Rearview Mirror — Joan Jett
#365Songs: January 12
Joan Jett told us all in 1981 that she loved rock and roll, and she’s spent the entirety of the ensuing decades proving it.
Along the way, she’s helped to pen a good handful of outstanding originals herself, and she’s also given the Jett treatment to a lot of deep cuts from the cannon — “I Love Rock n’ Roll” being but one of them.
She’s also nailed versions of everything from “Crimson and Clover” (a classic of tremolo-laden late 60's psychedelic pop) and “Bits and Pieces” (something Robert Christgau once referred to as “a wonderfully serviceable rock throwaway”) to “Everyday People” (one of many genius tracks from Sly Stone) and, of all things, “Androgynous” (by Minnesota favorite sons The Replacements).
Given that her career commenced in 1975, it’s pretty damn excellent that she’s still rocking her ass off today.
And believe you me, she is. I know it firsthand. My daughter’s first rock and roll concert? Joan Jett. We went to see her in 2021, for what turned out to be the band’s first post-COVID performances. It was awesome. They were clearly a bit rusty, a bit loose, and obviously mighty fucking happy to be back on stage.
In 2023, the band put out a brand-new EP called Mindsets, and save for the miscue of the closing song, the music is killer. Honestly, I could have picked any of the other tracks, but “Rearview Mirror” is just such an earworm, I couldn’t resist.
From the opening drum clicks and the big group “hey,” you know you’re in reliable rock and roll territory, and with a crunchy twin guitar progression that simultaneously evokes The Ramones and The Clash’s “Safe European Home,” it’s just a whole lot of sonic goodness.
While the verse lyrics are nothing to write home about, the phrasing is deft and the melody catchy as all get out. And on the Richter scale of catchy, the chorus is off the charts.
Clocking in at just over three minutes, you’d be tempted to write the whole thing off as just some punchy punk n’ roll, but then, after the bridge, the final verse takes a turn into abstraction that makes your ears stand up and take notice:
In my dream I get along instead
No more one creature of the dead
Cause of thunderstorm you can light your fuse be set
To push ’em down, pull ’em to bed
The future’s here, our lives have gotten real
It’s finally time, time to bond a seal
Let go of secrets, you can see all
Real freedom can reveal
Cap it off with about a thousand repeats of “is it in my rearview mirror?” to close things out, and you’ve got yet another Joan Jett rock and roll classic.
And mind you, this one comes just shy of 50 years since The Runaways debuted “Cherry Bomb.”
Damn.
Rock on, Joan Jett. And keep on doin’ it. The only thing in your rearview mirror is all of us genuflecting as your tour bus heads off to the next show.
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