On Joan Jett, The Runaways, rejection, and disruptive female sexuality

I was sick today — what is this now, my monthly cold? — and decided to lie on my couch and rewatch Bad Reputation, that 2018 documentary about Joan Jett. If you haven’t seen it, the doc drags a bit at the end, but I love the first two-thirds that goes over her time as a teenager in the all-women rock band the Runaways and how she ended up creating her own record label, Blackheart Records.

“I was so into this idea of girls being able to play rock and roll, and that they’ll play as well as boys will.. I thought everyone would love it. Once they realized it was serious and we planned to make an album and go on tour like the male bands were doing, the tables turned from “Oh cute, sweet” to “Slut. Whore. Cunt.” - Joan Jett in Bad Reputation

Stories about the Runaways always bum me out because they usually focus on the did-they-or-didn’t-they relationship between lead singer Cherrie Currie and Joan Jett; or how the young women, who were teenagers at the time, fell prey to a predatory manager (Kim Fowley); or how they were grossly dismissed as talentless young jailbait who would never make it as big as they could have because they were stuck in misogynist 70s LA rock world. Young girls their age were supposed to be groupies for Jagger and Bowie, they weren’t supposed to want to be them, to play their own instruments and tour. And they weren’t supposed to use sex as part of it, even though this was the bread and butter of the glam musicians they idolized.

What I think is left out of their story too much is 1) how much these women loved rock n roll and how damn good they were at it and 2) how uncomfortable people felt with young women not only playing rock but actually owning and showing their sexuality more aggressively on stage. Now we barely blink when the next teenage Britney Spears sings something like “Hit me baby, one more time” - although Britney ain’t no Joan Jett or Cherrie Currie. Also for that matter, neither is Dakota Fanning playing Currie in that 2010 Runaways movie- she was like a bloodless version of the real thing:

This leads up to my favorite story for when I’m feeling like I’m getting rejected by life. The Joan Jett tale of rejection is pretty up their in the annals of ridiculousness, and a true story of how if they can reject Joan, they can reject anyone, so just keep on trucking dudes.

After the Runaways, Joan teamed up with producer Kenny Laguna and they started sending her solo record out to labels.

“We sent it to all the labels: all the majors, all the minors. It was 23 labels, and we got back 23 rejection letters all saying…..’There’s no songs here. Maybe if she loses the guitar.’ These people heard 5 songs, four of which were top 20 hits.” - Joan Jett, Bad Reputation

That’s right man. Maybe. If she loses. The guitar. And on this record weren’t crap space fillers — these were what would become her biggest hits: Crimson and Clover. Bad Reputation. I Love Rock n Roll. Do You Wanna Touch Me. They weren’t even asking for money - just to get the record that they’d already produced out there. “I know it had something to do with my image, the Runaways,” she said. Since no one was going to sign them, they decided they would put out their own damn records.

So Joan and Kenny ended up creating their own record label Blackheart Records to put the album out, and ended up selling her record at her gigs, which a thing that was really not done at the time. The label’s still going strong.

Joan alludes to the rejection in her video for Bad Reputation:

I’m not saying we all have Jett-level hits in our back pocket, but I think I could definitely use more of the Joan Jett ethos in my life. Or as Jett says in the doc…

“Tell me I can’t do something, and you’ll make sure I’m gonna be doing it.”

As far as owning your sexuality, it rears its head again in Bad Reputation when they get to the song “Crimson and Clover” about loving a woman. Jett’s comments here are priceless:

“It’s that sort of, ‘Oh my god, she could take me home and fuck the shit out of me. It’s scary, and it’s not what people grew up with. And they’re used to being the dominant one. And they’re not used to girls using their sexuality in a way that they feel they own it.’”

Amen, sister.

What I’m wondering now is, has it gotten much better for women in rock, or do we still have a ways to go? Where is it still falling short?