Can anybody guess who the Queen of Rock & Roll might be? Read on.
If you guessed Joan Jett you would be correctamoondo ! No doubt the picture helped. Founding member of The Runaways along with drummer Sandy West, Joan Jett grew up sneaking out to gigs and obsessing over Suzi Quatro, from whom she we would take style tips and a passion for rock and roll.
The Runaways were massive in Japan but failed to strike a chord with the U.S even though they toured with the likes of Cheap Trick, Van Halen and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. The exit of Cherie Currie from the band opened up the opportunity for Joan to take over on vocals which she handled in true rock n roll fashion.
Following the breakup of The Runaways in 1979, Joan turned her attention to a solo career where she added a few notches to her rock n roll belt recording with Paul Cook and Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols in the U.K . An early version of The Arrows track " I Love Rock n Roll" was one of the three tracks recorded.
It wasn't until a year later that Joan released her first solo album. After being rejected from 23 labels she and her producer Kenny Laguna released the self titled debut on their own label Blackheart Records. I love Joans tenacity and DIY approach and thank goodness she did it, can you imagine a world without Joan Jett on her own terms? I don't like to think about it..
Following the release Joan went onto form the Blackhearts by placing the advertisement " Looking for three good men" in the L.A Weekly. The Blackhearts developed a following in New York and Joan and Laguna continued with their DIY promotion and distribution of the album " Joan Jett" by using their personal saving to press copies and then sell them out of the boot of a car after gigs. The demand for the album became overhwelming and here entered Neil Bogart who partnered with Jett and Laguna to re- release " Joan Jett" as Bad Reputation on his Boardwalk Records label. After the release of Bad Reputation Joan Jett and The Blackhearts recorded and released the " I Love Rock n Roll" album.
Joan Jett hasn't slowed down and continues to tour, produce and guest. A gal after my own heart she declared that playing "Light of Day" with Bruce Springsteen at a 9/11 benefit in 2001 one of the greatest moments in her career. God bless Joan Jett's rock n roll socks.
