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JOAN JETT still loves rock 'n' roll
from: vancourier
by Greg Potter
Having spent two-thirds of her life in the rock 'n' roll racket, JOAN JETT has charted one of the biggest singles in history, changed the way the music business looks at women and influenced an entire generation of rockers, male and female alike.
"Fun-that's what keeps me going," says the woman who plunked "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" at the top of the Billboard charts for eight weeks in 1982. "It's a blast."
Currently in the midst of the Vans Warped Tour, which brings 70-plus bands to UBC's Thunderbird Stadium Tuesday, Jett is in her element. "I thought it was going to be a rolling punk-rock circus, and that's exactly what it is," she says via cellphone en route from Phoenix to San Diego.
"It's somewhat of an organized mess, nuts all the time, but it's even more fun than I thought it would be. Great energy, fantastic camaraderie, good crowds and great music. What more can you ask?"
Born in Philadelphia and reared on Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Jett's tastes swung to the glitter rock of Slade, Suzi Quatro and T. Rex after seeing her first concert-the New York Dolls-at age 12. By the time her family relocated to Southern California, she was already a pubescent guitar slinger and co-founded the now-legendary RUNAWAYS in 1975 at age 15.
Under the tutelage of notorious Sunset Strip svengali Kim Fowley, the band-which included budding metal-queen Lita Ford, Bangles' bassist-in-waiting Michael Steele, and singer/actress Cherie Currie-was definitely ahead of its time, confounding critics of the day but leaving a legacy that continues to resonate.
Notably, Jett refused to participate or allow her music to be used in Edgeplay, a 2004 warts-and-all documentary made about the band by former-bassist-turned-filmmaker Vicki Blue.
"I thought a movie about the RUNAWAYS should talk about the influence we had and all the things we did," says Jett, who appears only in archival footage. "Something other than a Jerry Springer bitchfest. I didn't want to be involved in that because that was not the experience I had. That was not the band I was in. I didn't know what the hell they were talking about in that film.
"You put a camera on any band-or any family for that matter-and you're going to find fights and personality disagreements," she continues. "But to have it now and forever emblazoned across people's minds that that's what the RUNAWAYS were about is wrong. I wanted nothing to do with it."
The band imploded on New Year's Eve 1978, and Jett (her mother's maiden name, by the way) went to England to cut tracks with former Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook. Returning to the U.S. and relocating from Los Angeles to New York, she was introduced to KENNY LAGUNA, to this day her writing partner and producer.
The subsequent album, Bad Reputation, completed with a host of friends (including the aforementioned Pistols and members of Blondie) was turned down by every major and minor label in the U.S. Undaunted, Jett and Laguna formed the indie label BLACKHEART RECORDS in 1981 and released the album to stunning reviews but scant sales.
All that changed less than a year later with the release of I Love Rock 'n' Roll. Besides the title track, the album yielded singles with covers of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover" and Gary Glitter's "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)." The album went platinum.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of BLACKHEART RECORDS, Jett's back catalogue from the '80s and '90s has been remastered and re-released with restored artwork and bonus material. "It's about time," she says with a laugh.
Meanwhile, SINNER, her latest album with the BLACKHEARTS-guitarist DOUGIE NEEDLES, bassist Enzo and drummer THOMMY PRICE-is vintage Jett, all Sex Pistols' guitars, bubblegum melodies and fist-pumping glam-anthem grooves. It is likewise a testimony to how she has changed with the business.
"A lot of labels aren't even going to deal with a band that sells less than 500,000 records," she says. "They don't want to know about it. So how does anybody have a chance to conquer anything anymore? I'm sure there are a lot of good bands out there struggling to be heard.
"But being able to use the Internet, build your own website, burn your own CDs, you're actually able to reach a lot of people. When the RUNAWAYS started, or even the BLACKHEARTS, we didn't have that advantage. You could only reach the people you could get to by touring. Also, radio jocks used to have some say in the records they played, which they don't anymore. You can't bet on getting played on the radio at all.
"Now, you have to figure out ways to present your music to a lot of people and get it out there." Which is precisely what JOAN JETT has been doing all along.
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