Joan Jett -- The Most Iconic Female Rocker

“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)