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The heart of pure rock
from: themercury.com.au
by KANE YOUNG
YOUNGER fans at this week's Falls Festival may not be overly familiar with the work of veteran rocker JOAN JETT and her band The BLACKHEARTS.
But Jett -- who in recent years has played to predominantly young audiences when headlining the Vans Warped Tour in the US and touring with the likes of Green Day -- knows one sure way to get through to the kids: get up there and rock out.
"I think there's not a lot you can do except go right out there and play," Jett said.
"I don't really know what the kids know -- sometimes you're surprised by the breadth of people's knowledge. You're maybe not expecting some young kids to know the words, but then you see a whole audience of them. I know it has happened here in the States, so I'm just hoping that there'll be the same sort of reaction in Australia.
"But if people don't know who we are, all we can do is play our music and hope that they like the rock 'n' roll. It's about the music and not about the more flashy bits of the entertainment business."
Jett has been in the business of entertaining people since the age of 15, when she co-founded pioneering all-girl punk quintet the RUNAWAYS.
A long-awaited film about the band, The RUNAWAYS, was released this year, with Twilight star Kristen Stewart playing Jett and Dakota Fanning portraying lead singer Cherie Currie.
Jett served as an executive producer on the film, heading to the set every day to work with Stewart and "make sure it didn't get too far off track from the real story, which I was very concerned about".
Also out this year is Jett's new two-disc greatest hits album, featuring 20 tracks from her long career including the classics I Love Rock 'n' Roll, Bad Reputation, I Hate Myself For Loving You, and Crimson and Clover.
The album was released through Jett's label BLACKHEART RECORDS, which she and long-time songwriting partner and producer KENNY LAGUNA founded in 1980 after more than 20 labels rejected I Love Rock 'n' Roll -- which went on to spend eight weeks at No. 1 and be named one of Billboard magazine's top 30 songs of all time.
Since then, Jett has released eight platinum and gold albums, and nine Top 40 singles, as well as producing albums for Blackheart artists including Bikini Kill, Circus Lupus, The Vacancies and The Germs.
One of only two women named to Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitar players of all time, Jett has also acted in movies and in the Broadway musical The Rocky Horror Show, and her songs have been featured in countless films including Shrek, Charlie's Angels and Monster.
But above and beyond all her other accomplishments, Jett is most renowned for -- and proud of -- her ability to rock a crowd.
"I find that maybe there's less connection these days than before," she said.
"Everybody's always so busy, so I think it's really special when you're able to connect with a bunch of people [by] playing music, when they're all getting something from you that they relate to.
"It's really a fun feeling, and I still really enjoy that. I'm not crazy about the travelling and stuff, but the actual experience of meeting people and playing on stage is still really thrilling, and it's very humbling when people talk to you about how your music affects them."
Despite her longevity and long list of achievements Jett isn't sure how people will remember her, and what sort of musical legacy she will leave.
"I have a real problem trying to assess myself," she said.
"I'm not a great self-promoter. In the context of another project I am -- if you talk to me about the RUNAWAYS, I could sit there and tell you 'yeah, we're great'.
"But if you ask me about me, I can't say that. I can't even claim to have left a legacy -- I find that to be a little arrogant, for me to say it.
"I just hope that people know that I love what I do, and that I worked hard. But as far as a legacy ... I couldn't put it into words."
But KENNY LAGUNA is more than happy to do it for her.
"Now Joan has gotten to the point, at least in [the US] and Europe, where she's getting the respect she worked so hard to get early on," he said.
"I feel amazed by it and I'm so happy for her. She so deserves it. She is pure, she has never sold out. There's not one iota of sell-out in her -- there's plenty in me. She has stuck to her guns, and finally all kinds of artists respect her.
"People have to prove themselves over a long period of time. The thing about Joan is she didn't binge, she never had to go to rehab -- she just went to work every day."
JOAN JETT performs on the main stage at the Marion Bay Falls Festival tonight from 10.50pm.
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