The band toured around the world and became an opening act for Cheap Trick, Ramones, Van Halen and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The band recorded five LPs, with Live In Japan becoming one of the biggest-selling imports in U.S. While Currie initially fronted the band, Jett shared some lead vocals, played rhythm guitar and wrote or co-wrote a lot of the band's material along with Ford, West and Currie. Jackie Fox, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie completed the line-up. Jett became a founding member of The Runaways, alongside drummer Sandy West. In Los Angeles, Jett's favorite night spot was Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco, a venue that provided the glam-rock style she so adored. at which point her family moved to West Covina, California, in Los Angeles County, providing Jett the opportunity to pursue her musical endeavors. She took some guitar lessons, but quit soon after when the instructor kept trying to teach her folk songs. Jett got her first guitar at the age of 14. She moved to Rockville, Maryland, in 1967 where she attended Randolph Junior High and Wheaton High School. Joan Marie Larkin was born Septem at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 2 Film, stage and television appearancesīiography Early life.3 Film, stage and television appearances.When she's inducted into the Hall of Fame in April, Jett's history of championing female empowerment is inducted too - and that's one more step toward the gender equality in rock 'n' roll that women deserve. Yet thanks to trailblazing artists like Jett, along with Janis Joplin, Stevie Nicks and Grace Slick, to name a few, seeing women in rock bands has become more the norm. Women in rock have made huge strides since the Runaways first picked up their instruments, but sexism in music is still prevalent. Jett produced original riot grrrl band Bikini Kill's single "Rebel Girl," and recorded with all-girl grunge band L7. Jett has done more than just speak up for female rockers - she's put her money where her mouth is. "Go to any city and there's an all-girl rock band - it's just a matter of society wanting to hear that kind of music," she told Billboard. "But people's tastes change, so you have to just do what you love and hope other people love it too." That's a cause she's taken up again with her nomination to the Hall of Fame. "If try to be sexual or use their sexuality in a powerful way, they're judged much differently than men." "It's funny how little has changed since the Runaways formed," she told Interview Magazine. Surveying her legacy. Looking back on her career, Jett says the power and sexuality dynamics that were so risqué back in the late '70s and '80s are still somehow risqué today. What you mean is they're not allowed, socially - it's a societal thing." "You don't mean they can't master the instrument. "Even as a kid, it was so illogical to me - it's like, what do you mean? That girls can't master the instruments?" Jett told Interview Magazine. "The entire concept of the band - teenage girls playing their own instruments and singing frankly and enthusiastically about sex, booze and life on the streets - was simply too discomforting for much of America," wrote.īut that didn't stop Jett from embarking on her own, even though she was told from a young age that women couldn't play rock 'n' roll. The band broke up after four years, in part because of internal strife but also because they weren't charting. They were the first mainstream all-female band to play real, guitar-driven rock 'n' roll, and their hit "Cherry Bomb" sent parents around the world clutching at their Bibles. The start of a rock feminist. When Jett was 15 years old, she joined the Runaways, an in-your-face glam-rock outfit fronted by Cherie Currie.
She's built a fruitful career around the idea that women can rock, and rock hard - and her quote about women in rock proves she's still fighting. Since then, she's gone on to a successful solo career with anthems like "Bad Reputation," a kiss-my-ass song about independent women. Jett will be inducted April 18 in Cleveland alongside Lou Reed, Ringo Starr (for his solo career), Bill Withers, Green Day, the "5" Royales, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble - all men.īut a little male company never stopped Jett, who's been rocking the world with her female empowerment anthems since 1975 with her first group, the Runaways, an all-female band. The icon used her upcoming induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to talk with Billboard about the glaring lack of female artists already inducted. So says Joan Jett, the original badass feminist of rock 'n' roll. "There should be more women in the Hall of Fame, and more women in rock. They're out there, they just don't get the notice the pop girls do."
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