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Stith: Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame nominee JOAN JETT to play free Saturday show
from: statesman.com
By Deborah Sengupta Stith
Brashly forging her way in defiance of a commercial music industry notorious for rewarding conformity and resisting change, rocker JOAN JETT has spent more than three decades breaking the rules and cutting her own path to stardom.
In addition to the ubiquitous '80s anthem "I Love Rock ‘n' Roll," she's scored a slew of hits including "I Hate Myself for Loving You," "Little Liar" and "Cherry Bomb," the breakthrough track for the RUNAWAYS, the all-girl punk group she co-founded as a teenager in the '70s. Most of those songs likely will be included in the rotation when Jett takes the stage to headline the free Formula One Fan Fest concert downtown at 10:15 p.m. Saturday.
Mixed in with the classics we can also expect a hefty helping of straight-ahead rock from her latest release "Unvarnished," her first record in seven years and an album Jett describes as her most introspective and intimate release ever.
"I went through a lot of life changes over the last decade," the 56-year-old rocker said last week. She lost both of her parents; her father died in 2007, followed by her mother in 2009. Then in 2012, Hurricane Sandy decimated the barrier island where she lives, leaving her hometown of Long Beach, N.Y., looking "like a war zone." Consequently, the subject matter on the album goes deeper than standard rock ‘n' roll fare,"falling in love or falling out of love or having a broken heart or wanting to go get laid."
"I could go out and party/ But nothing kills my pain/ So helpless and there's no one I can blame," she sings on "Hard to Grow Up," the most poignant track on the new album, a song that finds Jett addressing her parents' deaths and considering her own mortality.
"I know we all lose our parents, but I guess I hadn't really contemplated the effect it was going to have on me, and it really knocked me for a loop," she said. She found herself "deep bone sad."
"It's really all to them that I even play guitar because I asked them for a guitar for Christmas when I was 13, an electric guitar, and they got it for me," she said. At the time, hard rock was uncharted territory for female artists, but Jett's parents supported her pioneering forays into rebellious metal and punk with the RUNAWAYS and driving rock with the BLACKHEARTS. They were incredibly proud, Jett said, and not being able to share with them her recent accolades, including a 2015 nomination to the Rock ‘n' Roll Hall of Fame, has been heartbreaking.
The nomination recognizes the impact of Jett's career on the music industry. In 1980, facing rejection from record labels and determined to make music on her own terms, Jett and recording partner KENNY LAGUNA formed BLACKHEART RECORDS to release her solo debut. Years before digital home publishing tools existed, she toured the country selling albums out of the trunk of her car. With a feisty determination, she blazed forward, helping pave the way for countless female musicians who followed, including many of the '90s feminist punks who formed the riot grrl movement.
Despite considerable progress, the landscape for women in rock is much more difficult than it should be, Jett said. "Over 30 years ago … I got turned down by all the majors and minors, saying, ‘She's too intense for us' or ‘Lose the guitar.' Those sort of attitudes are still out there," she said.
There's also an emphasis on sexuality that she finds troubling. "Rock ‘n' roll is a sexual music, and it should be in there," she said, but the focus on the exterior "what you look like, how you present yourself" strikes her as problematic. And aggressive female musicians are still vilified. "If you're an angry man, you've got reasons. You're strong. You know what you want. You're a go-getter," she said. "But if you're a woman and you are angry or just know what you want and say it, you're a (expletive) or you're too forward."
She said she believes the difference for artists today is the Internet. Online communities provide women many more avenues to reach their audiences. As for Jett, now in the "icon" phase of her career, she's moved by the many young female musicians who reach out, citing her as an inspiration, an experience she describes as "surreal."
"Even with the ups and downs, I'm so blessed to live my life like this, through music, and that people like it enough to listen," she said. "I am constantly amazed." |
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