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JOAN JETT - still the high priestess of the church of rock
from: nashuatelegraph.com
By PAUL COLLINS
My Thoughts
There are those rare rock artists never seem to go out of vogue. They are those acts whose appeal can't be dimmed with the passing of time. JOAN JETT is such a rock performer.
There are legions of music lovers everywhere for whom the screaming guitars and pounding drums of ear-splitting butt-kicking, rock 'n' roll are an anthem. Those who have seen punk rocker extraordinaire JOAN JETT in concert - as she tears into her signature song, "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," or my personal favorite, "I Hate Myself for Loving You" - know that she's an absolute monster vocalist.
At 58, the sassy leather- clad queen of punk rock shows no signs of making any effort to tame the monster in her. She is still an emotional cyclone on stage, twisting through power chords and letting loose with growling screams as she prowls the stage like an alley cat.
At its core, rock 'n' roll, and punk rock in particular, is a rebellious genre, and there's nobody in the business who does punk rock better than Jett. This is why we pay the money to see her amplify that cocky sneering lip, the bad attitude and "I don't care" rebel stage persona. We all love that firebrand music that leaves our ears ringing long after the show is over.
Is there anyone among us who, the minute they hear that intoxicating lead-in to "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," doesn't become instantly infused from it, and who isn't immediately up on their feet singing along and playing air guitar like they're on stage at Madison Square Garden? I don't think so. I know this to be true because I count myself as one of those fantasy rockers whose stage is the living room. For all rock star wannabes everywhere, Jett is indeed a collective guilty pleasure.
Born Joan Marie Larkin in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, in 1958, her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 12 years old. As a young teen, she took an interest in theater and music, teaching herself to play guitar. After her parents divorced, Joan took her mother's maiden name, Jett. It was also a time when a keen interest in the glitter band rock that was coming out of England grabbed ahold of her. Fueled on distant dreams of rock stardom, at 15 she formed her first band, The RUNAWAYS. Failing to catch on in the U.S., after releasing three poorly selling albums on the Mercury label, The RUNAWAYS did resonate very well with European and Japanese audiences. When they split up in 1980, Jett ventured off to England on her own as a solo artist.
When her European adventure spawned a series of failures and crushing disappointments, undaunted, Jett returned to America and formed a new band, The BLACKHEARTS. They released "I Love Rock 'n Roll" in 1982, and it shot straight up to the top of the Billboard charts immediately. The rest, as they say, is history.
But JOAN JETT was by no means an overnight success, nor was she a flash in the pan. With a gritty determination and resilience, she soldiered through many dark years when stardom was elusive to finally live her dream. The 1980s were the time of MTV, and it was also Jett's time, as her star was rising throughout that decade. Along with Pat Benatar, she was at the vanguard of a new generation: that of the female rock star. She was a figurehead for the leagues of women who followed in her wake; many of today's most successful women in rock music are quick to credit Jett as a pivotal influence in their career paths.
In the long-ago days when guitars were wielded almost exclusively by men in leather pants, Joan and the RUNAWAYS were teenage girls who would become prototype punks. Be it fronting the RUNAWAYS or the BLACKHEARTS, Jett was the tip of the spear for head-banging punk rock in the same groundbreaking realm as bands like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols.
Today, the 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is still out on the tour circuit, and still packing them in from Maine to California and all places in between. She still wears that predatory sneer like a badge of honor, she still cranks out those blistering guitar riffs, and still sings in a rough and raspy voice that carries more high octane in the tank than the toughest male singers in any heavy metal band out there.
Today, so many years after a 15-year-old girl formed a band and dreamed of one day basking in the warm glow of the world spotlight, JOAN JETT, the Queen of Noise, is still relevant. She may actually be more so right now. At this stage of her career, to the armies of young girls out there who harbor those same distant rock star dreams, Jett continues to inspire them by her own example. And, clearly, she still love rock 'n' roll. |
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