|
June 2006 News
Page updated on June 30, 2006
All news is attributed to the source from which it was received so that readers may judge the validity of the statements for themselves.
Have Joan Jett news to report? Email us at jettfc@aol.com, and please include the source of the information so it can be validated.
Punk turns 30: It's still bucking the system, just in different ways
from: getoutaz.com
by Chelsea Ide
Punk rock is supposed to be young and rebellious.
But it’s been 30 years since the Ramones’ genre-pioneering first album came out.
Punk rock is now married with kids.
[more]
VaGUE MAGAZINE
from: vague.panopia.com
"SINNER" Another offering from JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS. I say offering because Joan hasn’t released a "whole" CD in like 10 years. She was pretty consistent in the 80’s and even most of the 90’s, (everyone remembers "Bad Reputation" and "I love rock and roll").
I think without air play Joan went unheard to crowds, that if they liked JOAN JETT, they would have liked her newer projects. I re-noticed Joan when I heard her album, just called "Album", it’s always going to be one of my favorite pieces, she’s done. I also love " Glorious results of a misspent youth".
The last whole complete album, (yes, I say album) Joan did is "Pure and Simple". I think Joan did that after doing the tour with the "Git’s", members touring as "Evil Stig". I liked the "Stig" album a lot, I hadn’t heard Joan rock that hard, well, I never heard her scream like that. The "Evil Stig" album is a must have. Then a bunch of time went by. I was always checking out the record stores...shit! Same ole’...greatest hits stuff.
"Flashback" had just enough stuff to lure you in, but it was still music you’ve already heard. I bought it for "Rebel, Rebel". Joan had a few more "Hits" with 4 new songs on "Fetish", a sort of hardcore Joan, it’s my party, background sounds of whips hitting the floor and some pretty fast asskicking rock n’ roll, but still it only had a few new songs.
Her touring is mostly festival. I drove 70 miles to see her at a art’s n crafts fair. The fair was nothing, but to get a seat or a spot to jump around. I found out, get there early and get in line, I saw Joan 3 times, sort of all at once, Oceanside, Long Beach and Summerfest. Even though the set lists were the same, I have seen Joan, no matter what size audience she’s playing for she whips it all up into a frenzy.
[more]
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS "SINNER" (Blackheart
Records)
from: Post & Courier, Charleston, SC
by Devin Grant
One of the reasons that JOAN JETT has endured as a
rock artist is because she respects rock's rich
musical past while embracing the better parts of what
its modern sounds have to offer.
Still considered by many to be a one-hit wonder after
"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" spent several weeks at the top
of the charts a quarter-century ago, Jett has released
a considerable amount of good music as a solo artist
after her stint as a teenager with the girl group The
RUNAWAYS in the '70s.
After playing with Evil Stig and collaborating with
Bikini Kill in the '90s, Jett fully embraced her punk
rock roots, which in turn brought her music to an
entirely new legion of fans.
[more]
Review: Warped Tour in Columbus
from: donewaiting.com
This year marked my sixth (though not sixth consecutive) trip to Kevin Lyman’s Warped Tour. In its twelfth year, I expected the day to closely follow the format of past outings – kids with funny haircuts, piercing and tattoos getting dehydrated and sunburned while taking in all manner of musical act and extreme athlete. That is exactly what I saw.
Hellogoodbye, a favorite of last season’s MTV Real World cast, goofed their way through a very theatrical, though not tremendously musical performance. Bassist Marcus Cole and keyboardist Jesse Kurvink, who were dressed as mustard and Pinocchio respectively (I think), blasted their young and enthusiastic crowd with silly string repeatedly though they barely touched their instruments for minutes at a time. Singer Forrest Kline, who was dressed like a senior citizen sang, "What is love/Baby don’t hurt me/Don’t hurt me, no more," through a "talk box" along with the pre-programmed beats. I might have been more impressed had I never seen or heard Reggie And The Full Effect, and perhaps many of the younger attendees in their audience hadn’t. While their performance was affable, it wasn’t one of the day’s best.
Seconds after Hellogoodbye wrapped things up, Pittsburgh’s Anti-Flag bolted onto the second of two main stages. Dressed in black and with their mohawks spiked high, Justin Sane and Chris #2 immediately launched into a series of verbal and musical assaults on police brutality, the press, and the current administration. The band’s high energy set, which combined older material with songs from their RCA release For Blood And Empire ("1 Trillion Dollars"), was well received by the sizeable crowd. Reminders from the band to the crowd to dance safely and treat each other with respect were earnest, and even the discourse about provisions to the No Child Left Behind Act showed that the band has their fanbase’s best interests at heart. My heart beat a little faster and fist pumped a little higher when the band launched into their older anti-war anthem "Die For Your Government." It was nice to see Justin Sane posing for pictures with fans a little later in the afternoon. Consider them a must see for future visits to the tour.
[more]
Sinfully Good
from: phoenixnewtimes.com
by Andrew Marcus
In case you haven't figured it out after all these years, JOAN JETT is still the "tough girl." When her name is mentioned in print, that phrase always follows, like magic, by rote. In an e-mail interview with New Times, Jett has her own take on the pigeonhole she first acquired back in 1975, when she formed The RUNAWAYS with the help of lascivious promoter Kim Fowley: "I'm bad at being subtle," she says, "but I'm not that tough."
With a voice like a fat indelible marker, Jett wasn't made for subtlety. And beneath the seeming toughness, there's always been sensitivity — in her hit cover of "Crimson and Clover," which injected a heart into that song's bubblegum center; in the philosophical come-on "Play With Me"; and in "Naked," a moving punk ode to emotional exposure from her new album, SINNER. The new album is among her best, perhaps second only to her 1980 solo debut, reviving her reputation for consistently catchy, bone-basic rock after the S&M-inspired misstep of 1999's metallic "Fetish" single, her last studio recording.
But SINNER has its share of Jett firsts, including a surprisingly elegant ballad, "Watersign," and something even further out of character: explicit politics. "I don't like to wear my politics on my sleeve," says Jett, "but I feel we are at a point in history where being quiet is not a responsible or wise choice."
Jett's usual underlying messages — sexual positivity and self-acceptance — show up on SINNER in her cover of the old Replacements tune "Androgynous," an empathic sketch of a gender-ambiguous couple. "It's a song I've always loved for its uniqueness and truth," says Jett, "not to mention its beautiful melody."
[more]
Long Island Music Hall of Fame
from: limusichalloffame.org
Rock Icon JOAN JETT will be inducted in to the Long Island Music Hall Of Fame along with other musical legends such as Billy Joel, KISS and Tony Bennett to name a few. The Inaugural Induction Ceremony will take place on October 15, 2006 at the Patchouge Theater.
For more information visit:limusichalloffame.org.
Melt Magazine
from: meltmag.com
June + July 2006, Volume 2 Issue 11
Warped Tour Photo Diary
September 18th on the Tonight Show
from: joanjettbadrep.com
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS are confirmed to perform on Monday,
September 18th on Tonight Show with Jay Leno . The band will perform "A.C.D.C." Tell all your friends!!!!!!!!!!!
Nebraska Live Show Cancelled
from: joanjettbadrep.com
The show in Nebraska, on Saturday, July 1st has been cancelled. No further details are available at this time.
State fair announces Chevrolet Court lineup
from: syracuse.com
The New York State Fair has announced the lineup for its free concert series on the Stan Colella Stage at Chevrolet Court.
Aug. 24: Billy Ray Cyrus.
Aug. 25: Tesla.
Aug. 26: Boys of Summer Tour with original members of All-4-One, Jeff Timmons of 98 Degrees, Color Me Badd featuring Bryan Abrams, PM Dawn, Dan Miller of O-Town and Michael Copon from TV's "One Tree Hill" and VH-1.
Aug. 27: Gary Puckett and B.J. Thomas.
Aug. 28: Charo.
Aug. 29: The Temptations.
Aug. 30: JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS.
[more]
Jett’s latest video can go either way
from: Newsday.com
by Rafer Guzmán
Long Beach resident JOAN JETT has never publicly discussed her sexuality, but she's happy to fire our imaginations. The latest example: Her video for "A.C.D.C.," a hard-rocking ode about a bisexual temptress, originally recorded by the glam band Sweet. It has aired on the music channel Fuse, but you can also check it out at http://kandok.fatcow.com/jobs/13/1/acdc.mov.
In the video, the versatile heroine - played by none other than Carmen Electra - goes strutting down the street, stopping to chat with a short-haired girl in a camouflage shirt. Soon after, Electra hops into a limo with a couple of guys wearing business suits. She eventually shows up at a Jett concert, of course, and sparks seem to fly when she leans in close and whispers into Jett's ear. From the look on Jett's face, it's obvious they're not planning a Tupperware party.
There's another shot where Jett is hanging out with the camouflage-clad girl, who rests an arm on the singer's shoulder. Still, the video carefully leaves everything ambiguous.
Is Jett trying to tell us something? That's unclear, but her fine new album, "SINNER" (on her own BLACKHEART RECORDS label), features another intriguing cover tune: Paul Westerberg's "Androgynous."
Vans Warped Tour 2006, Marcus Amphitheatre - Milwaukee, WI - June 17, 2006
from: unratedmagazine.com
by Anita Maree Lande
photo by Niva Bringas
Want a taste of some hard-core punk rock? The `06 Warped Tour has just rolled out and its third city stop was in Milwaukee, WI. With temperatures soaring to 99 degrees in the sun, thousands of fans came out to experience over eighty punk-rock bands performing on nine stages. Each band would get thirty minutes to pound out their high energy set. Some well known bands like Helmet, Rise Against, and The Casualties showed off their provocative songs and insanely captivating stage presence. Plus it was great to see and hear the British 70's punk rock band Buzzcocks, with their catchy lyrics and vivacious, stage energy.
At 7pm, JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS took stage and jettified the crowd with their classic hits including; Bad Reputation, Crimson and Clover, Cherry Bomb, and I Hate Myself For Loving You. With the release of her new album SINNER a week earlier, she introduced and performed the catchy Sweet song A.C.D.C. and her new penned song Change The World. The intoxicating Jett, looking athletically toned and dressed in black leather vest and pants, got the crowd anxious to help out during her smash hit Do You Wanna Touch Me by having them yell back to her "Yeah…Oh Yeah."
She also told the sweaty and on-fire crowd that she was going to perform another new song called Fetish and she called this one "the dirtiest song" she ever wrote because of the edgy and erotic lyrics. Then the crowd went wild and fist pumped into the air when the guitar chords jetted into her chart breaking, worldwide hit I Love Rock N' Roll.
Check out JOAN JETT this summer as the Warped Tour makes its way across the U.S. I can guarantee you the hottest and arousing thirty minutes of punk music you will ever experience. Yeah…Oh Yeah!
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS - SINNER
from: thecelebritycafe.com
Reviewer: Lynda Dale MacLean new pop
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS are back---can’t you hear your neighbor’s windows close faster than when a rainstorm hits? Joan’s voice is unmistakable. She’s as original as a snowflake and just as non-conforming. Love this lady’s smarty-ass attitude, and the powerful hook she has of bringing people together with her music. And with the electrifying talent of the band, its new album "SINNER" is just rock ‘n’ roll all the way baby!
"Riddles," "A.C.D.C.," "Five," "Fetish" and "Bad Time" are classics; true to the form of JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS style. Some songs on the album are off "Naked," an album released only in Japan in 2004.
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS "SINNER" is just what we rock music fans love to hear from this standout rocker and her band mates.
