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Saint Joan
AMERICA'S FIRST LADY OF HARD ROCK STILL LOVES TO MAKE PEOPLE BLUSH - BUT SHE BELIEVES IN GOOD, CLEAN LIVING
from: newportmercury.com
by CHRISTA ALBRECHT-VEGAS
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS dropped like a "Cherry Bomb" on a rural smidgen of a town called Otis, Colo., pop. 480, when I was just a soft and impressionable 11-year-old. Being two hours from the nearest concert venue and dangerously low on alternative female role models, I could identify with this sneering savior in black leather and studs. Marianne Faithfull may have swung the first battle ax, but Jett hit the nation hard in 1982, lasting eight weeks at No. 1 on the charts with "I Love Rock & Roll."
What Jett provided for one lonely little city girl stranded in farm country has led many to call her an icon for women in the music business. Tenacious and talented, she commanded the respect of her audience without relying on her good looks and femininity. In 1979, having come away from international exposure with The RUNAWAYS, a band she co-founded in 1975, Jett embarked upon her solo career and was rejected by 28 different record labels before she and longtime producer/songwriting partner/fellow musician and friend, KENNY LAGUNA independently pressed their first album in 1980 and started selling it out of the back of her car. The album, which was picked up by Boardwalk Records in 1981 and entitled "Bad Reputation," marked the genesis of a partnership with Laguna that would become known as BLACKHEART RECORDS. In 1980, Jett and Laguna took out an ad in the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Weekly that read: "JOAN JETT looking for three good men." Thus, the BLACKHEARTS were assembled, and Jett was the first woman in rock & roll to own her own record company.
Since that time, Jett and the BLACKHEARTS have had nine Top 40 hit singles and eight platinum and gold LPs. The aftershocks of their impact on America can still be felt today in the form of groups like Garbage and Bikini Kill, but after the release of their 1999 LP, "Fetish," not much was heard from the group, until the 2006 release of "SINNER." Maybe Jett, having grown tired of waiting for someone to come along and fill her shoes, finally gave up and decided to forge ahead once more to get the job of rocking the world done right.
"People don't realize it sometimes, but all those riffs Joan invents, and the sound of her band is her guitar. So, to have that kind of talent all in one person, and then she's down to earth, she doesn't age ... Where are you going to find somebody like that?" Laguna said in a recent telephone interview.
Don't think Jett has rested on her laurels for eight years waiting to pass the torch. In addition to signing new bands on the Blackheart Label and keeping punk alive with groups like The Germs, The Vacancies, The Dollyrots and The Eyeliners, she also hosted "JOAN JETT's Radio Revolution," on Little Steven's Sirius Satellite Radio's Underground Garage. Her show has since been moved to the Faction Channel (Ch. 28), where she can be heard every Sunday at 9 p.m. 2006 saw Jett and the BLACKHEARTS promoting "SINNER," headlining the Van's Warped Tour.
Jett has been hard at work showing herself to be worthy of the status of role model, a status bestowed upon her when she herself was barely old enough to begin emulating the sources of her own inspiration, which included T. Rex, David Bowie and, oddly, Liza Minelli.
She devours philosophical tomes at the rate of one a week and is alert politically. She was an avid supporter of Howard Dean, traveling with him during the 2004 campaign. And, while she may not favor the current administration, she is probably the hardest working entertainer on behalf of American troops overseas. While she doesn't publicize her efforts for the troops, Jett and the BLACKHEARTS have made more than 60 trips to play for them. They were the first American noncombatants in the Kosovo war and the first noncombatants to sleep in the war zone in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Aside from fulfilling her patriotic duties, Jett is also a voice for the animal welfare factions. She is a vegetarian, having made the transition from black leather to synthetics years ago without suffering for it. One might assume that, while abstaining from meat, Jett must be living off of the blood of young virgins. Current photos seem to corroborate claims that she hasn't aged in 25 years, but Laguna attributes Jett's eternal youth to good, clean living.
"It's amazing. I can't stand it. When I started out, they used to think that I was her older brother. Now, they think I'm her grandfather," Laguna says. "But she doesn't drink and she doesn't smoke cigarettes and she doesn't eat garbage, and it's not like she's concentrating on it. It's what her nature is. She doesn't really have a desire to eat crappy foods. Most of the time, she just prefers a bowl of fruit to a bowl of garbage. I'm a vegan, but I eat garbage."
Cat lady
If simply being good is the elixir of life, then Joan will be rocking long into the future. Laguna attributes Jett's longevity to her down to earth sincerity and her sweet disposition.
"The bigger thing about Joan is, she loves her fans. She never says no to an autograph. People stop her all day long, and she's always good natured, always appreciative that people know her, appreciates her success every single day, goes out in zero degree weather and feeds stray cats... She keeps food in the back of her car for stray animals. It's like, she's one in a million, you know? People aren't like that. She's not interested in being part of the celebrity crowd. She wants to be part of the universe, and it's for real. It's not a routine."
While "SINNER," was a long time coming, it shows that Jett still thrives on making people blush. It also reveals Jett's desire to leave this world a little better off than she found it. She flaunts her aggressive sexuality in such numbers as "AC/DC," a hard-rocking tune with a bisexual twist in the classic Jett style, (Carmen Electra was featured in the video) and "Fetish," which starts off with Jett's gritty caterwaul: "You look good in latex."
"SINNER" is a rowdy, barenaked ride, but then there's "Naked," which isn't really about naked at all, despite the giggles it elicits from my five-year-old son. According to Laguna, "Naked" isn't about skin or sex, but about baring one's soul. The wisdom and perspective that come with age have crept into Jett's music and reveal her aspirations for the world in numbers like "Riddles," an assault on bogus political promises and double talk, and "Change the World," a point blank call to action. With 48 years of living under her steel studded belt, Jett can't seem to resist giving a jumpstart to young idealists and would-be activists.
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