Get Nervous
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Album Summary
Get Nervous arrived in 1982 on Chrysalis Records, standing tall as Pat Benatar's fourth studio album and a bold statement from an artist who was absolutely on fire at that moment in rock and roll history. Produced by Myron Grombacher and Benatar herself, this record was crafted during a period when she owned the airwaves and the hearts of rock fans everywhere. The production leaned into the synthesizer-tinged, new wave-inflected rock sound that was reshaping radio in the early eighties, while never letting go of the raw, theatrical power that made Benatar one of the most distinctive voices of her generation. It was a record born from confidence, ambition, and an artist who knew exactly who she was.
Reception
- Get Nervous climbed to number 22 on the Billboard 200, earning gold certification — a testament to the loyalty of Benatar's fanbase even as the album represented a somewhat more measured commercial moment compared to her earlier platinum-selling records.
- Critical reception landed somewhere in the middle of the road, with reviewers acknowledging the album's polished, pop-leaning direction while consistently singling out Benatar's vocal performance as something beyond reproach — because it was.
- Shadows Of The Night emerged as the album's standout single, generating strong radio play and MTV exposure and reinforcing Benatar's grip on the rock mainstream of the early 1980s.
Significance
- Get Nervous captured a pivotal moment in the new wave-pop crossover movement, weaving synthesizer textures through a rock foundation and showcasing Benatar's unmatched ability to ride that tension between theatrical drama and radio accessibility.
- The album reinforced Benatar's standing as one of the defining female rock vocalists of the MTV era, demonstrating that a woman could command hard rock territory with absolute authority and commercial staying power.
- Tracks like Anxiety Get Nervous and The Victim reflected a willingness to push into edgier, more textured sonic territory, helping to expand the vocabulary of what mainstream rock radio could sound and feel like in 1982.
Tracklist
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A1 Shadows Of The Night 111
4:20
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A2 Looking For A Stranger 165
3:24
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A3 Anxiety (Get Nervous) 151
3:30
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A4 Fight It Out 117
3:54
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A5 The Victim 79
4:41
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B1 Little Too Late 134
4:06
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B2 I'll Do It 127
4:07
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B3 I Want Out 133
3:42
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B4 Tell It To Her 122
3:40
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B5 Silent Partner 174
3:43
Artist Details
Pat Benatar burst onto the scene in the late 1970s out of New York, a powerhouse vocalist who fused hard rock grit with new wave polish and turned it into something that just grabbed you by the soul and wouldn't let go. She and her guitarist-husband Neil Giraldo crafted a sound that was tough, tender, and undeniably real, scoring massive hits like "Heartbreaker," "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," and "Love is a Battlefield" that made her one of the dominant forces of the early MTV era. She broke down walls for women in rock and roll, proving that a woman could stand center stage in a hard rock world and not just hold her own — she could own the whole room.