Reviewer's Rating: 8.5
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS - The Wildflower Festival 2006
from: harderbeat.com
by Big Fan, Patty Wak
The crowd was huge. She was powerful. In fact, she was smokin’ hot. She was JOAN JETT at the Wildflower Festival in Richardson. Jett sounded like the "record" and looked great doing it. JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS ripped through classics such as "Do You Wanna Touch" and introduced tunes from the new SINNER CD released last month. After playing the theme song from classic TV sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, they went back to "I Love Rock n Roll," "Crimson and Clover," "I Hate Myself for Loving You," as the entire crowd sang along. Someone shouted, "We love you Joan… after 25 years." SUCK UP! She ended the encore with "Everyday People."... different strokes for different folks... JOAN JETT FREAKING ROCKED, Sorry if you missed it!
Rock's original independent woman takes on new challenges
from: fresnobee.com
by Dave Childers
There it was.
It was just a list -- alphabetical in organization -- of the seemingly millions of bands that had signed on to play some or all of this summer's Van's Warped Tour. There, on some random Web page, it was sandwiched in between "Inamere" and "Jealousy Curve."
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS.
Even better, though, was a four-word reaction posted just a few lines below from a user known on this little slice of cyberspace as simply "Amber."
The post read "JOAN JETT? Holy Crap."
[more]
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, "SINNER"
from: uwire.com
by Ramon Ramirez
To this generation, JOAN JETT is simply the black-clad woman who gave the world "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" in the '80s. She's also remembered as the lady who sang "Love is a Battlefield," though she actually had nothing to do with said song.
While Pat Benatar is living off royalty checks somewhere in suburbia, Jett and her BLACKHEARTS are spending the summer on the Vans Warped Tour clocking mileage behind a puzzlingly good release. More than a decade since their last album, JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS are out to make a dent in the industry.
"Tube Talkin'" steps back into the good-time gloss rock for which she is remembered. But overall, "SINNER" is a passionate, fist-pumping feminist album with substance. Sexuality and sexual orientation are constantly explored, as are issues of privacy and gender as they garner the album's better moments using punky, three-minute vehicles to deliver their message.
Peaches Plays Well With Others
from: chartattack.com
by David McDougall
Canadian ex-pat Peaches — who was crowned electro-smut queen only after a move to Berlin — found herself back on sunny North American shores for the recording of her new LP, Impeach My Bush. But this was no homecoming, with The Fuzzy One instead hitting the appropriately seedy streets of Los Angeles.
"I wanted to work with a producer," Peaches explains, still groggy from a ChartAttack wake-up call. "I wanted to learn how to be a better producer on this album, and get away from the 505 beats, so I wanted to work with somebody.
"Some big producers were suggested to me by my label, and I met with one and I thought, 'You know what? This is going to be totally annoying and not home-style. Because it's not even going to be that producer there, it's going to be his minion,' you know what I mean? And I'm so not into that."
[more]
Warped 2006
from: altpress.com
by Jason Pettigrew
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
HQ: New York, NY
WHO’S WHO: JOAN JETT (guitar/vocals); DOUGIE NEEDLES (guitar); THOMMY PRICE (drums); Enzo Penizzotto (bass)
CHECK OUT: SINNER (BLACKHEART;blackheart.com)
ON THE TOUR: TK
If you’re old (or maybe just hip) enough to remember her seminal proto-metal band the RUNAWAYS, you know JOAN JETT was kicking butt on a rock ’n’ roll stage before she was old enough to get her driver’s license. For the past 30 years, Jett has influenced everything from hard rock to new wave to punk, and this summer, she’s ready to prove it to yet another generation of listeners with a ripping new album, SINNER, and a stint on this year’s Warped Tour. But let’s put this in perspective: Jett and her band, the BLACKHEARTS, don’t really need to be on Warped; they could just as well mount their own sellout tour that would make fans scream and allow ticket scalpers to plan exotic vacations. So why is Jett sharing outdoor stages with smelly boys in triple-degree heat? Apparently, what motivates you also motivates her. "The bands on the Warped Tour play the kind of music I love," says Jett. "I love Kevin Lyman and the culture he has created. The best part of Warped will be watching and listening to all these great bands every day. It is an honor to be asked to participate in one of the great events in rock ’n’ roll."
Tampa Music Spins
SINNER
from: weeklyplanet.com
by Scott Harrell
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
BLACKHEART RECORDS Group
All but four of the tunes on proto-riot grrl Jett's first American full-length of new material in a decade appeared on '04's import-only Japanese release Naked -- which means most of her diehard fans already have most of this sex-themed hard-candy rock. There's still plenty here to re-introduce her to mainstream American audiences, though, particularly the SINNER-only opening double salvo of "Riddles" and "A.C.D.C." A few songs, like the surprisingly bloodless version of The Replacements classic "Androgynous," fall short, but Jett and a cadre of co-writers (including starmaker Linda Perry and Le Tigre's Kathleen Hanna) have crafted two-thirds of an album's worth of able, engaging rock 'n' roll.
Warped speed
More than 40 bands set to play Orlando on Sunday
from: news-journalonline.com
ORLANDO -- JOAN JETT always has led a punk lifestyle. Now she's set to show the kids just how bad she is when she headlines this summer's Warped Tour, which comes to Tinker Field on Sunday. She's also releasing "SINNER," her first studio album in 10 years.
Jett, 47, started making music when she was 15. She was the first female rocker to launch her own record label and paved a path for bands like Bikini Kill, Le Tigre and Sleater-Kinney and now scouts young bands to help get them started.
Jett talked from her beachside home in Long Beach, N.Y., about the music business, collaborating on the Warped Tour and the country's "scary" state of affairs.
[more]
Love the ‘SINNER’
Rocker JOAN JETT back in spotlight with Warped Tour and her first CD in 10 years
from: southernvoice.com
by Dyana Bagby
Let’s just get it out of the way. JOAN JETT refuses to talk about her personal life in interviews, which means she won’t answer "the question": "Are you gay?"
It’s none of anyone’s business and why does it matter, she says. All she cares about is her music. And her two cats.
"It’s not classy," to talk about one’s personal life, she says, a rote response to questions she’s been asked over and over again.
[more]
Queen of Noise: JOAN JETT headlines Vans Warped Tour this weekend
from: MiamiHerald.com
by Evelyn McDonnell
When the Vans Warped Festival rolls into Miami's Bicentennial Park Saturday night, a tattooed love goddess will show the thousands of skater bois and riot grrrls how to travel the world for 30 years and still love rock 'n' roll. JOAN JETT's career has taken her from jailbait proto-punk to Iron-Curtain-smashing arena-rock to lesbian-nation sex symbol. Along the way, she's starred with Michael J. Fox in a feature film, entertained numerous U.S. troops, and godmothered punk feminism.
At 47, Jett's old enough to have literally sired (which seems an appropriate term for a child-free androgyne who sings about bisexuality and S&M on her new album, SINNER) many of the teenymosher bands and fans that are Warped's bread-and-butter. Judging from SINNER's cover and recent live shots, the original Runaway looks as though time has sharpened her, like whetstone does a knife. Her famous shag hairdo is cut short, her arms are lean and etched with ink, her chest is barely covered in a leather tanktop.
She may seem to be an icon of the '70s and '80s, but in fact, Jett will fit right in among the festival's manic pop thrills. Warped may be the summer carnival of a powerful youth demographic, but it's also about surviving: at 12 years the punk rock extravaganza lays claim to being the world's oldest touring festival. This year's show will also include veteran acts the Buzzcocks and Helmet along with Against Me, Thursday, Underoath, Saves the Day, and more. Age ain't nothing but a number, as Aaliyah once sang.
''The whole thing about being a godmother, I can't really relate to,'' Jett said recently, speaking on a cellphone as she was traveling to a show in central Wisconsin where she was to perform with Loverboy and Kansas a few days before going on the road with Warped. ``I don't think too much about it and what people call me. I'm so glad people still care about hearing me after that long. That's amazing. That's partly the reason why I'm even on the Warped tour: they like to have people who harken back to how this music started.''
''She's still very relevant,'' says Warped founder Kevin Lyman. ``She's schooling younger bands on how to play live. When she gets up there and plays, it's a whole new level of talent and professionalism.''
[more]
Jett brings feeling of 'Pioneer Days'
from: springfieldnewssun.com
by Leslie Gray Streeter
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The presence of rocking veterans like The Buzzcocks and JOAN JETT among the loudly musical youth of the Vans Warped Tour might seem to be proof that the grown-ups still have something to teach. But that's not how Jett sees it.
"It's not about proving anything," clarifies the fetchingly raspy singer, who's played every year of the tour and whose new album, "SINNER," pretty much nails any doubts about that to an amp and blows the stuffings out of it.
"Our regular shows get young kids, and it's gonna be great to play for this audience," Jett says. "Maybe some of them know who I am, and the ones who don't may have heard my name. Now they can put the music and a face to the name, and hopefully they'll enjoy it."
[more]
JOAN JETT's rock heart beats on
from: newsobserver.com
by David Menconi, Staff Writer
As the title to her biggest hit declares, JOAN JETT loves rock 'n' roll. And it's safe to say that rock 'n' roll loves her right back.
Jett is the rare rock artist who can claim to be an influence on multiple generations, going all the way back to when she was a teenage guitarist in the RUNAWAYS 30 years ago. The RUNAWAYS' proto-metal made Jett a feminist icon of '80s punk, which carried over to early-'90s female grunge bands including the Gits, Hole and Bikini Kill. And now the torch is being passed yet again.
Jett is headlining this year's Vans Warped tour, where she'll show yet another generation of punk-rock girls and boys how the pros do it. The show comes to Raleigh's Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek on Tuesday.
[more]
Jett's reputation serves her well
from: heraldtribune.com
by Mary Awosika
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS' motto: Never compromise.
"We've never backed off from the original hard-rock style," said Jett's longtime songwriting partner/producer and former manager, KENNY LAGUNA. "We're trying to do the best thing that sounds like 'wow.' "
One such moment came in 1982, when record-label executives shunned Jett's single "I Love Rock 'N Roll." Laguna said the naysayers didn't think a girl could rock on lead guitar as hard as a guy.
[more]
Kansas City Star 06-22-2006 REWIND JOAN JETT and Buzzcocks at Warped
from: kansascity.com
by Timothy Finn, The Star
June 19 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
The skinny on this year’s Warped Tour:
JOAN JETT was fun and dandy, but 30 minutes was about enough, especially in those conditions (90-plus degrees on an asphalt parking lot).
For a woman approaching her 50th birthday, she looked great: svelte and trim and full of vim and vinegar. She wore leather pants, black sneakers, and a red leather halter top that revealed abs that look like they’ve absorbed many crunches over the years. She also acted punk: As the Christian screamcore band Underoath finished its deafening blitzkrieg on the stage adjacent to Jett’s, she and her band tried in vain to execute a last-minute sound check.
At one point, she looked menacingly at the adjacent stage, turned and spit on the ground in front of her, then turned her guitar into a bank of amps to release a volley of her own feedback into the air.
Then the other stage went silent, and Jett and the BLACKHEARTS launched into "Bad Reputation."
She is still entertaining and amusing and still very old-school: a little Ramones, a little ’80s pop metal. Her new stuff blended just fine with the hits, but of course they did. She still writes brawny three-chord rock nuggets. And how does she look, people have asked? Well, she’s 47, and she can still get away with singing "Do You Wanna Touch Me?"
[more]
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS SINNER
from: Long Island Press.com
by Dave Gil de Rubio
Big riffs, glam hooks and a hefty dose of swagger and attitude...all the things you'd expect to find on a JOAN JETT album are here in abundance. Despite the fact that it's been more than a decade since Jett has released an album of all-new material in this country, her absence hasn't dulled her ability for penning the kind of ear candy that'll be rattling around your head long after the music has stopped playing. The Long Beach resident tosses in plenty of sexual innuendo, be
it covers of The Sweet (the glitter-rock nugget "A.C.D.C.") and The Replacements (a loping version of longtime concert favorite "Androgynous") or slinky originals like "Naked" and "Fetish." And while songs like the Bush-swiping "Riddles" and idealistic "Change the World" are a nod to the rocker's socially conscious side, Jett keeps the amps cranked and snarl intact, making SINNER a long overdue and excellently executed return.
