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JOAN JETT on The RUNAWAYS, Madonna, Britney, The Spice Girls and Sex
from: Lipster
by Jude Rogers
The operator connects me to a hotel room in Santa Fe, and her voice slinks onto the receiver: raw, rubbed with dirt and sly with confidence. JOAN JETT, America's greatest rock and roller, wants to talk to The Lipster. "I've seen the site, yeah", she growls, and my stomach does a flip. "And I like what you're doing there, honey."I nearly drop the phone in my tea.
JOAN JETT is the ultimate Lipster dame. Born Joan Marie Larkin in suburban Philadelphia in 1958, she left home for LA at 15 and formed the core of The RUNAWAYS at 16 with drummer Sandy West – the first female rock and roll band to straddle the planet in their tight shirts, corsets and leathers. Since the group split up in 1979 she's had a successful solo career, but today we talk about The RUNAWAYS, the shock of women playing rock and roll, and how it's all about sex...
Let's go back to the early days of The RUNAWAYS. What was your motivation to start the band?
"For me, the timing just drew me. Before rock and roll, I was into acting, I'd seen Cabaret for the first time, the drama, you know, the theatre of it – it just got me. And then came the New York Dolls, the glitter scene...when I moved to LA there was this amazing club I used to go to called Rodney's English Disco in Sunset, this teenage club, a no alcohol kind of place, a 'if you were 21 you were way too old' kind of place...but it played all this kick-ass big chorus British rock and that was it. I couldn't do anything else. And I wanted to make a band of women to make a statement, you know? No one had done it, so we did it."
Tell me about the initial reactions you got – and how did you react to them?
"Most people didn't know how to take us. Pop girls could get through by being sweet and unthreatening and all, 'Oh, honey, I'm all yours for you to take'. We were different. We were all, 'Here we are, honey, WE'RE in charge, you can't take a thing.'"
Wow, I wish I'd been there to see that, and not in my nappies. Did most of the women you met find that inspiring?
"Some loved us, but others...you know, it was the early '70s, and we had this backlash from feminists, women's libbers, because we were playing up to women's sexuality. But that was what our life was like, and that's what we were singing about. And we made big with what we had. There was an element of performance to it, of course – we were like the Village People in a way. I was a tough, shy girl, Cherie was this sexy lead singer, this Bowie chick, Lita this big-titted earth mother, Sadie this athletic girl, Jackie the intelligent woman..."
It sounds like the model that inspired the Spice Girls, the way you put it...
"To me, it's like apples and oranges though, you know? To compare pop to rock doesn't really work. I don't criticise anyone's motives – you go for it, Spice Girls, do what you have to do. But what we were doing was absolutely punk rock. We were creating our own reality from what we had."
Punk rock was a pretty male environment. Do you think you shook that up?
"Well, people would say that we were physically uncapable of rocking out. And I'd be, what, these arms can't play the guitar? Or are you saying society doesn't think I'm uncapable? You know, it's this: rock and roll implies sexuality, and we were all about sexuality. I mean, look at a guitar: the pick-up is right over your pussy. That's what people didn't like."
Did you get a lot of hero worship from young women – and do you still?
"I feel so egotistical just recognising that question...but yeah, I guess some people did look up to me and do. If they're inspired to start a band, get that resolve and belief, then great. I mean, it was tough being a girl when I started, and tougher when I went solo. I had 23 hitmakers who said, 'You have no songs'. They missed four international hits. That's why I set up my own label, and why I still look out for good bands that people like that might miss. We've got some good ones now – Girl In A Coma, Dolly Birds – you've got to put some on your site. I love talking to young bands, to say, it's OK not to know anything, but you have to be in a place where you want to learn."
Do you think the music business has changed that much?
"To tell you the truth, I don't know how it is in the UK. You guys have always been more open to things than people in America. You totally got us! But there's this illusion of equality in the States now that it don't think is real. You know, there are cool girl bands in every town over here, but are they getting on the radio? Are they getting the deals? Saying that, today it's easier to make your own way. It's all about DIY with the internet, which is great. When the RUNAWAYS started there was no way to send your music round the world at the click of a button, you know? It was traditional radio, traditional promotions...today there are those outlets and that's pretty cool."
What did you think of Britney Spears' version of I Love Rock and Roll [the cover Joan made an international hit in the early '80s]? Did you like the fact that she was appropriating your style or did you find it disingenuous?
"I've never even heard Britney's version. I mean, I've obviously heard about it, but I never understood that whole idea. I mean, people usually cover a song that says something about them, but I doubt she loves rock and roll. Maybe she likes songs."
One thing that I love about you is that you've never stopped recording and performing – that energy's been constant. I reviewed your last album, SINNER, and I loved the fact that you're still singing about sex, and still pushing ideas...I mean, in some ways, why wouldn't you?
"Totally. I'm just being me. Some people slow down, yeah, but not me."
You're the same age as another woman who's uncompromising about her sexuality too – Madonna. What do you think of the criticism she's received because of her age?
"She's criticised because people are scared, you know? I mean, a man can be 49, be sexy, have a full career, but no one tells him to shut his legs. But Madonna...she's at a point where she's going to be changing things. Because in this world, the Western world, all the baby-boomers are getting older, and if we want to stay in touch with our sexuality, it's up to women like her to grab it. It's up to us to say yes, I am sexy with wrinkles, I am sexy with extra weight. We have to fight against this photoshopped, airbrushed sexuality too – we all get that, but we have to say that age doesn't defy sex. I mean, look at the 1940s: movie actresses had long careers then and were sexy, so why have things changed? I know why: because the 'put you up, tear you down' culture hadn't kicked in then – but it has now. So these days, more than anything, it's important for women to fight for themselves."
Who or what inspires you to keep on fighting?
"You know who? My mother. She told me as a young child that I could be anything I wanted. An astronaut, an archaeologist...my father wanted me to take typing and she'd say, no, let her do what she wants. She was there for me with The RUNAWAYS, she drove us round to places, she taught me the value of believing in myself without ego. And that taught me that the idea of women not being able to perform as they wanted to was absurd – that it doesn't make any sense. Say it over and over and it's so absurd you get fire in your belly. So I guess she taught me to rock and roll – and here I am Mom, still doing it!"
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