Why Pat Benatar Has Stopped Performing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"

“Hit Me With Your Best Shot” is one of her best-known hits, but in a recent interview with USA Today, Pat Benatar revealed that she has scrapped the 1980 power-pop classic from her set list in protest of gun violence and the latest slew of mass shootings in America.

“We’re not doing ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ and fans are having a heart attack,” Benatar, who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November, told the publication. “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.’”

Of course, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” is not literally about being shot with a gun, but it does contain lines like “fire away” that, for Benatar at least, feel a little too close to home in the wake of mass shootings in Highland Park, Illinois and Uvalde, Texas.

“[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,” Benatar said. “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 addition to her decision to stop performing “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” live, Benatar spoke with the publication about the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“I’m worried, like all of us, about fundamental autonomy rights,” she said. “This is a slippery slope. It’s not about abortion for me. I’m concerned that people are not paying attention to what this actually means.”