Pat Benatar — Anxiety (Get Nervous)

JUL 01 1982 · 12:00

Pat Benatar — Anxiety (Get Nervous) (1982) Director: Mark Robinson Era: MTV Golden Age of Rock (1982) - Peak early-MTV era female hard rock, coinciding with Pat Benatar's commercial dominance and the network's rapid cultural ascent as music video's primary distributor. High curatorial value as a confirmed 1982 MTV-distributed artifact from one of the network's most-played female rock artists at her commercial zenith. The horror-comedy narrative, documented Creepy magazine homage, and warm film-stock aesthetic make it a distinctive and visually coherent time capsule of early-MTV production culture, with cross-disciplinary research value spanning gender studies, horror media history, and music video form. Context: Released in late 1982 during Pat Benatar's commercial peak, this video emerged when MTV was fundamentally reshaping how rock music was consumed. Benatar was one of the network's earliest and most-played female artists, and the horror-comedy framing of 'Anxiety (Get Nervous)' reflects an era when music video directors were experimenting with short-form cinematic storytelling. The nod to EC-style horror magazines like Creepy ties the visual language to a distinctly American subcultural tradition predating punk, bridging boomer horror fandom with Gen X new wave audiences. The video's theatrical artifice and warm, saturated palette are hallmarks of the transitional moment between 70s rock film aesthetics and the full embrace of video-native production grammar. Director notes: Directed in 1982 and distributed by MTV. The video employs a horror-comedy narrative framework built around anxiety and fear, using a dentist visit and oversized medical prop imagery as central visual conceits. A visual homage to horror magazine Creepy (which ceased publication in 1983) is documented. The song was co-composed by Neil Giraldo and Billy Steinberg. The video was released as a single promotional clip in Europe, where 'Anxiety (Get Nervous)' was issued as a commercial single, while it did not receive a US single release.