JOAN JETT headlines Warped Tour
from: wnypapers.com
by Joshua Maloni
Sure, JOAN JETT loves rock and roll, but if you think about it, she really is rock and roll. The founder of BLACKHEART RECORDS, owner of Top 10 hits like "I Hate Myself for Loving You," and should-be, soon-to-be inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is the embodiment of rock star. She, as she once professed, doesn’t give a damn about her reputation; she formed her own label to stick it to the industry, and she proved herself by playing guitar better than the boys. She wears black leather like it was made just for her; she changes the color of her hair to match her mood and verbally flicks off so-called government strong-arming like a cheap cigarette butt.
To put it in perspective, all of today’s mascara-wearing pop-punk rockers owe their paychecks, record deals and tour buses to Jett. Had she not made glam rock rock, and sounding off sound good, these newbies would be playing "Disco Duck" or some such on their synthesizers.
The thing is, while these modern day rocker-boppers are trying to be cool, or act punk, JOAN JETT just is. From the time she wakes up and straps on her boots, to the time she finishes her set and sends another crowd off into a frenzy, she is what they strive to be.
[more]
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS | SINNER (Blackheart)
from: playbackstl.com
by Daniel O'Malley
With SINNER, Jett's letting everyone know loud and clear that she's still here.
It's been over a decade since JOAN JETT's last studio release, but with her new album one thing is clear: She still loves rock 'n' roll.
Jett was only a teenager when she founded the all-girl punk outfit the RUNAWAYS. She's worked with members of Rancid, Fugazi, the Sex Pistols, and Blondie. She produced the lone album from the seminal L.A. punk act the Germs. With the founding of BLACKHEART RECORDS 25 years ago, she became the first woman owner of a rock record label. Even after all that, she's probably best known for one song she recorded over 20 years ago, her 1982 remake of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll."
[more]
Warped Tour Comes to Milwaukee
from: shepherd-express.com
by Alan Sculley
If you think applying for a regular job is competitive, just be glad you’re not in a band that wants to play the Vans Warped Tour.
This year more than 3,000 acts applied for a slot on the tour, and according to tour founder Kevin Lyman, that’s only counting the ones whose applications came through record labels, management or other authentic avenues of professional representation.
Lyman doesn’t like to say no, but it’s becoming a regular part of running this modern rock music and lifestyle tour.
[more]
Anti-Flag & JOAN JETT
from: anti-flag.com
JOAN JETT was also at Fuse when we were there! She is fucking AWESOME and she is ripped!!! She could have kicked all of our asses with one hand tied behind her back- maybe even with two hands tied behind her back!
She’s going to be on Warped Tour and I am psyched to see her rock!
Press Quotes
from: joanjettbadrep.com
WHAT THE PRESS IS SAYING:
"The legacy's not about to stop...JOAN JETT is still playing by her own
rules." (Amber Ray, Metro New York)
"JOAN JETT will show that she truly has earned her 'bad reputation' when
she takes the stage on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour." (Jaan Uhelszki, Guitar
World)
"SINNER’s a winner, full of tracks brimming with sass, grit and totally ambrosial power-pop harmonies. A-." (Tom Sinclair, Entertainment Weekly)
[more]
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS "SINNER" (Blackheart)
from: transformonline.com
by Kimberly Rosenbauer
Rock 'n' roll still loves her, too.
JOAN JETT. A master in her own right as one of the premier femme rock artists of the late 20th Century. She has carved such a place for herself in music history with band after female band naming her as their influence over the years. This is why reviewing her newest album, SINNER, is a challenge on many levels. I can’t touch on her artistry and overwhelming musical presence with a 10’ pole. This is JOAN JETT! Once you’ve heard "I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll," you’ve heard the lady and know what she’s about: back in the ‘80s and today. Picking apart some individual songs seems to be my best bet.
The great thing is that JOAN JETT hasn’t lost sight of her signature style in the presence of this and her previous comebacks. She still has that same gritty rock-and-roll voice (like on "Fetish") and still knows how to do punk like on "Change the World." For once, I can say that hearing old school rock on a 2006 album is completely acceptable, because the singer is not trying to redo what has already been done: she was one of the creators and she continues to show others how it’s done.
Easily, "A.C.D.C." is one of the best on the album. It takes you back to the pure rock days of the ‘70s and ‘80s (as in AC/DC). On this song, Joan talks about a loose lady who’s got both girls and guys "all over the world." The guitars are nice and heavy on this one, with simple but strong riffs below the chorus vocals as Ms. Jett screams "AC! DC! She’s got some other lover as well as me." It’s a track with an abundance of energy: a surefire hit.
[more]
Punk or not, 11,000 fans pack Vans Warped Tour
It was all about the music outside the Metrodome on Sunday, with thousands turning out for the punk-punched festival.
from: StarTribune.com
by Jeffrey E. McCants, Star Tribune
The Metrodome's parking lot was transformed into a punk rock paradise Sunday, as the Vans Warped Tour 2006 arrived in Minneapolis.
The tour, which in its 11 years has featured such bands as No Doubt, Green Day and the Offspring, brought together thousands of young music lovers with a sprinkling of older fans in their 30s and up.
About 11,000 people from all parts of Minnesota and neighboring states flooded into the outdoor music and extreme sports festival as quickly as their tickets could be scanned. Before them was a trove of music, sports and merchandise.
They marched in sporting spiked hair dyed with every color of the rainbow. Studded belts, Chuck Taylor All-Stars and girl pants -- on men -- were all the norm. Lip and eyebrow rings and tattoos were common. Many brave souls chose to wear all black despite the heat of the day.
[more]
10 Questions with JOAN JETT
from: firstcoastpride.com
by Paul E. Pratt
JOAN JETT is an icon, especially among the GLBT community. She shot to fame with her 1982 smash I Love Rock ’n Roll, which topped the charts for a remarkable eight weeks. Jett scored additional Top 10 hits with I Hate Myself (For Loving You) and Crimson & Clovers before hitting Broadway in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This summer the original "riot grrrl" returns with SINNER, her first studio album in more than a half-decade. Backed by The BLACKHEARTS, Jett spends the summer first as part of The Warped Tour before headlining gigs throughout the fall. She appears at the Jacksonville Fairgrounds on Thursday, June 22. Jett speaks with Out in the City celebrity writer Paul E. Pratt.
1. With some tracks on SINNER recorded eight years ago, was it difficult to remain contemporary and timely?
I dont know what I think about being contemporary in the sense I play rock 'n roll. I play three-chord rock n' roll, and that's what it's always been. People know what to expect from me, so in that sense I never worry about disappointing them. I don't worry about being timely either. I think themes of love, sex, social issues and politics are universal and, therefore, timeless.
2. Several tracks comment heavily on politics. Tell me about Riddles?
Every sentence in the song is commentary on what's going on in our country, whether you're talking about the war, Katrina or debt today. Our government doesn't say anything straight to us. It's like "What are you saying? Speak clearly." It's not just the administration that's in office today. I'm sure the Democrats would have just as much double-speak. Change the World is not necessarily saying start a movement, but you can change the world by making sure your outlook everyday is bright. If you can't change the world on a global scale, change the world you exist in. Making someone else smile changes things.
[more]
JOAN JETT’s back with ‘SINNER’
Rockin’ legend talks about music, gossip and the deception of the Republican party
from: q-notes.com
by Lawrence Ferber
Rocker JOAN JETT has claimed the title of "SINNER" for her latest album. Filled with the pop hooks and tasty guitar rock she’s been feeding us since "I Love Rock N’ Roll," "SINNER" (BLACKHEART RECORDS) also boasts some truly provocative, naughty lyrics and song titles (including "Fetish," "Naked," and "A.C.D.C.," a cover of The Sweet’s song about a slutty bisexual gal) and a dash of politics. Several songs feature songwriting and vocal contributions from Le Tigre’s openly queer Kathleen Hanna.
Having first garnered attention during the late 1970s in all-girl rock outfit The RUNAWAYS, the Philadelphia-born Jett went solo and had her first number one hit with "I Love Rock N’ Roll" in 1982. Besides making music as JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, she’s also appeared in films (including "Light of Day,") played Columbia in Broadway’s 2001 uber-gay "The Rocky Horror Show" revival (for which she shaved her head), and her ditty "Bad Education" became the theme song for cult TV gem "Freaks and Geeks."
In reality, JOAN JETT has hardly ceased touring during much of her career. In 2002, she raised eyebrows in the Middle East when she did 10 days of performance for the troops stationed in Afghanistan. Reportedly Jett would come onstage wearing a birkha, which she ripped off and stomped on before blazing through her legendary down and dirty rock show.
Now celebrating the 25th anniversary of her own BLACKHEART RECORDS label (co-founded by creative partner/singer-songwriter KENNY LAGUNA), Jett is re-releasing her entire catalog, remastered and souped-up with extras. She’s also currently on the road with The Vans’ "Warped Tour" through summer.
[more]
Crimson and Clover
from: Destination Music.com
by Gary Graff
JOAN JETT loved rock 'n' roll when she joined the RUNAWAYS in 1975, when she went solo in 1978 -- and now, as she releases SINNER, her first new studio album in the U.S. in more than twelve years.
The album, which also marks the 25th anniversary of Jett's BLACKHEART RECORDS label, finds the original riot grrrl rocking with a bit of a message, too, dropping a cherry bomb on the Bush presidency in "Riddles" and singing frankly about sexual identity and tolerance in "A.C.D.C." and "Androgynous." Kind of makes you want to put another dime in the jukebox, baby...
Q: Twenty-five years of BLACKHEART RECORDS must feel pretty amazing.
Jett: Yeah, I'm very proud that we've been able to just stay alive, first of all, for twenty-five years. It was out of necessity, 'cause nobody wanted anything to do with me. They didn't want the music. They didn't hear it. We still have those rejection letters from 23 labels, major and minor. They heard "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," "Crimson and Clover," "Do You Want to Touch Me" and "Bad Reputation" and told us we needed a song search! So it was good we were able to have an outlet with Blackheart. It started in the trunk of a car -- literally, we were selling records at the shows out of the trunk of a car -- and a P.O. box, and it went from there.
[more]
Marcus Amphitheatre, Milwaukee, WI
from: nivasgigs.net
Photos by Niva Bringas
June 17th
Marcus Amphitheatre, Milwaukee, WI
Vans Warped Tour
Click here to see more photos by Niva Bringas
A.C.D.C. Video
from: VH1 and MTV
VH1 and MTV have added the "A.C.D.C." video to their JOAN JETT pages.
By playing pure and simple rock & roll without making an explicit issue of her gender, JOAN JETT became a figurehead for several generations of female rockers. Jett's brand of rock & roll is loud and stripped-down, yet with overpowering hooks -- a combination of the Stones' tough, sinewy image and beat, 3 chord guitars, and glam rock hooks.
A.C.D.C. is the first single and video from JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS' 2006 release, SINNER.
Click here to view the video on VH1
Click here to view the video on MTV
Underground Garage - "Little" Steven Van Zant
Welcome, all ye garage-a-holics -- 'tis I, King of the Freaks!
from: billboard.com
The Maggots have written me a theme song. How nicely Swedish of them. "Monkey Time!" is their fourth outing (screaming-apple.de), and we're digging the new Farfisa organ player. If they keep tearing it up live, it's going to be "Maggot Time" soon.
