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The Rock 'n' Roll Pantheon inducts...JOAN JETT and The RUNAWAYS
from: examiner.com
by Jim Bessman
Before inducting the second artist into The Rock 'n' Roll Pantheon (RNRP)--not to be confused with The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--the personalities behind the RNRP, who choose to remain anonymous, are thrilled at the overwhelming response, not all negative, to the launch of the RNRP, and the tremendous approval, not unanimous, of the initial inductees KISS.
That said, the second inducteeÑmake that inducteesÑconstitute not only the RNRP's first female honorees, but also its first two-fer. Like the word suggests, two-fer means "two for the price of one," and was the music business term given some 25 years ago (incidentally, the required mininum number of years between an RNRP inductee's first release and year of induction) to a double-disc album gatefold package, usually an artist "best-of" and promoted most commonly by the historic Vanguard label, that was budget-priced as if it were a single album.
The two-fer concept is being applied in this case to an artist, JOAN JETT, who came out of a legendary band, The RUNAWAYS. Instead of including Jett with The RUNAWAYS, and then later inducting her as a solo artist in the manner of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (not to be confused with The Rock 'n' Roll Pantheon), it is the policy of the RNRP to induct her and the band simultaneously, a sort of two for the price of one, as it were.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has long been criticized, and rightly, for neglecting to induct more than a relatively few worthy female artists. In fairness, however, there really weren't a lot of impactful girl rockers, let alone girl rock bandsÑas distinguished from girl groups and solo female artists who fell into the "girl group" category exemplified by the early- to mid-1960s Brill Building and Motown pop and pop-soul songwriting and production schools.
Here we ought to at least make mention of Goldie & The Gingerbreads, the first all-female rock band signed to a major label, who were active in the '60s and led by Goldie Zelkowitz, who became better known as Genya Ravan when she went on to the band Ten Wheel Drive and a producer career including, most notably, The Dead Boys classic 1977 debut album Young Loud And Snotty; the band toured Britain with the Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Beatles, The Yardbirds, The Hollies and The Kinks.
In the '70s there was the influential girl rocker Suzi Quatro, who started in Detroit's all-girl '60s garage-rock band The Pleasure Seekers, then became a hit solo artist in England before finding her biggest fame in America fame in the TV role of rocker Leather Tuscadero on the popular sitcom Happy Days, though she had a No. 4 pop duet hit with Chris Norman in 1979 with "Stumblin' In." Also in the '70s was the all-female rock band Fanny, which at one point included Quatro's sister and former Pleasure Seeker Patti Quatro; they toured with the likes of Slade, Jethro Tull and Humble Pie, and made a big fan out of David Bowie.
And then came The RUNAWAYS--JOAN JETT, Cherie Currie, Lita Ford, Jackie Fox and Sandy West. They weren't hugely successful during their 1975-1979 hard-rock/punk-metal run during the height of disco and glam, but The RUNAWAYS were hugely influential. Not to say they wouldn't have happened anyway, but it's's hard to imagine any girl rocker, not to mention the entire "riot grrrl" punk rock movement of the early '90s, without them.
But alas, like so many of the greats, The RUNAWAYS were before their timeÑor maybe it was that their time was too blind. At least they were commemorated in 2010 with the quite good biopic The RUNAWAYS, and their song "Cherry Bomb" remains one of the great teen rebel anthems.
Lita Ford has had a substantial solo career following The RUNAWAYS' dissolution, but JOAN JETT's has been worthy of solo Pantheon induction. There's her huge 1982 hit "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," Billboard's No. 56 hit of all time, more big hits including "Bad Reputation," "Crimson and Clover", "I Hate Myself for Loving You", "Do You Want to Touch Me" and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Light of Day" (the title song of the 1987 drama film in which she starred with Michael J. Fox).
She's even been named among the 100 greatest guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone, and Gibson has manufactured a signature model of her famous Melody Maker guitar.
The Rock 'n' Roll Pantheon is now truly privileged to have Tammy Faye Starlite take a break from rehearsals in New York for her upcoming return to Los Angeles, where her acclaimed Chelsea MŠdchen tribute to Nico wowed audiences there and in Palm Springs earlier this year, to induct The RUNAWAYS, and "the Godmother of Punk," the "Original Riot Grrrl," JOAN JETT.
Starlite, by the way, has headed a RUNAWAYS cover band, the Stay-At-Homes, starring Starlite as Cherie Currie, with Aquanettas' guitarist Jill Richmond as Jett.
"JOAN JETT is rock 'n' roll," says Starlite. "She sings from the viscera of her smoldering soul and plays guitar with the ferocity of a vengeful goddess. She was a jailbait juvie in black leather who knew that teenage girls could change the world. She forged a path that no woman before her had done, her Melody Maker a semi-automatic shooting straight from her tiny but formidable hip.
"When she performs, she glows like a crimson angel, a cherubic cherry-red grenade unpinned. She created herself as she knew herself to be: the Platonic ideal and embodiment of an eternal rock star. She never paid attention to any glass ceiling. She just left shattered, shimmering shards in her fiery wake, a female Elijah in a burning, unstoppable chariot."
"Joan's influence on me is undeniable," she belches. "A few years ago I started a RUNAWAYS' tribute band with four amazing rocker-women I know: Jill Richmond as Joan, Heidi Lieb as Lita Ford, Mony Falcone as Jackie Fox and Maria McKenna as Sandy West. I was Cherie--older, but still platinum blonde--the showy frontwoman who doesn't play an instrument.
"I named us the Stay-At-Homes because we were all about 40-ish, and had no plans to run away from anything at this point in our lives--physically. But musically, we felt our spirits rise every time we played those songs--we loved them. I think The RUNAWAYS' catalog deserves a broad re-appraisal. The songs are tough and theatrical, full of teenage longing and defiance, with a California pop-meets-Cheap Trick kinda vibe. Cheap Trick actually opened for the RUNAWAYS! And we had our band about two years before the film! In my solipsistic world-view, I like to think that we, like the RUNAWAYS, were ahead of our time."
"We just loved the music and thought the band was short-shrifted by the fame gods. Our favorite song to perform was the mini-rock-opera 'Dead End Justice'--a dialogue-song between Joan and Cherie, with Joan being the seasoned teen-offender and Cherie as the naive, new girl in Juvie Hall. They manage to escape, but like the greatest girl group songs, the story ends tragically: The song ends with a just a chilling, lone martial drumbeat."
"I think by entering into The Rock 'n Roll Pantheon, Joan finally gets her due justice. And The Man can't take her down this time!"
Thank you, Tammela, for taking time out of your busy schedule. And good luck with the L.A. gigÑwhen is it? June 6 at Largo? We can't wait!
And JOAN JETT and The RUNAWAYS, Step up to receive the highest award in rock 'n' roll: The Rock 'n' Roll Pantheon Hearty Handclasp!
Previously inducted into The Rock 'n' Roll Pantheon: KISS
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