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'Bad Reputation' shines a light on life, career of rock 'n' roll icon
from: heraldextra.com/
By Doug Fox
We all have an image of JOAN JETT up onstage. A feisty, snarling, leather-wearing, no-holds-barred female rock 'n' roll badass, playing in-your-face electric guitar in an otherwise male-dominated industry.
Those are all reasons we love her and her music, right?
Well, after this week's Sundance Film Festival world premiere of Kevin Kerslake's documentary about Jett, I have a much expanded image of her. In addition to the perfectly apt description above, I am also adding humble and surprisingly sensitive to the list of adjectives that describe her.
By sheer coincidence, I happened to be sitting right across the aisle and two rows in front of Jett during the premiere screening of "Bad Reputation" on Monday at the MARC theater in Park City. Jett spent pretty much the entire 92 minutes of the documentary screening slouched down in her seat, just taking it all in. She described what that experience was like during the post-screening question-and-answer session.
"It's very surreal seeing this," she said, getting a bit misty eyed. "I'm very humble, that's why I was ducking (down) the whole film. ... I'm crying thinking about it."
The documentary director agreed.
"She's open," Kerslake said. "She's really humble, quiet and reserved. (But) she does her thing up on stage."
The documentary provides a wild ride through Jett's career, and includes some amazing archival footage and commentary from many of her contemporaries.
Jett was 13 when her parents first got her a guitar.
"I sat there on the low E string for hours and hours and drove my parents absolutely crazy," Jett said in the film.
Growing up in Southern California, she started going to Hollywood and hanging around with other like-minded teens at Rodney Bingenheimers English Disco club, popular among the glam crowd.
She was a founder and driving force behind The RUNAWAYS, the all-girls punk band which formed in Los Angeles in 1975. She thought people would be supporting of an all-female hard rock 'n' roll band, but said the tables quickly turned. Still, the quickest way to ensure getting her to do something is telling her she can't.
"Tell me I can't do something," she said in the film, "and I'm going to be doing it."
The RUNAWAYS produced five albums before disbanding in the spring of 1979. After spending some time in a funk, Jett re-emerged later that year to attempt to fulfill a contract The RUNAWAYS had signed to record six songs for a movie. It was then that she met KENNY LAGUNA -- who would become her longtime co-writer, collaborator, bandmate and friend.
"I was pretty much a mess - but he saw something," Jett said of Laguna. "We were kind of blessed by the rock 'n' roll gods."
As a songwriting tandem, Jett and Laguna clicked.
"She brought menace and I brought pop sensibility," Laguna said.
The pair formed Jett's band - The BLACKHEARTS - by taking out an ad in the L.A. Times which read: "JOAN JETT: Looking for three good men."
They both knew that playing in an all-girl band wouldn't work a second time around.
"I knew I couldn't play with girls again," Jett said, "because it would always be compared to The RUNAWAYS."
The band went through several ups and downs, including record label issues, before finally hitting it big with Jett's cover of the Arrows' "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." The song lasted eight weeks at No. 1 on the charts.
Jett's career continued on a hot-and-cold path, with high points including the hits "Crimson and Clover," "Bad Reputation," "Light of Day," "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Yeah)," "Everyday People" and "I Hate Myself For Loving You."
She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
After the film, Jett was asked about her tendency to be a survivor.
"I don't look at myself as a survivor," she said. "Just don't tell me me I can't do something."
She was also asked about what her very first record was. This one might surprise you.
"Donny Osmond," she said, drawing an incredulous response from the crowd. "Well, you know, (that was) before hearing 'All Right Now' on the radio."
"Bad Reputation" is appearing at the Sundance Film Festival through Saturday. |
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