Big news—possible Kinks reunion! The battling Davies brothers may be sheathing their swords. In the proud tradition of the Everlys and carried on by the Gallaghers, Ray and Dave have been trying to kill each other for the last 50 years or so. But ever since Dave's stroke in '04, they've been getting along much better. Ray told me when it first happened Dave was freaking him out because they weren't arguing at all. Then one day, they had a nice, old-time fight, and he knew Dave would make it. Dave's out supporting "Bug," and Ray is still finishing up "Other People's Lives," and then they'll talk.
Injury List: Add Nick O'Malley, new bass player for Arctic Monkeys. One week after replacing Andy Nicolson, O'Malley broke his hand. The roadie that threw him over a wall as a prank was reportedly remorseless—oh, those English kids. He'll tour in plaster. O'Malley, not the roadie.
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS' "SINNER" is loaded with hits, so we'll help you out. Our favorites are "Everyone Knows," "Turn It Around," "A Hundred Feet Away" and "Bad Time." Then there's a great cover of Sweet's "A.C.D.C." "Change the World" is very cool, too. And don't forget "Naked" and "Baby Blue." This album is a problem for single pickers. It's out, go get it.
COOLEST GARAGE SONGS
1. "King of the Freaks," the Maggots
2. "If It Takes a Lifetime," Cheap Trick
3. "After the Garden," Neil Young
4. "Are You Ready For It?" the Holograms
5. "Everyone Knows," JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
6. "Nothing Terribly New," the Hellacopters
7. "Hands," the Raconteurs
8. "World Wide Suicide," Pearl Jam
9. "Steady, As She Goes," the Raconteurs
10. "I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor," Arctic Monkeys
"A.C.D.C."
from: Billboard Magazine
by Chuck Taylor
The long-lived JOAN JETT, whose '80s signature "I Love Rock'n'Roll" blared from every radio in the world way back in 1982, returns after a decade's absence sounding like she's still digging her scene. "A.C.D.C." is a playful, gender-bending "is she or isn't she" fist-waving anthem about a woman who's got "girls all over the world/She got men every now and then/But she can't make up her mind." Produced by longtime collaborator KENNY LAGUNA, this song is a summer window-rolling singalong with enough brass to convince a new generation while sending original fans into Jett overdrive. A perfect rock diamond in the rough—laugh-out-loud fun and crispy fresh. One of many gems from the full-length "SINNER."
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS take NYC, June 5 - 8, 2006
from: nyrock.com
by Jeanne Fury
After seeing two of JOAN JETT's four sold-out shows, NY Rock presents "3 Things You Should Know About JOAN JETT":
Jett's new album SINNER is packed with feisty, swinging punk rock with plenty of hooks and snarls. She doesn't reinvent the wheel; she just keeps pedaling. Tracks like "Five" (written with Kathleen Hanna), "Change the World," "Riddles," and "A.C.D.C." tackle everything from a quizzical government to dyke love.
At 47, Jett is more polished and genuine than could ever be expected for anyone who has spent most of their life embedded in rock 'n' roll. She's neither disillusioned nor lazy nor is she a diva. Not content to coast on her leather coattails, she thought nothing of cutting off "I Love Rock N Roll" after the first chord because it was in the wrong key. This was at the end of her set, mind you. "You wouldn't have liked it," she said. She cares that much and the audience could sense it and return the love by promptly going apeshit when the song was finally fired up.
She gets very sweaty by song three. Her skin glistens, her hair gets drenched, and little droplets of sweat stream down her washboard abs. Even her fingers sweat. Jett Sweat is pure sex serum. If you were to drink it, you would have superpowers. At Northsix in Brooklyn, Jett took a little yellow towel, stuck it under her shiny black top, mopped the moisture off her boobs, and tossed said towel into the crowd. You will not find it on eBay. Guaranteed.
village voice music JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS at CBGB
The Sound of the City Security Joan
Rock 'n' roll nostalgia loves Ms. Jett right back
from: villagevoice.com
by Mikael Wood
JOAN JETT's put so many dimes in so many jukeboxes, baby, it's no wonder her music sounds like living history. On this month's SINNER (Blackheart), her first original studio album in more than a decade, the only indication that the music wasn't recorded in the early '80s—or, for that matter, the mid '70s, when Jett ran away with the RUNAWAYS—is the occasional reference to our current geopolitical shitstorm. " 'No child left behind'? Wake up, people!" she sneers over a palm-muted guitar chug in "Riddles," before passing the mic to Donald Rumsfeld, who describes via soundbite the difference between "known unknowns" and "unknown unknowns."
That neoclassical bent does nothing to lessen the fact that SINNER rips, and it did even less to blunt the impact of Jett's show with the BLACKHEARTS at CBGB, part of a pre–Warped Tour Big Apple blitz that also included gigs at the Bowery Ballroom, Southpaw, and NorthSix. In fact, musical progress would only have hurt her, since the sold-out throng—haggard old-school punks, young queercore scenesters, a handful of yuppies tapping on their Treos—were present to relive past glories, not revel in new ones.
Yet the show didn't feel like a cynical nostalgia trip. Waging heroic battle against CB's shitty sound and shittier sight lines, the bikini-topped singer tapped into an ancient vein of garage-rock energy, highlighting the music's universality rather than its familiarity. Well, there was some familiarity: Timeworn covers of "Roadrunner," "Crimson and Clover," and the Mary Tyler Moore theme padded out the 21-song set, which included but didn't climax with an obligatory "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." But when the band closed with Sly Stone's "Everyday People," Jett's message was clear—she purposefully keeps this music open for whoever might find room in it for his or herself. Like a jukebox, it puts out what you put in.
JOAN JETT: Ready for takeoff
from: Jacksonville.com
by JEFF VRABEL, The Times-Union
Femme rock icon to a previous generation will bring a
new audience on board for Warped Tour
The Warped Tour isn't just for the black-clad,
spiky-chain wearing, tousle-haired kids, you know.
Sure, during its 11 years, Warped has secured a
reputation for breaking up-and-coming bands in the
fields of punk, emo, hardcore and emopunkore, all of
which are more or less the same thing.
But it's also been a reliable means for vintage
outfits to re-position themselves in front of a new
demographic. No less punk royalty than the Ramones,
for instance, visited the Warped stage in 1998. And
the 2006 edition will see sets by L.A. punk forebears
the Germs (who sadly won't appear at Jax stop), the
equally influential Buzzcocks and riot girl icon Joan
Jett.
[more]
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
SINNER
from: sleazegrinder.com
It’s been a decade since JOAN JETT’s last album (1999’s "Fetish" was largely an electronica rehash of past glories) and in that time, she’s completely revamped her image, from tomboy glam rocker to full-on lesbian riot grrrl. Her sound, however, remains the same. Musically, "SINNER" is prime BLACKHEARTS, full of 60’s inspired rockers with hand-clapping choruses, glitter-rock guitars, and Joan’s signature rasp. But it’s more confessional in tone than most of JJ’s albums, that’s for sure. She cleverly bends the words in her giddy cover of Sweet’s bisexual anthem A.C.D.C. ("Lesbian-it together"), peeling back the layers of her once guarded sexuality, and the jolting "Fetish" is pure, sleazy fuck n’ roll ("Relax…while I pound your ass"), a far cry from ‘put another dime in the jukebox, baby’. No wonder, then, that the centerpiece of the album is called "Naked", because that’s what this one is all about, the baring of St Joan’s soul, revealing the tough-but-tender girl-kisser and rock n’ roll survivor underneath. And while this will certainly nail the coffin shut on your plans to bed the coolest Runaway (unless you’re Lemmy, if the legends are true), it still makes for some fine rock n’ roll, the surprisingly fragile cover of the Replacements’ gender-bending classic "Androgynous", the glammy punk of "Tube Talkin’" (with Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill, who adds her snotty vox to five tracks here), and the politically tinged opener "Riddles", the easy pick for summer single. Welcome back, Joan. We missed you.
New releases feed your pop culture addictions
from: dailytexanonline.com
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
SINNER
Blackheart
To this generation, JOAN JETT is simply the black-clad woman who gave the world "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" in the '80s. She's also remembered as the lady who sang "Love is a Battlefield," though she actually had nothing to do with said song.
While Pat Benatar is living off royalty checks somewhere in suburbia, Jett and her BLACKHEARTS are spending the summer on the Vans Warped Tour clocking mileage behind a puzzlingly good release. More than a decade since their last album, JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS are out to make a dent in the industry.
[more]
JOAN JETT - SINNER
from: pulverradio.com
JOAN JETT - SINNER: Apparently this is her first full length record in about 12 years. Who knew? I saw JOAN JETT one time in an ice rink when I was at college and I didn’t really tell any of my friends but I thought she totally rocked. So now that’s out in the open.
The Whine of Western Civilization
from: citypages.com
by Keith Harris
NOFX
Wolves in Wolves' Clothing
Fat Wreck Chords
NOFX
Never Trust a Hippy
Fat Wreck Chords
JOAN JETT
SINNER
Blackheart
"Would you rather be fed bullshit from some twentysomething makeup-wearing pop star?" asks NOFX frontman Fat Mike on "60%," the celebration of slovenly underachievement that leads off Wolves in Wolves' Clothing. When the alternative is politicized pop-punk, my knee-jerk answer'd be "well, sometimes"—I think new wave and the truth are both fantastic. But then I acquainted myself with some of the newer, next-er names that the SoCal vets accompany on this year's Warped Tour: bleats confusing self-pity with defiance, riffs convoluting endlessly in search of hooks. I craved something articulate, playful, committed, relatively bullshitless.
And Wolves in Wolves' Clothing—well, it wasn't quite it. It's less an elaboration of 2003's giddily spiteful The War on Errorism than a bitter post-election sequel to the two Rock Against Bush compilations that Mike curated in '04. From the apocalyptically fatalist "USA-holes" ("The captain's placing blame on the iceberg") to the heartland-hating "Leaving Jesusland" ("They got a mandate, they don't want man-dates"), the lyrics cling to that resentful sense of national betrayal that most of us exorcised on our November 5, 2004 blog posts.
So applaud the Fat Wreck Chords honchos (that'd be Mike and the boys) who also put out a six-song EP a month before the full-length. Never Trust a Hippy repeats two cuts from Wolves, and they're the weakest here. "The Marxist Brothers" is smugger than the "idealist bourgeois" it critiques ("The people's revolution is gonna be podcast"), and "Seeing Double at the Triple Rock" ain't quite as fun as "watching Paddy talk" (or even strip). But NOFX justify their overindulgence more wisely on the EP's age-be-damned "Everything in Moderation (Especially Moderation)." They distill their politics more directly into the self-explanatory "You're Wrong." They rip through the Germs-penned antiwar romp, "Golden Boys." Then Jesus himself wraps things up on "I'm Going to Hell for This One," demanding royalties from Mel Gibson and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
NOFX, Fat Mike cheerily predicts, will eventually "go out, played-out and well after our time"—a fate that their fellow fogey on this summer's Warped circuit, JOAN JETT, has had a blast enduring for a decade-plus now. Jett's concert set has settled into a predictable groove during that period, so I'm reassured by reports that "Androgynous," the Replacements cover she made a live staple years ago, isn't the only song she's been performing from her latest, SINNER. On that new disc, "AC/DC" ("She got some other fella as well as me") and the filthy "Fetish" ("Relax/While I pound your ass") rev up the sexuality she initially sublimated into black leather and songs like "Love Is Pain." As always, Jett can't maintain that level of inspiration, but, as always, she rocks dutifully, battling her way, as always, through her glossy chug-a-chug.
