July 2010 News

by Anne Fullerton



JOAN JETT was just 16 when she swaggered into rock and roll, but the doe-eyed tomboy already had the quiet self-assurance of a young Keith Richards. Despite entering the scene at a time when female musicians were defined by saccharine pop tunes or the melodic folk of Stevie Nicks, Jett was determined to play hard-edged rock. "I was sitting in Hollywood wanting to play guitar and thinking 'I can't be the only girl in Hollywood, in Los Angeles, California, who wants to play rock 'n' roll,'" she says. "There have to be other girls out there like me."Jett began learning the guitar at 13 after receiving the instrument as a birthday present from her father. When her family moved to Los Angeles she would go see gigs and, having developed an obsession with Suzi Quatro, hang out at the singer's concerts and in her hotel lobby. It was a bit too Single White Female for Quatro's liking, and she has since said "It was quite spooky at times." Around this time Jett met music producer and all-round Svengali Kim Fowley in a bar and told him about her ambition to create an all-girl rock group. He put her in touch with drummer Sandy West and three bandmates later The RUNAWAYS were born.

Between '75 and '79 The RUNAWAYS toured with The Ramones, released five albums and achieved popularity of Beatles proportions in Japan, but their success in the US was limited. Their young age and singer Cherie Currie's provocative outfits saw them dismissed as "jailbait rock" and a combo of constant touring, exhaustion, drugs and jealousy eventually tore the band apart. Currie also claims they were ripped off and abused by manager Kim Fowley, who by his own account would hurl insults and rubbish at the band to prepare them for live gigs. When The RUNAWAYS broke up Jett set out on her own and released her first solo album in 1980. After being rejected by more than 20 major labels in the US, Jett and her producer started their own label using his daughter's college fund, selling the album out of the trunk of a Cadillac. As with all rock 'n' roll folklore, the gamble paid off and Joan shot to stardom as the frontwoman of JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS. Her cover of "I love Rock 'n' Roll" made it to #1 on the US charts.

Since then she has also dabbled in acting and continues to play and produce music. She is a vegan, campaigns for gay marriage and recently served as Executive Producer on a biopic about The RUNAWAYS. After 35 years in music Jett knows a thing or two about being in the industry. Her words of wisdom? "If there's something you want to do, don't let other people dictate your life. Make your own mistakes, have your own victories." Well, that and "Girls have got balls. They're just a little higher up, that's all."

by Elaine Williams, The Lewiston Morning Tribune, Idaho/Photo by thenaturalstoner

July 18--Kim McCallum once got caught by her mother in her bedroom, pretending her hairbrush was a microphone and belting out JOAN JETT's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" to a cassette on headphones.

McCallum's aunt, Stacy Goucher, remembers hearing Jett on the radio at a time when Pat Benatar and Blondie were among the few other female rockers. Goucher's friend, Heidi Krause, saw Jett when she played in Pullman, probably in 1984. Her memories of the show are as much about the music as they are about it being a concert that was out of town and her parents let her go.

The three Clarkston residents were among what was estimated by law enforcement to be close to 4,000 fans who converged at Gateway Golf, the driving range turned concert venue, to see JOAN JETT play Rockin' on the River. The crowd was a record for the event, which is in its ninth year.

Dressed in a tight black vest and jeans, with tattoos showing on her arms and chest, Jett took the stage around dusk, delivering "Bad Reputation," in her distinct, gravelly voice.

Many watching, like McCallum, Goucher and Krause, have been familiar with Jett's music since she became popular in the early 1980s.

Jett was the reason Debra Alm of Grangeville came to Rockin' on the River for the first time, bringing four friends.

She and her friend used to visit the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley to do karaoke. "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" was their favorite. "I like her music and she seems to be a pretty nice person from what I can tell," Alm said.

by Adrian Thrills

American singer JOAN JETT remembers the moment she realised Hollywood's hottest young female star was the perfect person to play her part in the rock bio-pic The RUNAWAYS.

It was all down to the haircut. Kristen Stewart, heroine of the hugely successful Twilight series, agreed to chop her flowing locks into the short, shaggy style made famous by Jett.

'I was curious about Kristen's commitment, so I asked if she'd be cutting her hair,' says Joan. 'She was still filming Eclipse, the third Twilight movie, so I'd have understood if she wanted to keep her hair long.

'But she was unequivocal. The hair came off, and she got into my character. The way she moved and talked was just like me.'

The RUNAWAYS tells the story of the world's first all-female teenage rock band, five girls from the Los Angeles suburbs who blazed a chaotic trail through the Seventies. And Jett - who went on to forge a solo career with million-selling singles, and has just released a Greatest Hits album - is full of praise for 20-year-old Stewart.

'I spent hours telling her the intimate details about the RUNAWAYS,' she continues.

'I dumped everything on her. I gave her live tapes from 1976 and tapes of me speaking when I was 14 to help with the accent. I wanted her to understand me as a musician, but I wanted her to get me as a person, too. And she nailed it. When my family saw the movie, they thought it was footage of me!'

JOAN JETT is the real deal. Now 51, she holds the anti-corporate ideals of the Seventies dear, but is shrewd enough to run her own record label. As executive producer, she oversaw the making of The RUNAWAYS film.

Sitting in a London hotel, dressed in black and with that shaggy haircut intact, she is every inch the tough rocker. Despite her teenage years in California, Jett's accent retains an East Coast twang.

by Mark Wedel

MARTIN -- Though she's 51, JOAN JETT can still be a "Cherry Bomb."

