In the male-dominated world of 1970s rock ‘n’ roll, women were typically relegated to strumming an acoustic guitar, playing keyboards or providing vocals while perhaps banging on a festooned tambourine and twirling across the stage in a billowy skirt. They were more likely to be considered a novelty than necessity to a band. Rock ‘n’ roll, that man sport, didn’t want women to shred on electric guitars or get up in your face with any bad-ass attitude when they could better serve in their kitchens or on their knees, thank you very much.
And then along came a teenage girl from just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, clad head-to-toe in black leather and wielding a Les Paul. Armed with a passion for playing rock ‘n’ roll, Joan Jett kicked down the door for women in rock with a platform boot and entered the boys’ club spraying a barrage of brash and defiant lyrics. As a founding member of the all-girl teenage rock band The Runaways, Jett — along with fellow Runaways bandmates co-guitarist Lita Ford, bassist Jackie Fox, drummer Sandy West, and singer Cherie Currie — hacked her way through the testosterone-dense rock ‘n’ roll landscape and left a trail for bands like Blondie, the Go-Go’s, and Courtney Love’s Hole to follow.
Born Joan Larkin, Jett got her first guitar as a Christmas gift from her father when she was 13 and spent most of her free time writing songs. Jett emulated Suzi Quatro, with her tough rocker chick image, and modeled herself after the singer right down to Quatro’s shag haircut and swagger. Jett would often follow Quatro from town to town when she was out on tour, waiting quietly in the lobby of various hotels to catch a glimpse of her idol.
Joan’s parents were very supportive of their daughter and her dream to play rock ‘n’ roll music and instilled in her the belief that you could grow up to be anything you wanted to be, regardless of gender. So when the family relocated from the East Coast to Los Angeles, that hotbed of musical opportunity, Jett was frustrated to discover this wasn’t the case at all. She was told over and over again that girls don’t play electric guitars, can’t play rock ‘n’ roll music, and was handed an acoustic guitar instead. “I’m sitting in school with girls playing violin and cello and playing Beethoven and Bach,” she says. “So what do you mean girls can’t play? Do you mean girls can’t master the instrument? No. You don’t mean that. You mean socially they’re not allowed to, because rock ‘n’ roll implies sex.” And people felt plenty threatened when it came to sex. It’s what initially made so many uncomfortable with Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. What made the cover of The Stones’ Sticky Fingers so controversial and a bare-chested Robert Plant singing “Whole Lotta Love" so raunchy.
Being denied a voice and the opportunity to own her sexuality didn’t sit well with Joan Jett. When she met eccentric record producer Kim Fowley at age 15, Jett approached him about forming an all-girl band who played instruments and wrote their own songs. The Svengali-like Fowley, always nosing around for the next big thing, wasted no time in hooking Jett up with drummer Sandy West, who had similar aspirations. The two girls jammed at West's home the following week and after Fowley heard the results, he added singer/bassist Micki Steele to the mix and the trio began playing parties and the L.A. club circuit in 1975 as The Runaways. After a brief run with the fledgling band, Steele was out and lead guitarist Lita Ford, bassist Jackie Fox, and singer Cherie Currie were in to complete the band’s lineup.
It didn’t take long for the teen quintet to land a record deal. The Runaways signed with Mercury Records in 1976 and released their self-titled debut album a few months later to a rather dismal reception. With the manipulative Fowley in charge of their every move, and with labels like “jailbait” and “nubile” being attached to them, The Runaways were a target for journalists and radio programmers who dismissed them outright as little more than a gimmick.
Despite public skepticism and the tepid response to their music, The Runaways pressed on. Jett not only served as the band’s rhythm guitarist and sometime vocalist, but was also responsible for co-writing a lot of the band’s material — including their classic rebel-girl manifesto “Cherry Bomb” — along with Ford, West, Currie, and yes, Fowley. Jett was in her element as part of The Runaways, playing music that was loud and rough and doing so as lustfully as any man.
The Runaways’ second album, Queens of Noise, was released in 1977 and fared little better than its predecessor. That summer the group arrived in Japan for a string of sold-out shows and were greeted at the airport with all the hysteria of the second coming of The Beatles. As the #4 imported musical act in Japan, The Runaways ranked right behind ABBA, Kiss and Led Zeppelin in terms of album sales and popularity. A concert record called Live in Japan was culled from the tour and became one of the biggest-selling imports in US and UK history.
Ironically, it was while on the wildly successful Japan tour that the seeds of the band’s demise were sown. Amid rumors of a suicide attempt, bassist Jackie Fox quit the group shortly before they were scheduled to appear at the 1977 Tokyo Music Festival, leaving Jett to temporarily assume bass duties. Singer Cherie Currie followed suit shortly after the group returned home to the States, exiting the band on the heels of Fox’s abrupt departure in Japan after a heated argument with Lita Ford. Jett, who was close with Currie and who’d previously shared vocals with her, took over as lead vocalist while Vicki Blue was named bassist for the band's third album, Waitin’ for the Night. Released in 1977 the album performed even worse than the band’s previous efforts and failed to chart in the US. With The Runaways in a free fall, Kim Fowley lost interest in them and quit as their manager.
Although The Runaways headlined sold-out shows all over the world with groups like Cheap Trick, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Van Halen opening for them, the band never managed to achieve the same level of success in their homeland as they had abroad. Their final album, 1978s And Now…The Runaways, saw a limited release in the group’s core markets of Europe and Japan and didn’t appear in the US until 1981 under the title Little Lost Girls. Plagued by persistent allegations of negligence on the part of their management, infighting among band members, substance abuse, and escalating artistic differences (Jett’s punk and glam rock influences failed to mesh with West's and Ford’s love of hard rock and heavy metal), the band played their final concert on New Year’s Eve Day of 1978. Jett left the group in April 1979 and The Runaways officially disbanded not long after.
Next up, Joan Jett rises from the ash to record a rock anthem.
