"Love Is a Battlefield" | ||||||||
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Standard artwork (U.S. vinyl release pictured)
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Single by Pat Benatar | ||||||||
from the album Live from Earth | ||||||||
B-side | Hell Is For Children (Live Version) | |||||||
Released | September 12, 1983 | |||||||
Format | 7", 12" | |||||||
Recorded | 1983 | |||||||
Genre | New wave | |||||||
Length | 5:24 4:10 (single/radio edit) 6:29 (extended) |
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Label | Chrysalis Records | |||||||
Writer(s) | Holly Knight, Mike Chapman | |||||||
Producer(s) | Neil Giraldo, Peter Coleman (A-side only) | |||||||
Pat Benatar singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Love Is a Battlefield" is a million-selling, gold hit performed by Pat Benatar, and written by Holly Knight and Mike Chapman. It was released as a single from Benatar's live album Live from Earth, though the song itself was a studio recording. The song was ranked at number 30 in VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the 1980s.
Holly Knight and Mike Chapman wrote this song for Pat Benatar initially as a ballad with a beautiful melody and moving chord changes. After some exploration with drum machines and the band, Neil Giraldo decided to make this an uptempo song. The single was Benatar's second American million seller and is tied with "We Belong" as her highest charting single in the United States. It topped Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for four weeks and peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1983.
It hit #1 on the Australian singles chart in February 1984 and remained there for five weeks, becoming the 11th biggest selling single of the year. The song was re-released in the United Kingdom in March 1985 and reached #17. It was awarded a Gold certification in Canada as well. The song was featured in the television series Psych. In the television series Drop Dead Diva the song is performed by the actresses Brooke Elliott and Faith Prince. It was also featured in the film 13 Going on 30, where "love is a battlefield" is the mantra of the main character Jenna Rink, played by Jennifer Garner. The song in the Kay Gee Remix version, featuring Kay Gee and Queen Latifah, is on the end credits of the 1998 film, Small Soldiers.