• Writer: Eddie Schwartz
• Producer: Keith Olsen
• Recorded: Winter 1980 at Sound City in Los Angeles
• Released: August 23rd, 1980 (album), September 15th, 1980 (single)
• Players:
  Pat Benatar — vocals
  Neil “Spyder” Giraldo — guitar
  Scott St. Clair Sheets — guitar
  Roger Capps — bass
  Myron Grombacher — drums
• Album: Crimes Of Passion (Chrysalis, 1980)
• Also On:
  Live From Earth (Chrysalis, 1983)
  Best Shots (Chrysalis, 1989)
  All Fired Up: The Very Best Of Pat Benatar (Chrysalis, 1994)
  Heartbreaker: 16 Classic Performances (Capitol/EMI, 1996)
  Synchronistic Wanderings (EMD, 1999)
  and other compilations.
• “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” was Pat Benatar‘s first top 10 single, peaking at Number Nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning a gold record.
• The song was first presented several years before to Derringer, the band that featured Neil “Spyder” Giraldo, Benatar’s guitarist and future husband. Derringer rejected the song, but Giraldo remembered it when Benatar began recording her second album.
• Crimes Of Passion was originally supposed to be produced by Mike Chapman, who co-produced Benatar’s 1979 debut In The Heat Of The Night, but after he had a falling out with the record label, Keith Olsen was recruited to produce.
• Olsen clashed with Benatar over vocals, however, and because of some personal problems, he often disappeared from the studio and even dozed off during the sessions. That left Giraldo in charge of many of the sessions, and he said, “ever since then, I’ve been behind the mixing desk.”
• Crimes Of Passion was a huge success, peaking at Number Two on the Billboard 200 and elevating Benatar to headlining status. It is still Benatar’s best selling album, at more than four million copies sold.

FAST FORWARD:

• Pat Benatar and Neil “Spyder” Giraldo were married in 1982. They have two daughters, and the family lives in Hawaii.
• Benatar, with Giraldo, continues to tour and record. Her most recent studio album was titled Go, and it came out in 2003.
• Benatar and Giraldo have appeared on the TV series Charmed, playing themselves and singing “Heartbreaker.”
• Benatar was the national spokesperson for the “It’s Hip To H.E.A.R.” program, which educated baby boomers about the importance of hearing health. She said, “Our generation has helped shape American culture, especially since we’re the first to be raised on rock-and-roll. From Aerosmith to the Rolling Stones, our music defines us, but all those years of rockin’ are beginning to take a toll.”
• In 2006, she was inducted into Entertainment Weekly magazine’s Fashion Hall Of Fame. Her citation read, “Long before Madonna worked that fuchsia leotard, Pat Benatar was honing a look that incorporated dancewear, colorful eye shadow, and spandex, spandex, spandex!”
• Benatar recently announced plans to record an acoustic album of hits and rarities, including “Love Is A Battlefield,” “Promises In The Dark” and “Hell Is For Children,” among others.