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JOAN JETT Rocks
from: UCSF Access
I recently placed an early morning phone call to KENNY LAGUNA, who is rock star JOAN JETT's longtime musical partner, collaborator, producer and friend.
"Joan is a hard core rocker and left to herself, she would make straight- ahead punk records," says Laguna. "And myself, if working alone, I would write disposable pop music. So together, we've got this pop punk thing going." Jett has been called "the queen of punk" and "the girl Elvis." She has helped pave the way for many female rockers, including riot grrrl acts like L7, Babes in Toyland and Bikini Kill, all with whom she's musically collaborated.
Captivated by the rawness and onstage performance of glitter rock artists like the New York Dolls, T. Rex and David Bowie in the mid-1970s, Jett joined the Los Angeles music scene in 1975 with the first all-girl hard rock band, The RUNAWAYS.
The group released a half-dozen LPs and toured the world for five years. Joan played a fierce rhythm guitar and wrote much of the RUNAWAYS' material, including their Japanese Number One hit, "Cherry Bomb."
When they disbanded in 1978, Jett met Laguna. He was a music business veteran who had written, produced, and/or performed with acts like The Ohio Express, Tommy James and the Shondels, Jay and the Americans, Tony Orlando, and Edwin Star.
When he met Jett, he was writing and producing with Pete Townsend and The Who in England, as well as punk artists in California. According to Laguna, The RUNAWAYS' publicity agent called him and asked if he could bail Joan out of a contract agreement the rest of the group had walked out on.
"I had a reputation as a song craftsman, and flew into L.A. to write eight songs over a weekend with her. I was impressed with her [and] so I told her, I'll help you get a record deal. We spent a long time trying to get someone to sign her on, and finally got it all going by starting our own label."
That first solo album, Bad Reputation set the pattern for future LPs: a high-spirited blend of Jett originals and '50s/'60s favorites like Sam The Sham's "Wooly Bully," the Isley Brothers' "Shout," and Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me."
With Laguna's assistance, Jett formed The BLACKHEARTS and after almost a year of touring, they released I Love Rock And Roll. In 1981, the multi-Platinum album spun off two Top Ten singles, the Double Platinum title hit (a Number One record for eight straight weeks) and "Crimson And Clover."
Her 1983 release, Album sustained the hot streak with Gold sales and two more hit singles, "Fake Friends" and "Everyday People." The next year brought the release of Glorious Results Of A Misspent Youth; the highlights were an explosive remake of "Cherry Bomb" and the Gary U.S. Bonds standard "New Orleans."
As part of her recording history, Jett released the live 1995 record, "Evilstig" with the remaining members of the Gits, a Seattle punk rock band whose lead singer, Mia Zapata, was raped and murdered in 1993. Jett also starred in Paul Schrader's 1987 film Light of Day with Michael J. Fox, which featured the Top 40 platinum song, "I Hate Myself for Loving You."
She produced the Germs' seminal punk album, GI as well as tracks for Bikini Kill and Dischord Records' Circus Lupus. Over the years, she has invited everyone from R.E.M. and Social Distortion to the Butthole Surfers and Lungfish to open for her.Jett also had a role in the film Boogie Boy by Pulp Fiction's Craig Hamann and Roger Avary.
Jett has made her three most popular albums, Bad Reputation, I Love Rock and Roll and her greatest hits CD, Fit To Be Tied, available as downloads for purchase on her Web site. She plans to make her entire catalog available for download, including her original songs from her X Games television soundtrack, and her punk version of the song, "Science Fiction" from her appearance on Broadway in the musical Rocky Horror Show.
Laguna says Jett has never stopped touring since the beginning of her career, and people don't realize that a major portion of her shows each year are with the USO Celebrity Entertainers for United States military service men and women. She has played for American troops throughout the world since 1982 and pays all her own expenses.
Last year, she rocked for 10 days with GIs in Afghanistan. She came on stage wearing a burkha, which she ripped off and stomped on, before beginning her set, wearing black boots, camouflage pants and a fishnet top.
"Joan is anti-war and doesn't want to see our troops get sent into any war situations. She cries when she hears our military is going in somewhere, but she's ready to go herself and perform," Laguna says. "When our band went into Afghanistan, the war had just started. We were on the ship when they brought out the first U.S. casualty, we were there with the wounded guy and the soldier who was killed."
About 500 troops attended one concert, many with automatic weapons slung behind their backs. A giant U.S. flag was draped behind Jett while she sang. They also performed for about 2,000 U.S. troops in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
As Laguna recalls, "It was just dust over there. When you stepped on the ground your foot sunk into six inches of soil that was like talcum powder. God knows how they keep the computers, choppers and jets going. I don't think Americans really get what these kids go through in these situations and how our troops go from one hell hole to the next.
"We don't do any publicity about this USO stuff because Joan doesn't feel comfortable with it. She doesn't want her motives questioned. What we feel is that the GIs are giving everything and we just want to be there to support them. War or no war, Joan will be there when most people have forgotten again about the sacrifices these kids make for us."
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