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JOAN JETT Still Rocks
from: TNOnline.com
JOAN JETT has blazed plenty of rock'n'roll trails, and she continues to do it her way. From founding the all-female band The RUNAWAYS as a teenager to her hit records with her long-time group The BLACKHEARTS, Jett has defied the expectations of the music industry in her own style.
Jett and The BLACKHEARTS appeared at Penn's Peak on Saturday, August 23. And delivered the same high energy performance that has been Jett's trademark.
Jett's look is different these days from how many might remember her from hits such as "I Love Rock'n'Roll" and "I Hate Myself for Loving You". She is now blonde, abandoning her black hairdo when Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx started sporting a similar style.
When it comes to her music, Joan hasn't changed the uncompromising approach that put her in the limelight despite doing much of it on her own terms.
In fact, Joan has come to be considered an influence for movements such as the Riot Grrls bands, such as L7 and Bikini Kill, who draw inspiration from her independent ways. In addition to touring up to 100 dates per year, Joan is working on her next album, according to KENNY LAGUNA, her long-time musical partner and collaborator.
"We are dedicating ourselves to having a hit," said Laguna, who knows something about hit records after a long career in the music business, including stints in groups such as Tommy James and the Shondels and the Ohio Express.
"Tommy James was the Led Zeppelin of Bubble Gum," said Laguna. "He was a brilliant, talented guy who was in search of credibility, and he almost got it with 'Crimson and Clover'. I don't think he was developed the way he should have been."
Speaking of Zeppelin, Laguna was once involved with the Zep parody "Stairway to Gilligan's Island" that might have been a hit had not Zep's management squashed it.
Laguna, who says he grew up on Tin Pan Alley, has worked with an array of artists, including Darlene Love, Righteous Brother Bill Medley, Jay and the Americans, Tony Orlando, Greg Kihn and Bow Wow Wow, as well as with The Who's record label in London.
Laguna first met Joan in 1979 when he was asked by her manager to produce a RUNAWAYS album."The RUNAWAYS had broken up, and we tried to get her a record deal, but no one wanted her," he recalled.
Jett's solo debut, produced by Laguna and Ritchie Cordell, was passed on by 23 labels before Joan and Kenny released it independently on their own label, BLACKHEART RECORDS. That record, originally titled JOAN JETT but later reissued as Bad Reputation on Boardwalk Records, went on to become the biggest selling independent record of all time, according to Laguna.
Joan then formed The BLACKHEARTS and recorded her breakthrough I Love Rock'N'Roll album, with the anthemic title song becoming a number one smash for seven weeks in 1982.
"Joan had recorded 'I Love Rock'n'Roll' with the Sex Pistols before I met her," explained Laguna. "We didn't use it on her first record, but it was a solid live song, and we knew it was a cool track, so they (the record company) asked us to put it out. Sometimes cool tracks become hits."
Joan does write and record her own songs but also performs covers of other tunes in her hard rocking style. Her version of the Shondel's "Crimson and Clover" was a follow-up hit to "I Love Rock'N'Roll".
Joan's music has branched out in other ways. "Little Drummer Boy" is a modern Christmas rock favorite. Her cover of the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song, "Love is All Around", was used to promote the NCAA Women's Basketball Championships.
"I come at her with songs, and she also comes up with them, but it's always my intention for her to do the best available songs," said Laguna.
Joan has also acted on stage and film, including the movie Light of Day, which also starred Michael J. Fox and used her version of the title song, written by Bruce Springsteen.
Laguna is hoping for a new album to be completed early next year.
Meanwhile, Joan is out on the road with the latest edition of The BLACKHEARTS, which includes her longtime drummer THOMMY PRICE, guitarist DOUGIE NEEDLES and bass player Sammy Yaffa, formerly of Hanoi Rocks.
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