[more]
NEW RELEASE: JOAN JETT "A.C.D.C."
from: videostatic.com
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
"A.C.D.C." (Blackheart)
Greg Olliver, director | Trevor Potts, producer | KanDoKid Films, production co | Pete Fritz, editor | Description: If AC/DC are the kings of double entendres, then it's only fitting that a song bearing their name is actually about a woman who enjoys more than just serving as a socket, if you catch my drift. Carmen Electra stars as the aforementioned woman, swinging whichever way suits her needs. Eventually she winds up at a performance by JOAN JETT where she becomes enraptured by the rock legend. "A.C.D.C." is off SINNER, the first JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS album in twelve years. -- watch "A.C.D.C."
Warped Tour: JOAN JETT gets back where she belongs
from: kansascity.com
by Alan Sculley
After 12 years of waiting, fans this summer are finally getting "SINNER," a new studio CD from JOAN JETT . But it’s not like Jett intended to see her recording career go on hold like that.
"If we had had our way, it would have been out much earlier," Jett said of the new CD. "But there were several things in the way of that. So here we are now."
The main obstacle was Jett’s former record company, Warner Bros. But in this case, Jett and her long-time songwriting collaborator, producer and manager, KENNY LAGUNA, weren’t so much at odds with the label as victims of a record company in flux. Essentially, Warner Bros. Records went through five different regimes headed by different presidents, and they all had different visions for the new record.
[more]
JOAN JETT saves the day...
from: newsobserver.com
by David Menconi
Between Tropical Storm Alberto flooding my basement and the Hurricanes losing, Wednesday was not a day I'm going to remember fondly. Except for one thing: I got to talk to JOAN JETT, someone I've long admired. Jett is sort of like the Rod Brind'Amour of rock stars -- hard-working, reliable, no-nonsense, well-meaning and easy to like. She even covers a Replacements song on her new album; how can you not root for her?
The one and only time I've ever seen Jett play live was at South By Southwest two years ago, and she still rocked it like it was 1982. Between "I Love Rock 'N Roll," "Bad Reputation" and her crushing cover of the old Tommy James hit "Crimson and Clover," she slayed the crowd of jaded music-biz hipsters (who thought they were too cool for old-school rock & roll, but waved collective fists and yelled anyway). I was exhausted just watching her. And she still sounds and looks sensational in her latest video, for "A.C.D.C." -- http://kandok.fatcow.com/jobs/13/1/acdc.mov
"I never really stopped doing this," Jett said when asked how she seems to have made the last quarter-century stand still. "You know when you’re not having 'hits' anymore, people just figure you're not doing it anymore. But we were always on the road through the '80s, through the '90s, through the 2000s. It’s not like we've ever taken a big break, and playing on the road is a continuous workout I’ve never given up. I stay extra-active. I’ve also been a vegetarian for 15 years and I don’t smoke or drink."
[more]
Spin control - NEW WAVE
from: chicagoredstreak.com
by Jim DeRogatis
The New Cars, "It's Alive!" (Eleven Seven Music) *
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, "SINNER" (Blackheart) ***
During the uncompromising, credibility-obsessed era in the late '70s when punk morphed into New Wave, the Cars and JOAN JETT's BLACKHEARTS were both skeptically viewed as industry vets cynically cashing in on a hot new sound: The Cars were older than many of their peers, with storied resumes, while Jett had already had her 15 minutes of fame with the RUNAWAYS. But Ric Ocasek's effervescent mix of danceable rhythms, synth hooks and classic-rock guitar eventually won the Cars status as a guilty platinum pleasure, and Jett not only proved herself with a string of irresistible singles but survived to become a godmother of the '90s riot grrrl movement.
Now, a quarter of a century later, the Cars are confirming our worst suspicions, while Jett stands proud as more of a heroine than ever.
With the band's distinctive vocalists Ocasek and the late Ben Orr both missing, along with drummer David Robinson, the New Cars are the result of a call to central casting. Accomplished producer and musician Todd Rundgren tarnishes his legacy by imitating two men he never had any connection with as the only veterans, guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes, prove that they were never much more than filigree. Recorded live, songs such as "Let's Go," "Candy-O" and "Moving in Stereo" retain their charms, but the three new studio tracks are just transparent imitations of vintage Cars. What's more, the inclusion of Rundgren's "I Saw the Light" and "Open My Eyes" illustrate that this endeavor is ultimately as silly and cynical as the Doors of the 21st Century.
In marked contrast, there isn't a hint of nostalgia or opportunism on Jett's latest. There's nothing new musically, either, but the 47-year-old's mix of driving rhythms, anthemic hooks and her ferocious, throaty growl takes on new urgency with the political message of "Riddles" and the risque flirting of "Fetish," and it falls flat only occasionally, as on the thematically correct but musically incompatible cover of the Replacements' "Androgynous" or the flaccid ballad "Watersign." On the whole, though, Jett has never sounded more vital, while the New Cars are clearly a lemon.
Slant magazine.com Music Review
from: slantmagazine.com
by Jonathan Keefe
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
SINNER
Blackheart, 2006
Sounding exactly the way you think it does, JOAN JETT & The Blackheart's SINNER finds the rock icon's trademark sneer turned, as on so many rock albums in 2006, on the conservative socio-political climate. Jett has never been known for profound insight ("I Love Rock & Roll" will endure as an anthem precisely because of its lack of subtlety), and SINNER isn't a great leap forward in that regard. But the album does give a definite sense of direction and purpose to her what-you-see-is-what-you-get badass image. The bulk of SINNER—what with songs like "Naked," "Fetish," and a smartly-chosen and well-executed cover of Paul Westerberg's "Androgynous," all of which, again, are exactly the songs you think they are—is designed to make the Evangelicals squirm as much as possible. Which is an admirable goal, obviously, and the BDSM references of "Fetish" and the "She's got some other fella as well as me" chorus of "A.C.D.C." would more than do the trick if Jett were still as visible as she was 20 years ago. As is, her current following is limited to the punk circuit and the Hot Topic crowd, so there's a preaching-to-the-choir aspect to SINNER that blunts its edges. But the album is still a great reminder that Jett, uncompromising as ever, absolutely still has that edge when so many other veteran artists go the Adult Contemporary route and try to milk nostalgia to keep their sales up.
Fresh spins for the week
from: texasgigs.com
by CD World Staff
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS: SINNERs
Rock icon JOAN JETT, the original riot grrrl, is back. As co-founder of the all-girl, straight-up rock and roll group the RUNAWAYS, Joan cracked the door for female artists to rock just as hard as the boys. Jett keeps the fire burning with the release of SINNER on her own BLACKHEART RECORDS. As veterans of the punk scene, it's only natural that JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS will perform on the Vans Warped Tour 2006, as well as their own tour dates in support of the upcoming release.
JOAN JETT, SINNER (* * *)
from: USA Today
JOAN JETT - SINNER - 3 out of 4 stars USA Today
With the music industry churning out cookie-cutter pop
stars and the outside world broiling in social
intolerance, Jett’s new CD arrives not a moment too
soon. Driving tracks such as Naked and Turn It Around
prove the seminal chick-rocker has lost none of her
edge, while the pointed Everyone Knows and Androgynous
mix playfulness and yearning with a bold conviction
heard too rarely on top 40 radio these days. "I’m
here/I ain’t goin’ anywhere," Jett sings on Change the
World. SINNER gives us no reason to question her
resolve. — Gardner
NOFX, JOAN JETT, fuse VJ Steven Smith and More Surprises Equals Warped Wednesdays
Only on fuse Beginning June 21!
from: fuse.tv
by WRITER
Monday June 12, 9:00 am ET
Tune In June 21 -August 23 From 11am - 3pm For Must-Watch Warped Wednesday
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 2006--Better set your TiVo immediately -- for the fourth consecutive year, fuse, the nation's only viewer-influenced, music television network will once again be your primary portal for all things Warped. The network is proud to announce its exclusive, multi-cast partnership with the 2006 Vans Warped Tour®, and we promise you won't be able to pull yourself away from your television sets, computers or mobile phones. With an all-access pass to the summer's premiere festival dedicated to alternative music and the punk n' roll lifestyle; fuse is a fan's dream come true.
"Warped Wednesday," a four hour block of music, interviews and more, officially kicks off on June 21 at 11am. fuse's very own VJ Steven Smith will not only have a presence throughout the tour, but unadulterated access to bands on stage, on the bus, in the catering tent and a seat at Fat Mike's legendary poker game.
[more]
SINNER Overview
from: Allmusic.com
Apart from the Japanese-only Naked in 2004, JOAN JETT hadn't released an album of all-new material in over a decade when she released SINNER in summer 2006, an amazing gap of time considering how vital and flat-out rocking she sounds on the album. Many rockers of her age and stature might have been content to just throw out a safe and innocuous record to help fill up the merch stalls on the state fair circuit. Not Jett. Her honesty and unyielding toughness has given her enough cred to headline a major alt-rock festival in 2006, and SINNER has both those qualities and then some. Her last album, Pure and Simple, was a step away from the glossy pop/rock her career had devolved into; SINNER is a huge leap toward total honesty, earnestness, and hard rock. The record contains a couple of good-time rockers reminiscent of her glory days ("Tube Talkin'," "Turn It Around"), but even the requisite glam cover, Sweet's "A.C.D.C.," deals with sexual confusion, albeit playfully. Elsewhere Jett delves into heavy or quite personal subjects; she hits on politics on the Bush-sampling "Riddles," raw sexuality on "Fetish," but mostly seems to be wrestling with issues of privacy, self-image, and sexual orientation on tracks like "Naked" and "Five." Luckily for the listener who just wants to rock, she wraps these introspective lyrics up in a tough and punchy style very similar to the classic JOAN JETT sound. Even the ballads, like the achingly romantic "Watersign," have gloriously loud and gritty guitars and Jett's voice hasn't lost an ounce of power. There are a few slight stumbles like the catchy but overly earnest and simplistic "Change the World" and the cringe-inducing "Fetish," which seems to have snuck in from a totally different album. Actually it did, since the song first appeared on a 1999 collection called Fetish. In fact, ten of the songs on SINNER first appeared on Naked; only four appear here for the first time. No matter, really, as the album is new to most people, and it hangs together well, resonating both with those listeners who can relate to Jett's struggles and issues, as well as kids of any age who just dig good old hard rock & roll. Hopefully it won't be another decade before the next JOAN JETT record, for with SINNER she's restaked a claim as an important artist and it'd be a real shame if she disappeared again.
A candidate for all of us
from: nancyskinner.campaignoffice.com
Help JOAN JETT ROCK Nancy Skinner's Campaign
Rocker JOAN JETT is pairing up with Skinner for Congress to help take back the house and Michigan's 9th District. With a $2,100 contribution to Skinner for Congress, JOAN JETT is offering two tickets to any of her 75 shows across the country this summer.
Click here to contribute. With your contribution of $2,100, you will also receive back stage passes and a personal phone call from Joan herself. Show that you Love Rock n' Roll and the future of your country by clicking here and contributing today. Listen to Nancy and Joan live on the Randi Rhodes today at 6:05pm EST only on Air America Radio. Air America can be heard locally on 1310 WDTW-AM Detroit's Progressive Talk.
Five minutes with ... JOAN JETT, rock star and Orioles fan
from: seattlepi.nwsource.com
by Molly Yanity
You know JOAN JETT loves rock and roll, but did you know she also loves the Baltimore Orioles?
Turns out, Jett is one heck of a sports fan.
On Tuesday, Jett will release her first studio album in more than a decade. She and the BLACKHEARTS will perform on the Vans Warped Tour in support of the CD, titled "SINNER." They will be in Washington July 15 when the tour stops at the Gorge in George.
But don't think it's all guitars and amps for the original riot grrrl. It's also baseball, basketball, football and extreme sports.