Did you see her and the BLACKHEARTS tear through "Bad Reputation" in classic punk rock style on "Late Night with David Letterman" last March?

It was like a preemptive strike against the image of her as a cute teen star Kristen Stewart, who played Jett in "The RUNAWAYS," released in April.

Jett, who was not made available for an interview, still snarls while rocking and wearing skin-tight leather, though she's a grandma's age -- it's obvious she really doesn't give a damn about her bad reputation.

Which is the perfect attitude for Chopper Fest '10.

JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS will play the opening night of the fest July 22, at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin.

JOAN JETT's Bad Reputation
Born: Joan Marie Larkin, Wynnewood, Penn., Sept. 22, 1958 Glam-rock: When she was a teen, her family moved to suburban Los Angeles, where she learned guitar and idolized female rocker Suzi Quatro, of Detroit. She was also a fan of the hard-edged, sexually androgynous glam-rock, and hung out at L.A. clubs. The RUNAWAYS: At 15, Jett was already playing in an all-female band. Record producer and infamous sengali Kim Fowley discovered them in 1975, and renamed the teens The RUNAWAYS. Their self-titled 1976 debut was a hit, but with teen girls doing sexually-charged songs, the act was accused of being exploitive. Jett had some hand in this image, at least in the suggestive song "Cherry Bomb." When Cherie Currie auditioned to be lead singer, Jett and Fowley wrote the song on the spot for her to sing.

Blackheart: The RUNAWAYS became bigger in Japan than in the U.S., and Jett took over leadership as the band disintegrated in 1978. Jett went solo in '79, and recorded punk-influenced album, "Bad Reputation," in 1980. She formed the BLACKHEARTS to do 1981's "I Love Rock n' Roll," leading to hits including the title track and her cover of "Crimson and Clover."

by Anita Maree Lande

Show Date: July 1, 2010
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Venue: Summerfest 2010
Ê Each year thousands of people roll into Milwaukee, WI for food, drinks, and good music at the popular 10-day long Summerfest extravaganza. One of the major highlights of this year's Summerfest was the performance by JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS.

2010 has been quite a year for the music icon. Joan's movie The RUNAWAYS (that she co-produced and is based on her first band) hit theatres early in the year and is now available on DVD. She has also just released a double CD set of her greatest hits, published a photo book with her story, and was honored by Mattel Toys with a Barbie doll in her image.

As JOAN JETT took stage the crowd of thousands got to their feet to start pumping their fists to her song "Bad Reputation". JOAN JETT and her band also performed other hits like "Crimson And Clover", "I Hate Myself For Loving You", "A.C.D.C.", "Light Of Day", and her mega-hit "I Love Rock 'N' Roll". She did have a few surprises during the night as she performed some deep cuts like "The French Song" and "Backlash". Then she took a step back in time and performed The RUNAWAYS songs "Cherry Bomb", "You Drive Me Wild", "I Love Playing With Fire", and the crowd sing-a-long of "School Days".

At the end of the night she thanked Milwaukee for their enthusiasm and told them to love this great world we live in.

by Jessica Harp, photo by Nicolette Work

ROWLETT -- When the Fourth of July rolls around every year, cities surrounding the Dallas area pull out all the stops when it comes to putting on a good festival to celebrate the freedom that our country holds dear. From the looks of it, each suburb tries to out-do one another with spectacular fireworks displays and live acts that have the potential to draw thousands of residents.

This year, the standout suburb with the best and biggest act has to be Rowlett, a small town of about 54,000 just 20 miles east of the Big D on I-30. Usually, this tiny town has random country acts that have fallen from favor. But this year, the Rowlett Exchange Club (using a park just along Lake Ray Hubbard) has proven that it has the ability to draw one of the most famous females in rock: JOAN JETT.

Along with her backup band known as The BLACKHEARTS, Jett truly rocked Que Fest. Standing at a smallish 5 feet, 5 1/2 inches, Jett commands the stage as if she were 10 feet tall. And why wouldn't she? As a woman in the business, she has to be able to talk the talk and walk the walk to earn the proper respect.

Decked out in black skintight spandex and her signature Chucks, Jett ruled the stage as if she were still in her twenties. At 51, it is amazing she started the now-infamous all girl band The RUNAWAYS 35 years ago.

Her interaction with the crowd in between hits like "Bad Reputation," "Cherry Bomb," and "I Love Rock and Roll" was refreshing and well done. She may be a seasoned veteran, but she knows that talking to the crowd is what gets the fans excited and ready to clap, dance, and sing along as loudly as they can, unlike most of the newer acts out in the business today. Even though the rain may have kept quite a few people away from the show, Jett was there to entertain. It's the signature of a true musician.

One of the most standout attributes of the show had to be Jett's panther-like growl, which seemed to grow with every song. Even after 35 years of rocking almost continuously, Jett still has the same sexy growl and voice, which seems to still be riddled with teenage angst. Most acts who have come out of the same era as Jett have fallen victim to drug and alcohol abuse and have lost the spark that had made them famous -- but not Jett. She refuses to let go, which is admirable since she can still kick you in the face with her guitar skills, which has landed her in Rolling Stone's top 100 guitarists of all time (one of two females). She rocks the youthful, go-eff-yourself attitude.

In coming to perform in a sleepy town like Rowlett, hopefully a little bit of Jett's rockstar cool will rub off. It would be impressive if next year's Que Fest could top Jett, but it is unlikely the city could get a better performer.