Love is a Battlefield was Pat Benatar's most successful single and reached #17 in the UK during 1985 after a re-release. The moderate chart position is actually quite surprising given that the song featured plenty of airplay on UK radio stations.
Interestingly, the song was actually written by Holly Knight and Mike Chapman as a ballad. Chapman was a major songwriter an producer during the 1970s, creating hits for artists including Suzi Quatro, Smokie and The Sweet. Producer Neil Girado decided to make the song more uptempo, which I'm very grateful for as I'm not a huge fan of ballads!
Initially, Chapman and Knight were actually horrified by Pat's up-tempo version, as it was so completely different to what they had planned. However, after the song became a huge hit (which earned them plenty of royalties), they did begin to views it in a more positive light.
Holly Knight recorded her own version of the song for her debut, self-titled album, released in 1989.
The song was released to promote Benatar's first live album Live From Earth, which was recorded during her Get Nervous Tour in 1983. The B-side featured a live version of "Hell is for Children", which also features as track 5 on the album.
"Love is a Battlefield" reached No.1 in Australia (for 5 weeks), Belgium, Netherlands, and the U.S. rock chart.
The video was directed by Bob Giraldi and features Benatar as a teen escaping from her abusive dad.
The lyrics are ultimately about heartache, and the hurt caused from being in a difficult, on-off relationship with someone you love deeply, as in the line "you're begging me to go, then making me stay. Why do you hurt me so bad?". "But I'm trapped by your love, and I'm chained by your side" suggests that even though it would be wise to end the relationship, being madly in love is making it difficult to break free.
