Joan Jett’s Tussle with the Music Industry Broke Barriers for Women Rockstars
Joan Jett tore the veil back on sexism in the industry, asked to be taken seriously by rock and roll genre
From her early beginnings in the glam rock scene, Joan Jett discovered her affection for the genre, leading to founding the band, The Runaways. During that time, the band would open for bands such as The Ramones and Van Halen.
However, success would not be as forthcoming.
For much of Jett’s music career, Jett courageously rejected the so-called rules for rock, creating a lane that was all her own.
Jett vividly recalled: “One time, The Runaways opened for Rush, I think in Detroit. I remember those guys standing at the side of the stage laughing at us. And, you know, if I was Rush I wouldn’t be laughing at me. Then there was Molly Hatchet. The guys said: ‘I can’t believe we’re opening for a b–tch.’”
If there was ever a personification of Jett’s entire career, that was an instance of the Bad Reputation singer being underestimated.
But for the Runaways, it was more than their lofty aspirations, in having a successful career in rock and roll.
For the most part, marketing rock music with women at the forefront was an ambitious request.
The Runaways asked too much of American fans, and in our view, this is one way the female rockers were doomed from the start.
While their self-titled debut album did spur a successful track in, Cherry Bomb, it would seem that moving the needle to any significant position would be difficult.
Their story seemed to be coming to a close before it had begun. Yet even with a rough beginning, it didn’t stop the music hopefuls from releasing their sophomore endeavor, Queens of Noise featuring songs Neon Angels and Born to Be Bad.
While The Runaways were popular abroad, they vastly struggled in the states.
After two members left, the band would disband in 1979, after consecutive album failures.
Later Jett mentioned to Esquire magazine, “When the Runaways broke up, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. A breakup is like losing a very good friend. It’s like a death.”
More than that, it was Jett’s fear of being ousted. Citing her anxiety over getting fired from a band she helped begin.
Jett told NPR, “It felt like defeat. It was gut-wrenching for me because The Runaways was my baby”.
Following the breakup, Jett began working on a project she was contractually obligated to do, We’re All Crazee Now!, a film loosely based on the band’s career.
During this time, Jett met producer and songwriter, Kenny Laguna.
Some time later, the project would stall due to Jett’s illness.
However, with a newfound friendship in Laguna, the pair worked to release Jeff’s solo debut album on their partnered independent label, Blackheart Records. Their budding friendship would spur The Blackhearts.
When speaking about his friend, Laguna mused, “She has the look and then I heard her sing. It was just rock and roll, it was pure rock and roll.”
Because he believed in her talents and freedom of expression, Laguna’s faith led to the Blackhearts eventually being signed to Boardwalk Records, which he co-founded alongside music maverick, Neil Bogart.
Perhaps some of our viewers may recall their cover of Arrows’ I Love Rock ’n’ Roll, propelling the group to the top of the charts, and into rock superstardom.
The Blackhearts were able to ease into a success that was not freely given to the Runaways, including sold out tours with Aerosmith, Queen and the Police.
For MuchMusic in 1994, Jett explained, “I think that women can rock just as hard. I happen to think that women have just as much aggression, not negative, but on a positive physical level. Just like sports, women are able to get their aggressions out.”
Whenever we talk about Jett’s career as a solo artist or her time with either The Runaways or The Blackhearts, it’s important to discuss things in context.
At the time of the Runaways, the band had a disparate condition, especially in convincing others that women could perform similar songs with just as much tenacity as men.
Jett’s presence along with her female band members was a threatening opposition to the status quo, one that many legions are fighting to protect and uphold — whether out of necessity or fear.
Because of that, the liberation of rock has always been of the utmost importance for Jett; rock music has held her attention since she taught herself the guitar at the age of 14.
What rock represents for Jett, is something deeper, especially after hearing so much rejection, laced with vitriol.
Jett said, “Rock ’n’ Roll stands for raw sexuality, and that’s threatening to some people. They were terrified of Elvis’s swiveling hips…and so girls with guitars in their hands…was threatening to them too. I think that’s why more girls don’t do this; they figure it’s not worth taking a beating all their life just to go play music.”
In an article penned in 1971, journalist Marion Meade discussed this phenomenon, as a young Jett was beginning her trifle within the genre.
Meade wrote, “its championing of the unisex fashions and long hair styles for men seem to suggest a blurring of the distinctions between male and female. But for all the hip camouflage sexism flourishes.”
In that way, women and men share the intersections of rock music, an aspect that Jett would spend her entire career contesting.
In large part because she attempted a career in rock and roll, seeking to matter beyond just a pretty face, but one that was respected for her lyrics and defiant expression.
Meade discussed, “Women, the myths says, aren’t smart enough to understand the complexities of electronics or tough enough to compose music of sufficient intensity or physically strong enough to play drums.”
Meade’s words would hang over Jett’s career like a phantom, haunting her beginnings even if she hadn’t known it yet, redefining how she looked at the genre.
In her acceptance speech for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, she said, “It’s a subculture of integrity, rebellion, frustration, alienation — and the glue that set generations free of unnatural suppression. Rock ’n’ Roll is political.”
Some might choose to disagree with Jett’s sentiments because she did find success, but look at what she endured to get there.
In her 2013 album, Unvarnished, Jett proudly expressed, “I think I had to express what I was feeling inside, which is what I guess we always try to do as songwriters.”
Jett’s commitment inspires generations of female musicians to make music that empowers.