Just days after shooting the video for the CD's first single, "A.C.D.C.," with Carmen Electra, Jett settled in to talk sports with Sports2Day.
Q: Before we get into the sports talk, tell us about what you and the band have been up to.
Jett: Well, we have this new cd that's coming out on June 13th, well, the sixth officially, but it's called "SINNER." It's the first new CD in10 years or something like that. It's been a long, frustrating process, but we finally made the record. Beyond that, we've just been on the road. We just shot a video for one of the songs and we're in New York screening it. We'll be on the Warped Tour and just all over this summer.
Q: You're a regular at New York Liberty WNBA games. Are you a WNBA fan?
Jett: To start with, I'm a sports fan. A big fan. I've always been supportive of women doing whatever they want to do, whether it's play basketball, be a musician, a doctor or a stay-at-home mom - that's work, too. But I bought season tickets without thinking anything about it, before I really knew anything about the WNBA, just to be supportive. But I've turned into a huge Liberty fan. I still have season tickets and go whenever I can.
Q: Did you play sports as a kid?
Jett: I did play sports when I was a kid, but I don't remember my school ever having girls teams. I would think if they did, I would've been all over it. But I played in every pick-up game there was in the neighborhood - everything from dodge ball to baseball in the street.
[more]
1340mag.com - Reviews
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS - SINNER
from: 1340mag.com
by Mark Fisher
JOAN JETT has traditionally been one of rock’s most overlooked and overworked artists, with the coming of SINNER and a stint on the Vans Warped Tour this summer though it looks as if the tide may be changing.
The fact that it’s been a decade since Jett last released an album is all but lost on SINNER. It’s as if no time has passed at all, yet the market has changed so much in that decade that Jett left as a "rock chick" and re-enters treated like a living legend. You’ll get no argument from me but you have to admit its interesting scenario. What really matters here however is whether or not Jett still has "it" in her and SINNER rocks with a resounding mid-tempo rock and roll "yes."
The album opens with Jett’s first political song, "Riddles." She does a good job of making her views known without being preachy about it and that’s probably subconsciously reinforced by the fact that this is the only political song on the album, largely defeating the idea that there is an agenda here beyond rock and roll. A lot of the songs focus on love, relationships, and sexuality, as you’d expect, but Jett gets down in the gutter a few times. In particular is the heavy and sexually charged "Fetish." This one is definitely not for the kiddies lyrically but it does wrangle up the heaviest sounds on SINNER.
[more]
Guilty Pleasure
from: fuseaction
During my formative years (80's &90's) there were
three girl bands that rocked on a consistent basis. The
Go Go's, JOAN JETT and Pat Benetar, in that order. Yes,
there were others and some female fronted bands had some
great individual songs but I think overall this was your
upper echelon.
Last night on a whim I tried to see if I could catch
JOAN JETT playing North Six. I figure seeing any big
star on a small stage can't be all bad. Seems I was
right. I got lucky and snagged a ticket even though the
show was sold out and mini riot ensued when the club
stopped letting people in after a certain point. There
is something to be said for sponteniety. Walking in just
as the stripped down BLACKHEARTS were setting up was
just magical.
JOAN JETT looked and sounded great playing all ofher
hits and stuff off her new album. I even got a little
misty eyed hearing Bad Reputation. Say what you want,
that's punk. It may be pop but it's real punk rock. I
Love Rock N Roll is pure attitude and I Hate Myself For
Loving You is the strut. The new album sounded pretty
good too from what I heard. About the only things I
could have done without were some of the cover songs
like the Sly and the Family Stones' Everyday People,
although Crimson and Clover came out pretty heavy.
[more]
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS – SINNER
from: sfgate.com
by Jaan Uhelszki
JOAN JETT has always brought a danger and fierceness to rock 'n' roll. But with "SINNER," her first studio record in six years, the female punk avatar goes far beyond the seditious '70s shag and bad attitude to break new musical and lyrical ground. Jett has spent 30 years showing the world that she can rock as hard as the guys, but here she's decided to show what's underneath that nervy impudence. While still straddling her guitar and channeling her beloved rock gods on punk anthems like "Change the World" and the Bush-trouncing "Riddles," she's cracked open the backstage door and given fans a peek at her personal life. An expected vulnerability and emotional candidness creep into songs like "Bad Time" and "Watersign." More startling is the exposure of a vein of doomed romanticism and vulnerability. It's probably the most dangerous thing Jett's ever done.
San Antonio Express-News
from: mysanantonio.com
by Jim Kiest
JOAN JETT started punk, playing in the RUNAWAYS as a teen and touring with the Ramones. Thirty years later, she's still punk, joining the kids on this year's Warped Tour. That she was one of the best-selling artists of the '80s seems like an accidental detour. On "SINNER" (in stores Tuesday), she sounds as strong as ever; "A.C.D.C.," a sweet cover that hits like Mötley Crüe with a twist, could even be a summer hit.
Recent Magazine Articles
from: joanjettbadrep.com
Summer 2006 Venus Zine STRANGER THAN FICTION WHAT A HOT ISSUE! The summer 2006 issue of Venus is out now featuring Amy Sedaris on the cover. The issue also features JOAN JETT, Sonic Youth, the Fiery Furnaces, Shonen Knife, Pretty Girls Make Graves, author Curtis Sittenfeld, Dresden Dolls, Tilly and the Wall, and sooooooo many others. This issue is predicted to sell out, so get your hands on it now.
www.venuszine.com
June 2006 Curve JOAN JETT is pictured with Jenna Jamison on page 18.
www.curvemag.com
June/July 2006 Nylon [the music issue] page 107 QUEEN OF NOISE JOAN JETT, the original rock chick, is back and as bad-ass as ever. By Charlotte Rudge
nylonmag.com/the_magazine
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS – SINNER
from: Entertainment Weekly
by TS
On her first studio release with the BLACKHEARTS in over a decade, Jett’s trademark meaty riffs, raspy vocals, and exuberant tempos once again serve notice that her vaunted love for rock & roll is in no danger of flagging. Thankfully, she continues to resist any impulse to futz with her formula. Aside from a lackluster cover of the Replacements’ "Androgynous," SINNER’s a winner, full of tracks brimming with sass, grit, and totally ambrosial power-pop harmonies. I’m thinking canonization – or at least a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination. (Yup, she’s eligible.) A-
Sound Check
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS: SINNER
from: echomag
Rock icon JOAN JETT, the original riot grrrl, is back and out on the prowl. As cofounder of the all-girl rock sensation The RUNAWAYS, Joan opened the doorways for female artists to rock just as hard and tough as the guys.
In June Jett will return with the release of SINNER on her own BLACKHEART RECORDS. Known for wonderful live performances, Jett will perform on "The Vans Warped Tour 2006," as well as her own tour dates in support of the new release. It's been over six years since the release of her last studio album, Fetish, and on SINNER Jett shows no sign of backing down from the chunky, kick-ass riffs, catchy hooks and forceful voice that brought her fame and fortune. Her biggest song "I Love Rock N' Roll," spent an amazing eight weeks at #1. It was also a huge song for mobile disc jockeys in the 80s, and an MTV/Radio favorite as well.
SINNER kicks off with "Riddles," a melodic attack on doublespeak — riddles — that passes as information from today's political "leaders." "Riddles" also features a sample of George W. Bush, who's really one of the best examples. Other highlights include "Five," a song about the relentless persistence of the tabloids. While plenty of the songs on SINNER are boldly sexual ("A.C.D.C.," "Baby Blue" and the leather anthem "Fetish") some folks might get the wrong idea about "Naked." Joan recently commented, "I think everyone's first image of the word "naked" is about being physically naked, and this isn't that at all. This is about introspection. It's a very lonely song in a sense. I think it's kind of cool to go inside and figure out what's behind the emotions of what makes people who they are."
[more]
SINNER
from: musicsyndicate.com
Few artists boast a wider appeal than JOAN JETT. Beloved by punks, indie rockers, pop lovers, riot grrrls, metal heads, classic rockers, radicals and conservatives, she is 1) a genuine icon and an influential, trailblazing musician, going back to when she helped break down rock's gender barriers and helped pioneer punk music with her teenage band, The RUNAWAYS; 2) a genuine star, with no less than nine Top 40 hit singles and eight Platinum and Gold LPs; 3) a renaissance woman, actress on stage and screen, and knowledgeable and entertaining host of "JOAN JETT's Radio Revolution" on Little Steven's Sirius Satellite Radio's Underground Garage (Channel 25); and 4) a continually challenging artist, not content to rest on past laurels. All this and more comes together as Joan brings you her brand new album, SINNER, which is bound to delight and surprise even her biggest fans. On the one hand it's pure Jett, with chunky, kick-ass riffs, robust vocals, and catchy hooks on the likes of "Five", "Watersign", "Baby Blue" and "Tube Talkin" (all with Bikini Kill /Le Tigre's Kathleen Hanna) and "A.C.D.C." It's the kind of music she's been known for since her smash hit "I Love Rock n' Roll" spent eight weeks at #1 in 1982 and spurred 10 million sales of her LP by the same name. On the other hand, SINNER is a thrilling restatement of her original punk roots, on the boldly philosophical "Naked" and the provocative "Five". SINNER is, in short, a blasting, aggressive record.
Joan, who's been writing great rock music since she penned "Cherry Bomb" at 15 years old on the RUNAWAYS' debut LP, insisted on testing herself anew on SINNER. "If anything, the lyrical content might be expanding", she explains " it's not all about falling in or out of love."
For example, there is "Naked". "I think everyone's first image of the word "naked" is about being physically naked, and this isn't that at all. This is about introspection. This is a very lonely song in a sense. I think it's kind of cool to go inside and figure out what's behind the emotions of what makes people who they are. It can be scary to think about it all".
[more]
Veteran rockers Jett, Cheap Trick return with strong new collections
from: cleveland.com
by Gary Graff
You probably know that it's 2006. But this week's new release list feels like a bit of a time warp.
Two titles stand out in particular -- Cheap Trick's "Rockford" (Big3) and JOAN JETT's "SINNER" (Blackheart). And while they don't necessarily trumpet that the 1970s and '80s are back, they are the strongest albums either artist has put out in quite some time.
"SINNER," in fact, is Jett's first new release in 12 years after being waylaid by administrative changes at her previous distributor, Warner Bros., which lulled her into lethargy.
[more]
National CD Reviews
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS - SINNER
from: slugmag.com
by Brady Gunnell
"Gotta change the world!" howls JOAN JETT on track six of her latest album. SINNER, the first studio album in over ten years from Jett and her BLACKHEARTS sets opens with a highly politicized message and catchy hook. Unfortunately, that is really where the novelty ends. Aside from Jett’s increasingly gritty voice and the Orwellian anti-Bush opener, this album sounds like it could have been scooped up directly from 1985. The BLACKHEARTS are back with what they do best, rock, but it just doesn’t go much further. For some, this may very well be a blessing. It means more straightforward, accessible rock from an iconic front-woman whom is staying true to her roots. To others, this album could be plain boring. To me it lacks the vitality of the younger Jett, as on 1981’s seminal album. Here she sounds as if she has found a template, the music is mechanical as is her voice. On "Fetish" the band gets closer to doing something sonically interesting with their brand of three-chord guitar rock. And then she loses me when she sings about pounding some ass. This is the kind of music that should be reserved for listening to after five beers at a grungy bar. So, prepare yourself, and go see JOAN JETT and BLACKHEARTS on this years Warped Tour.
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS - SINNER Review
from: rocknworld.com
by Morley Seaver
You know with a JOAN JETT record you're not going to get too many surprises and that's the case with her new record SINNER. For the most part straight-ahead rock & roll is the order of the day and Ms. Jett does not disappoint.
