Rocker is taking a stand against mass shootings
Pat Benatar is refusing to sing her biggest hit, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” on her current tour due to the gun violence throughout America. The rocker shared the news in a recent interview with USA Today and says fans are having trouble with the decision.
“We have what we call the ‘holy 14,’ songs that if we don’t play them, you’ll give us [a hard time],” she tells the publication. “And we’re not doing ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ and fans are having a heart attack and I’m like, I’m sorry, in deference to the victims of the families of these mass shootings, I’m not singing it. I tell them, if you want to hear the song, go home and listen to it. [The title] is tongue-in-cheek, but you have to draw the line. I can’t say those words out loud with a smile on my face, I just can’t. I’m not going to go on stage and soapbox — I go to my legislators — but that’s my small contribution to protesting. I’m not going to sing it. Tough.”
In the interview, Benatar also talks about her long-awaited induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame later this year.
“What’s fun for us is to watch how excited everyone else is — our family or friends or the [DJ] in Seattle who put that first cartridge in his radio station with ‘Heartbreaker’ on it,” she says. “But listen, it’s great. It’s great for our kids. But the truth is, they’re acknowledging work that has already been done, so it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t do anything to validate me as a person, but it’s nice.”
Benatar is the subject of the final installment of Epix’s four-part music docu-series Women Who Rock, which airs July 31st at 9 pm ET/PT. The series pays homage to female pioneers in music who have stormed the stage, wielded their instruments, amplified their voices, and sung the soundtrack of our lives.
Benatar is currently on tour with dates listed on her website through September 23rd at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas.
