“Hey,
Mom and Dad, did you ever think that Christmas guitar would lead to
this? I come from a place where rock ‘n roll means something. it
means more than music, more than fashion, more than the pose. Rock ‘n
roll is an idea and an ideal. Sometimes, because we love the music
and we make the music, we forget the political impact it has around
the world.”
--Joan
Jett
Women rockers – true,
outspoken, leather-clad firebrands – are a rare breed. Joan Jett is
not only the female who pioneered the genre, but also the real thing,
the authentic and enduring woman rock star.
From the beginning of her
career in the ‘70s all-girl band The Runaways to her induction into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, Joan's always been a
fighter. By fighting media-imposed-stereotypes and continuous
rejection, she’s fought for the rights of women in music, for her
own right to make and live by her rules, and for control over her
career
“If you had to sit
down and imagine the idea.female rocker, what would she look like?
Tight leather pants, lots of mascara, black (definitely not blond)
hair, and she would have to play guitar like Chuck Berry’s
long-lost daughter. She wouldn’t look like Madonna or Taylor Swift.
Maybe she would look something like Ronnie Spector, a little
formidable and dangerous, definitely - androgynous, for sure. In
fact, if you close your eyes and think about it, she would be the
spitting image of Joan Jett.”
-- Jaan
Uhelszki, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Joan Jett (born Joan Marie
Larkin, September 22, 1958) is an American songwriter, composer,
musician, record producer and occasional actress. She was a female
rocker in an era when male singers dominated the genre, releasing
colossal '80s hits like "I Love Rock and Roll" and "Bad
Reputation.” Paving the way for future rock acts, Jett and her band
the Blackhearts fused punk and glam with old school rock and roll.
And when she started Blackheart Records in 1980, she became the first
woman to own a record label. (Miley Cyrus said “that was only
because the other major labels said there wasn't a market for this
kind of music.”)
Jett has produced several
albums for pivotal feminist, queer and riot grrrl bands like Bikini
Kill, The Germs and The Gits. She’s had books and movies dedicated
to her and the bands she’s been a part of and worked with, and, in
her “spare time” she’s an activist for animal rights and has
appeared in several films and TV shows.
What other rock star has a
resume like that? And, consider Joan was also rated Number 87 on
Rolling Stone's list of “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”
Gibson actually manufactured a signature model of her Melody Maker,
a white double cutaway with a zebra humbucker and "kill"
toggle switch.
“In the early Runaways and the later Black-hearts, Joan played it straight ahead: No frills, all heart, no fucking around.”
How uncommon is this?
Well, let's just say female artists still have to sometimes use
urinals backstage because clubs weren’t built with women stars in
mind. Jett explains,
“Oh, I get very friendly
with cups. I mean, [expletive] a urinal. That’s not clean. I’m
just in my dressing room, with a cup. Quick, easy, you don’t have
to go anywhere. Try it next time! Solo cup. Check that Solo cup
before you drink.” (Laughs)
"Girls can master
the guitar. They can play rock & roll. What you're saying is
society doesn't allow women to access their sexuality in relation to
music ... Once they do that, they're whores, they're sluts, they're
dykes."
– Joan
Jett, 2019 interview
Fiercely independent, Joan
Jett has never defined herself (“I’m not saying no, I’m not
saying yes, I’m saying believe what you want. Assume away,” she
once said to a reporter when questioned about her sexuality, but she
never refers to herself as “gay” or “bisexual”), and Joan
touts a lesbian sticker on her guitar while playing live. She simply
refuses to talk about it saying, “I don't give a fuck about what
you think.”
Jett has always brought
danger, defiance, and fierceness to rock & roll. Make no mistake,
she is all about the music. Joan says she loves “the onstage part,
the connection part – you look in someone’s eyes, you connect.
There’s something that passes between the two of you. It’s
magic.” She doesn’t just love rock & roll; she honors it.
Jett's devotion to music is unwavering.
“Whether she’s
(Joan's) performing in a blue burka for U.S. troops in Afghanistan,
working for PETA, or honoring the slain Seattle singer Mia Zapata by
recording a live album with Zapata’s band the Gits – and donating
the proceeds to help fund the investigation of Zapata’s murder –
her motivation is consistent.”
What is Jett's message to
females who aspire to excel? Miley Cyrus said this in Joan's Rock
Hall induction: “Instead of changing for all those people, if you
don’t like how the world is, change it yourself,” she said. “Joan
Jett made the world evolve, her life and her success is proof that we
can self-evolve. I want to thank you for fighting for our freedom,
Joan, and I love you so much.”
So, you ladies who rock,
assume that freedom and keep playing your rock and roll. The industry
is still very much a man's world, but take flight. I'm not speaking
of the diva craze and glittery star worship. I'm talking about raw,
in-your-face music that punks, grungers, and old rockers alike love.
We true believers still think it will never die.
"You tell me one
(expletive) record by a female rock artist that's hard that's played
on the radio," she told her fan club in the 1990s. "
Musically, those bands exist. There are so many punk, hard rock and
heavy metal girl bands, but radio doesn't play them. When magazines
publish these Women In Rock and Year of the Woman articles, it really
gets annoying to see female artists misrepresented."
– Joan
Jett, interview on occasion of her 60th birthday (2018)
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