivated the Pat Benatar look.

I was just a kid when Fast Times at Ridgemont High opened in 1982. Still though, even at the tender young age of seven, I knew who Pat Benatar was, because a.) her music was all over the radio and even then I recognized the utter awesomeness of her vocal talent in songs like "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", and b.) some of the older girls around town were obviously cribbing their looks—clothes, hair, makeup, strut—from Benatar's own style. Benatar was ubiquitous.

So, when I see or hear vintage-era Benatar now, I think of Fast Times, but mostly I remember that ubiquity—of both the performer and her legion of young imitators. I know it's not true, but when I recollect those years I swear every older girl looked like either Benatar, Juice Newton, or Joan Jett.

It's easy to forget, years later, that Benatar was both a powerhouse performer with some truly great New Wave era hits and basically the mainstream version of the New Wave signature style—even if she wasn't always recognized as New Wave by music snobs. Her early work is clearly New Wave influenced, but her catalog is mostly remembered as AOR pop rock, with her inimitable voice making them truly special and everlasting. We still rock out to her music today because of that voice. She could, as they say, sing the phone book, and I'd happily listen to her belt it out.

I'm light on time and low on brain power lately, so I'll readily admit this post is mostly an excuse to share vintage '80s Pat Benatar photos and bask in the nostalgic glory days of one of the signature pop culture icons of the era. Sometimes we need that, just to decompress and stay as close to sane as we can in this crazy, messed up world. Now and then, it's fun to mix it up with photo-heavy posts.

Obviously, Benatar's music is required listening while perusing this post. It certainly was for me, both while writing the post and Googling "Pat Benatar 1980s" to find these ultra-cool vintage images to accompany it.

Remember, kids: Love is a battlefield, but we belong, we belong together. We're running with the shadows of the night, so baby take my hand, it'll be all right.

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