"Riddles" kicks off the record, a chugging collection of riffs that is highlighted by a gaffer from Dubya at the end. "A.C.D.C." opines the fact her girlfriend is getting a little something on the side, sometimes with a guy. "Five" is your standard rock fare. "Naked" is one of the better cuts on SINNER. Simple yet memorable, the song has more of a vibrancy about it as if it was produced by somebody else.
"Everybody Knows" is also a pretty solid mid-tempo rocker and "Change the World" has some punk-type vocal harmonies that make it stand out. One of the pleasant surprises is "Androgynous" is an almost-country cut that contains a chorus you have to sing along with. "Fetish" features some beefed up guitars and the subject matter takes a spin around the naughty area of the neighborhood.
[more]
... and rock 'n' roll still loves you, JOAN JETT
Move over Courtney - the queen of rock 'n' roll is back for her crown
from: argusleader.com
by Robert Morast
American Express likes to remind people that "membership has its privileges." Apparently that doesn't apply to the world of corporate sponsors.
Despite lending its name for this week's RibFest at the Sioux Falls Arena, the Argus Leader and Link were denied an interview by the food and music festival's featured act, JOAN JETT, who takes the stage tonight.
Considering most rib festivals highlight nostalgic or unknown musical acts who will take any press they can get, Jett's refusal to speak is surprising. Perhaps it's the vegetarian's silent protest for being booked at a function that celebrates meat.
[more]
Melt Magazine
from: meltmag.com
May-June 2006, Volume 2 Issue 10
JOAN JETT on the cover with double-page spread of the summer Warped Tour.
Warped Preview
from: Cincinnati Post
by Rick Bird
July 26, Warped Tour (Riverbend): This is too good to be true. Some 30 snotty little punk bands, whose names may be forgotten before the summer's over, will be shown how it's done by JOAN JETT, the godmother of punk, who headlines this mosh pit frenzy. Warped is always a hoot, more about the scene than any good music. Unlike some of the nihilistic young punk rockers, Jett has always had a message to her musical rowdiness like, "I love rock 'n' roll/ So, put another dime in the jukebox, baby." Now, that's poetry.
Embracing a Proud Past, JOAN JETT Keeps It Simple
from: nytimes.com
by Rahav Segev for The New York Times
JOAN JETT brought her groundbreaking rock to Southpaw on Tuesday. JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, including DOUGIE NEEDLES, right, are touring to support the new album "SINNER." Photo: Sia Michel
In the 1980's, when she ruled Top 40 radio, JOAN JETT was the perfect embodiment of rock's primal qualities. She was young, cocky, sexy, rebellious and knew how to rock a pair of leather pants. She had a signature look (shag haircut and heavy eyeliner), a jailbait past (she joined the RUNAWAYS at age 15) and a punk-rock pedigree (she was friends with Sid Vicious and produced the Germs). It's hard to think of a cooler 80's rocker — maybe Axl Rose? But unlike Mr. Rose, with his odd behavior and even odder new face, Ms. Jett has aged with grace. At 47, she seems eerily youthful and unjaded.
Let's see Madonna pull this off: Ms. Jett arrived in a skimpy bikini top and black leather pants worn so low you could see her hipbones. Her tattooed arms were toned and sinewy; her face was girlish, as if she had just stepped out of the "Bad Reputation" video. Her fitness regime probably involves airborne kicks and rooster strutting. "Joan, you are obscenely sexy, and I want to marry you!" a woman in the audience shouted as Ms. Jett swaggered to the RUNAWAYS' classic "Cherry Bomb." Later a female fan rushed the stage and tried to kiss her.
Ms. Jett seemed revolutionary in the 80's because she acted as if being a (rare) female guitar virtuoso was no big deal. She proclaimed "I Love Rock N' Roll" with the casual sense of entitlement of a male legend. Over the years Ms. Jett grew more political, and she is now hailed as a groundbreaking feminist hero. The sold-out show at the Brooklyn club Southpaw on Tuesday was packed with adoring women in their 30's and young, hand-holding lesbian couples. When Ms. Jett sang "Do you want to touch me there?," she was rewarded with deafening screams of "Yeah!"
[more]
"SINNER" by JOAN JETT
from: edgeboston.com
by Rick Dunn, Edge Community Editor
Like so few of her ’80s peers, rocker JOAN JETT has hung on by her painted black nails to the idea that rock isn’t dead. Over the past 30 years, Jett, now a lithe 47, has been crafting no frills rock that is equally at home in giant amphitheaters and dark, smelly clubs. She’s one of the few icons that hasn’t transformed into a nostalgia act, evidenced by her presence on the current Warped ’06 tour. Jett was just 15 when she wrote Cherry Bomb, which became an anthem for her all-teen girl band The RUNAWAYS. Just a few years later, she spent eight weeks at number one with her career-defining I Love Rock ’N Roll. Lately, Jett’s career appears to have come full circle. She began on an indie label, selling copies of her solo debut out of the trunk of her longtime song-writing partner and producer KENNY LAGUNA’s car. Her new disc, SINNER, her first U.S. studio release in 10 years, finds her back on BLACKHEART RECORDS and paired with Laguna. For the record, Jett was the first woman in rock and roll to own her label, years before Ani Difranco even considered the idea.
Hero worship aside, how’s the disc? It’s okay.
Jett’s trademark humor and raspy vocals are on display on first single A.C.D.C., about a female lover who keeps a man on the side, where Jett declares "Les-bi in it together!" It’s the disc’s strongest, catchiest track. Carefull not to label Jett a lesbian or bisexual, as she has never made any statement of declaration.
[more]
Punk's Jett Fuels Excitement
from: nypost.com
by Dan Aquilante
Photo: J. Scott Wynn
JOAN JETT defended her reputation at the Bowery Ballroom.
JOAN JETT loves rock 'n' roll - and rock 'n' roll's loved her since the days when she was a teenage Runaway and songs cost a dime on the jukebox, baby.
All wrapped in leather and chains, the 45-year-old punk queen looked and sounded great at the opening show of her four-night N.Y.C. club blitz at the Bowery Ballroom Monday.
Laying low since the release of her 1999 disc, "Fetish," Miss Jett is currently re-establishing her relevance with her just-released CD, "SINNER," and hopes to enlarge her fan base with youngsters who'll be seeing her brand of punk-pop for the first time when she headlines the upcoming Warped Tour this summer.
Jett and her band, the BLACKHEARTS, proved they still mattered at the Bowery with a 100-minute set of fast three-chord rockers. She peppered the program with material from her latest record, but it was the covers and Blackheart classics that made the crowd churn, sing along and reach toward the stage.
Jett initially took a misstep, opening her show with "Victim of Circumstance," instead of her usual opener, the attention grabber "Bad Reputation."
After "Circumstance," she went into a power glide with her great stutter "Ch-Ch-Cherrybomb," her famous Springsteen collaboration "Light of Day," her teasing come-on song "Do You Want to Touch Me" and, finally, her theme song, "Bad Reputation."
[more]
Music Briefs: JOAN JETT
from: farkleberries.blogspot.com
by Farkleberries: Chicago style culture warbloggery
JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS' first new US album release in over a decade, SINNER, hits the stores June 6th (06-06-06, get it? Ha, ha.). With a few alterations and the omission of some tracks, the album is almost identical to the 2004 import-only CD Naked that received critical praise for Joan's expansion of her musical ambit - and fan complaints, for its high import-only ($30+) retail price. The change of name was probably a good move. The Talking Heads released a none-too-stellar late career album in 1988 also called Naked, that featured a painting of a chimpanzee in a similar cover pose as Joan's on her album called Naked. Not that people would generally confuse Joan with a chimpanzee, but "JOAN JETT - SINNER!" is a better culture war ralling cry than "JOAN JETT - Naked!" No? Well, at least I thought so.
SINNER is less about adolescent bird-flipping The Man than a thoughtful, centered effort by a artist who has grown from rebellious teen into a solid legend who needs no excuses; by contrast, in the 1982 Bad Reputation video, Joan getting collar-tossed from a bar by a burly bearded bouncer (followed by a silent-film slide that reads, "We don't want your kind in here!") comes across today as something like playing the victim. The early 80's Teenaged Joan the Misfit Rebel and 90's Liza-Minnelli-as-Glam-Biker Joan have given way to a Joan comfortable in her own skin as androgynously sexy maiden-mother-crone, simultaneously young and old, with all its implications of masculine/feminine energy intertwined. SINNER's lyrics are a sea change, a glasnost of sorts addressing politics and vulnerability in a way Jett's earlier music only hinted at. In that sense, SINNER is nothing if not refreshingly humanist.
Tracks to focus on are the the openly political "Riddles," a raunchy cruncher (which appeared on an earlier eponymous limited-edition EP) called "Fetish," "Five," a confessional indie-raga rocker, and the unexpectedly lush ballad "Watersign" - but the breakout single is Joan's playfully lecherous take on The Sweet's "AC-DC," that's generating a crackling internet buzz about her video starring Carmen Electra, that - how shall I put this - "kicks open the closet door" for Joan. Maybe she is playing with us after all, but teasing the fans by getting down with the former Baywatch Babe is cleanly calculated to make this one Big in Japan...and maybe elsewhere. Tongues will wag. Stay tuned. :)
(P.S.) Is it just me, or is Shane McCutcheon doing Joan's hair these days?
JOAN JETT On The cover of August 2006 Metal Edge
from: metaledgemag.com
by Cheryl A. Hoahing
Pages 20-23 JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, after 30 years in the music biz, she still loves rock 'n' roll.
See JOAN JETT at Warped Tour for Free
from: peta2.com
By playing straight-up rock and roll with a sneer that could make Billy Idol blush, JOAN JETT has become a figurehead for generations of female rockers, influencing everyone from this writer and the person at the next desk over, to L7, The Donnas, The Eyeliners, and Bikini Kill. She has been called the "godmother to female musicians with loud guitars and idealistic dreams" by The New York Times, as well as "the queen of punk," "the original riot grrrl," and "the last rock star." We figured that since Joan, who has been vegetarian for several years, has done everything but interview with peta2, it was about that time. She’ll be hitting the road with the Warped Tour this summer, so we’re hoping a peta2 namedrop will make it near the bottom of her mile-long bio sometime after the ensuing explosion subsides.
Was there any one thing that made you go vegetarian?
I was on the road eight months a year, and meat was too heavy to eat late at night, so I ate other things. I slowly lost my taste for meat, and at the same time, I experienced a slowly dawning awareness that it is unnecessary to eat animals in order to live in this world.
You have a reputation for being pretty tough and kick ass. What do you think when people say that being a vegetarian or vegan is a sign of weakness?
I think it's the opposite. People who say things like that are the weak ones for eating animals when it is completely unnecessary to do so in order to sustain life. To give into the urge to eat flesh just because you can—now that's weak! It's like eating your dog or cat. It may take something like bird flu or mad cow disease to convince people to stop killing animals for food.
[more]
JOAN JETT – Bad Reputation
from: meanstreet.dreamhosters.com
by Paul LaRocco
After 30 years of sandblaster punk and urgent rock ‘n’ roll, JOAN JETT is trying something new. But SINNER, her first studio album in more than a decade, doesn’t stray from the classic sound Jett proffered with the RUNAWAYS and, later, the BLACKHEARTS. Its difference lies in the words. Angered by the current state of affairs, Jett, for the first time, penned political commentary to go along with biting relationship tales. "Riddles," for example, lashes out at the Bush administration’s communication tactics, ending with a soundbite of one of the President’s famous verbal missteps. This summer, Jett and her backing band take the new songs on the Warped Tour, which she tells Mean Street she imagines to be "some sort of musical traveling circus."
