From the opening bellows on Scandal’s “The Warrior,” it’s clear that Patty Smyth has a kick-ass attitude — and a powerful voice to back it up.
And if there was any doubt, there is the 1984 video.
Patty Smyth and Scandal will appear at Hollywood Casino Toledo on Feb. 8. Photo Courtesy PattySmythAndScandal.com
“I always thought ‘The Warrior’ video was going to be funny; it was supposed to be sort of tongue in cheek,” Smyth said. “And then when it came out as this sort of serious whatever the hell it was, you couldn’t recognize me. They cut all my hair off; I had all this makeup on.
“So I had this huge hit record, but nobody really recognized me on the street; they recognized me more from ‘Goodbye to You’ than from ‘The Warrior.’
“If I had really been thinking with my business cap, I would have really fought them and I would have paid for it, which would have been like a huge amount of money though because that video cost a s***load of money,” she said. “Maybe that’s what kept me from doing it, because I did not want that video to come out; I hated it. Now I think it’s funny.”
Maybe because Scandal made a couple more videos: “Beat of a Heart” and “Hands Tied.” Then Smyth scored as a solo artist with her 1987 debut “Never Enough” that included “Downtown Train.” Five years later, the self-titled “Patty Smyth” featured “No Mistakes” and a duet with Don Henley, “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough.”
The singer landed an Academy Award nomination for 1994’s “Look What Love Has Done,” which she co-wrote for the movie “Junior.”
Smyth married tennis star John McEnroe in 1997; she had one daughter, and he had three children from previous relationships. The couple added two daughters of their own to the family.
In a 2009 People magazine story, Smyth joked she had become “The Worrier.”
“I am ‘The Warrior’ and ‘The Worrier,’ I’m both,” she said. “I worry about the kids and all that stuff. I really should worry about bigger things, but I sweat the small stuff as they say. I worry about where my kids are; they have to deal with me all the time.”
And the famous couple have the same problems as most parents.
“I get no break, you know, because I have two teenage daughters at home, and they’re just brutal to mom,” Smyth said. “They don’t care what their father did or what I did; we’re just annoying parents, basically.”
But the rocker chick resurfaced when Scandal reunited for a VH1 show in 2004.
During a call from Florida where she and McEnroe were visiting her mom, Smyth said the band is working on a new CD, and she plans to release a holiday disc this year.
“I’d wanted to play,” the New York City native said. “I had 20 kids at home, so it didn’t seem like something I could do, but we just had to plan it.”
Smyth and Scandal will play a free show at 8 p.m. Feb. 8 in the Hollywood Casino Toledo H Lounge.
“I want to sing,” she said. “It feels good to rock and run around. What I like about it is when the audience brings it and we bring it; something really great can happen.”
Fans might want to leave their cellphones in their pockets and purses.
“What really bugs me is the fact that people are holding up their phones and videotaping [the concert] the whole time. I just find that so distracting,” Smyth said.
“I know when I videotape something like a play my kid was in or something, it’s distracting because I’m almost not in the moment; I’m too busy worrying about what I’m videotaping to enjoy the show. But there’s no way you can stop everyone.
“The whole thing about doing a live show — it’s never going to be as good later as it was at that moment anyway; just enjoy the moment.”
