Writer: Eddie Schwartz
Producer: Keith Olsen
Recorded: Winter 1980 at Sound City in Los Angeles, California
Released: September 15, 1980
| Players: | Pat Benatar—vocals Neil Giraldo–guitar Scott St. Clair Sheets–guitar Roger Capps–bass Myron Grombacher–drums |
| Album: | rimes Of Passion (Chrysalis, 1980) |
"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 in which Neil Giraldo, Benatar's guitarist and future husband, played before they met. 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 Chrysalis, Keith Olsen was recruited to produce.
Olsen clashed with Benatar over vocals, however, and because of some personal problems, he was often disappearing from the studio and even dozing off during the sessions. That left Giraldo in charge of many of the sessions, and "ever since then, I've been behind the mixing desk," he says.
Nevertheless, Crimes Of Passion was a huge success, peaking at Number Two on the Billboard 200 and elevating her to headlining status.
Crimes Of Passion is still Benatar's best selling album at more than four million copies sold.
