"Painted Desert" Released: 1984 (Europe and Oceania only)
"Ooh Ooh Song" Released: January 7, 1985
"Temporary Heroes" Released: March 18, 1985 (promo)
Tropico is the fifth studio album by American rock singer Pat Benatar, released on November 1, 1984, by Chrysalis Records. It is the first album to feature bassist Donnie Nossov, who replaced Roger Capps in Benatar's band.
It peaked at No. 14 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart[1] and produced the Grammy-nominated[2] Top Five Pop hit "We Belong".[3] Other well-known songs from the album include "Painted Desert", "Outlaw Blues" and "Ooh Ooh Song" (also a Top 40 hit).[3] A Spanish version of "Ooh Ooh Song" was on the B-side of the US single and appeared also on her 1999 compilation, Synchronistic Wanderings. Tropico was Benatar's sixth consecutive Platinum-certified album in the United States.[4]
During the filming of the video for the single "Painted Desert", Benatar and husband Neil Giraldo discovered they were expecting their first child.[citation needed]
This album is Benatar and Giraldo's first attempt to move away from Benatar's famed "hard rock" sound and start experimenting with new "gentler" styles and new wave sounds.[5][6]
BGO Records reissued Tropico on CD with Seven the Hard Way.
The European magazine Music & Media praised Tropico's "excellent production" and noted the "softer and sophisticated direction" compared to earlier works, and recommended the tracks "Painted Desert" and "Love in the Ice Age".[7]