Do you think you guys, the Germs and the Buzzcocks [other veteran punk bands on Warped] can teach any of the newcomers a thing or two?
I don’t know if we can teach anybody anything, but we can share a lot of experiences; maybe roadblocks bands can run into. How do you get around that? Or how do you stay not dispirited, just excited? It’s a very tough business.
Is it tougher to sustain longevity these days?
I think you obviously have to have something to say, or something that you represent as an artist, that really connects with people. Sometimes it’s not even something that you put your finger on…But I think today, maybe people have an advantage, because technology might help. Bands, if they can’t get a record deal, they can print up their own stuff, put up a website, get people to go to that. I didn’t have that opportunity.
[more]
Jett Interviews
from: joanjettbadrep.com
FUSE will broadcast an interview with JOAN JETT this Friday, June 9th, at 7 p.m. This is Joan's interview from Little Steven's untitled rockshow.
WB-11 will air an interview with JOAN JETT taken from The Bowery Ballroom in New York City. The interview will air Tuesday morning, June 13th between the 7-8 a.m. hour.
JOAN JETT gets political on new album
from: upi.com
LONG ISLAND, N.Y., June 6 (UPI) -- JOAN JETT still loves rock 'n' roll, but she's taking a political direction on her latest album.
"Riddles," the opening track from "SINNER" -- Jett's first new studio album in 12 years -- offers harsh criticisms of the Bush administration, while other songs deal with intolerance and sexual identity.
"I love writing about falling in love, falling out of love, sex, all those great things I've written about my whole career," notes Jett, who began her career in the mid-'70s with the band the RUNAWAYS and is best known for her 1982 hit "I Love Rock 'N Roll."
[more]
Satan is real for music biz on Tuesday
from: today.reuters.com
by Melinda Newman, Billboard West Coast Bureau Chief
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - The music industry has an unprecedented opportunity on Tuesday to have some fun with its reputation -- deserved or otherwise -- as the devilish corrupter of innocent youth.
For June 6 will be the first album release date in history that correlates numerically with the Mark of the Beast: 666. (Cue: Iron Maiden's "The Number of the Beast.")
While Fox's remake of "The Omen" is hitting movie theaters that day, the music industry is playing it safe. No mainstream superstars are releasing albums that day. The biggest names are California modern rock band AFI, electronica duo Zero 7, veteran rocker JOAN JETT, the old-school combo Elvis Costello/Allen Toussaint, rapper Yung Joc and British pop singer Katie Melua.
[more]
Fire power
from: Philadelphia Daily News (CD Review)
Look out Pink, move over, Slater-Kinney. The original
bad girl of rock - JOAN JETT - is back and kicking up
dust with the BLACKHEARTS on "SINNER" (Blackheart,
B+).
True to her code, Jett propels the flight with
super-infectious tunes and anthemic, sing-along-ready
lyrics, pointing fingers and rallying her troops.
There's also a whole lot of playful sexual identity
stuff going on here, with the likes of " A.C. D.C."
"Androgynous" and "Fetish."
Bowery Ballroom Show Review 06/05/2006
by Kathleen Warnock
When there’s a NYC show on a weeknight, I usually come
there straight from work. Before I left I did divest
myself of the office shirt & sweater, and exchanged it
for a favorite t-shirt (Ripken, Orioles). It was a
relief to shed the corporate skin, and its attendant
worries, none of which would have been solved by
skipping the show anyhow. They’ll all be there
today…and tomorrow.
The F train took me to the heart of the Lower East
Side, and from there it was a three block walk to the
Bowery Ballroom. It’s supposed to be gentrifying, in
fact, there is new construction of expensive
residential buildings all around, but in early June,
the LES is still pretty smelly. Dumpsters and
trashcans decorated the sidewalks and a general
pervasive funk hung over the neighborhood like the
glowering sky.
They’d let people in (but not into the auditorium) by
the time I got there, and it was a hard core early
crowd, packed with people who meant business (by that,
I mean getting up to the front). I caught up with the
Jetthead from Boston and the Jetthead from Rhode
Island and a few other friends I don’t see nearly
often enough. To get in to the Bowery Ballroom, you
have to go down a flight of stairs past an alcove
where they check your ticket, then into a bar area
with recessed seating around the walls. At the far
right side of the bar is a set of double doors that go
UP into the auditorium proper. But we weren’t getting
there so fast. But at least there was drinking, and
the prices not so bad ($6 for a beer), so the time
passed pleasantly enough.
[more]
10 Things You Didn't Know About JOAN JETT
from: harpmagazine.com
You already know that JOAN JETT loves rock ’n’ roll, doesn’t give a damn about a bad reputation and hates herself for loving you. But there are still a few things she’s kept private until now. On the eve of headlining this year’s Warped Tour, the sneering Queen of Noise confesses to Harp about Sid Vicious’ belt, Central American presidents, Mike Tyson and more.
1. JOAN JETT reads advanced philosophy books at a rate of one a week—not bad a for a high-school dropout!
2. Jett was the first major artist from an English speaking country to perform in Panama. While there, she did a live Panamanian TV talk show and thousands of Panamanians gathered outside the TV studio. When she tried to leave, a major riot ensued. Then-president Noriega called out the National Guard to rescue Jett from the crowd. Later, he sent the presidential plane to pick her up and take her to his presidential palace. Jett was not eager to spend a night alone with El Presidente, so the U.S. military was called in and covertly flew her out of the country.
[more]
Ribfest Turnout
from: keloland.com
It's one of the biggest Rib Fest's ever. Organizers estimate more than 50 thousand people showed up for the four day event. The biggest night was Thursday when more than 20 thousand people came out for JOAN JETT. As Ribfest winds down, many of the vendors think this year is one of the best.
Donna Rice, Desparado’s co-owner, says "The crowd has been awesome and the weather has been awesome."
The people's choice for best ribs will be announced later tonight. The winning vendor will receive a huge trophy and 2500 dollars.
The Sopranos
from: joanjettbadrep.comE
Listen for Joan's version of "Little Drummer Boy" on tonight's (June 4th) season finale of The Sopranos on HBO.
JOAN JETT On The Cover of Herbivore
from: Herbivore Magazine
The music issue is white hot! Our cover story with loooooongtime vegetarian JOAN JETT will blow you away. Think she's been sitting around counting the money since "I Love Rock N Roll" came out? Think again! She's as politically and musically active as ever. Plus, she was interviewed by Issue Ten cover superstar Isa Chandra Moskowitz.
We also have an amazing interview with Nellie Mckay, beloved songstress and Broadway star, chats with punk legends MDC and Propagandhi, as well as Le Tigre, Paint It Black, Violent Femmes, and Avail.
Rounding out the issue we have a travel journal to Australia, an article on being a vegan Jazz musician in New York City, a veggie Hip Hop timeline, an Animal Rights image makeover by House Industries own Ken Barber, an article on vegans in the media, and the beautiful photography of Cindy Frey.
And of course, much more!
Out of the Box with JOAN JETT
from: Q1043.com
Sunday night at 9PM on New York City's Q1043 (104.3 FM in NYC and streamed via q1043.com), it's "Out Of The Box", New York's top-rated new music show, hosted by Jonathan Clarke, featuring the best in new music and local undiscovered artists.
This Sunday night (June 4th) at 9, JOAN JETT joins me live on the show to talk about her new album, with your shots at free copies and tix to her 4 shows in NYC this coming week.
Featured on the Out of the Box Playlist:
JOAN JETT - "Riddles", "Five" and "ACDC"
JOAN JETT on her new album and going warped
from: ny.metro.us
by amber ray / metro new york
Bikini Kill/Le Tigre siren Kathleen Hanna loves JOAN JETT. Peaches and L7 do, too. Legions of female rockers made their first pawn shop guitar purchase after taking a JOAN JETT record for a spin, and that legacy’s not about to stop, as the riot grrl pioneer reaches the third decade of her career.
"Damn right, I’m hitting Warped Tour to remind girls they can pick up a guitar," the raspy voiced Jett enthuses over the phone before a soundcheck. "Damn right, that’s my job. But you know, I’ve got a thing or two to show the boys too."
Rules. Broken.
Jett has signed on for a summer-long tour of duty on the youth-skewed Warped Tour in support of "SINNER," the new album with an old school punk streak that’s in stark contrast to the pop-punk boy bands rotating through the mainstream at the moment. "SINNER," out Tuesday, is Jett’s reunion with backing band the BLACKHEARTS and her first studio album in over a decade (Hanna even lends vocals on a number of songs). On 14 tracks Jett kicks a sound reminiscent of the furious riffs of a burgeoning 1980s Los Angeles punk scene, a movement she helped shape as co-founder of the RUNAWAYS and producer of the Germs’ lone full-length album, the infamous "GI."
[more]
NEWSWEEK picks albums we'll have in heavy rotation this season.
from: msnbc.msn.com
by Jac Chebatoris
JOAN JETT, ‘SINNER’
We all knew she loves rock and roll, but on her first studio album in more than a decade, the original "riot grrrl" flies her punk flag proudly, too. Jett's signature snarl is still firmly in place, and so is her trusty band, the BLACKHEARTS. But a dime doesn't go far in today's jukeboxes and Jett's stadium-friendly fare is no longer just about three crunchy chords and sex. In songs like "Riddles," Jett touches on social and political issues, too. Bonus: her cover photo shows that Jett's longtime love affair with eyeliner continues unabated. In uncertain times like these, that's no small comfort. (June 6)
New York City Tour Dates
from: joanjett.com
Click here to order tickets!.
Republic of Texas rally roars into Austin
from: austin.bizjournals.com
Austin is about to get a little louder.
The 12th annual Republic of Texas Biker Rally -- which stands to attract more than 200,000 bikers and enthusiasts -- descends on Austin Thursday through Sunday.
The rally, which has an estimated $34.5 million economic impact for Austin, has grown to the largest motorcycle event in Texas and is pushing to become the third largest in the country behind the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and Daytona Bike Week in Florida.
[more]
State Fair Free Fare
from: www.iowastatefair.org
by DATEBOOK STAFF
The Iowa State Fair released its lineup of free entertainment (with paid gate admission) this week, led by the likes of country hunk Billy Currington (Aug. 15-16 on the Heritage Village Stage), pioneering female rocker JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS (Aug. 20 on the Riley Stage) and famous country son Shooter Jennings (Aug. 11-12 on the Heritage Village Stage). Other highlights:
Both the Nadas (Aug. 10-12) and the Blue Band (Aug. 20) will grace the Anderson Erickson Dairy Stage.
Fiesta Latina will feature OchoSol (Aug. 13) on the Riley Stage.
[more]
Summer is simmertime in the cities with a sizzlin' lineup of great concerts
from: twincities.com (Minnesota)
by ROSS RAIHALA
Take veteran package tours (Warped, Ozzfest), much-loved local festivals (Taste of Minnesota, the Basilica Block Party) and throw in a few superstars (Bruce Springsteen, Alan Jackson), and you've got a summer concert schedule brimming with reasons to skip the lakes and stay home for the weekend.
[more]
Don't Panic
from: buffalonews.com (Buffalo, NY)
Summer vacation brings a few short months of free time for those of us trapped in school for eight months of the year. We suddenly have hours to fill with jobs, friends, being bored - and, of course, concerts! With venues ranging from small clubs to HSBC Arena and Six Flags Darien Lake, Buffalo catches many a big-name tour, and this year, as in the past, there's a show - or maybe even four or five - for everyone. Check out our NeXt Summer Concert Guide for your clue into the "who," "where," "when," and "how much" of the summer concert season. After all, nothing's worse than missing your favorite artist because you just didn't know they were playing!
[more]
|
| |
This Week:
No shows scheduled this week.
Click on the LIVE DATES link for upcoming shows |
Item Of The Month:
|
