

The 2018 documentary Bad Reputation didn’t dig too deeply into Jett’s private life, which is always the way this proudly old-school rocker has played it, but did highlight how she claimed space in an overwhelmingly male-dominated field. Then in 2015, a year after she sang ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ with the surviving members of Nirvana at their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame reunion, she too was inducted by Miley Cyrus, who hailed her as a “superwoman” who “made the world evolve”. First Kristen Stewart played her in 2010’s The Runaways, a rollicking biopic about the pioneering all-female band she co-founded as a teenager. Jett told Rolling Stone that joining the hall is "a culmination of all you've dreamed about doing as a musician.The last decade or so has done wonders for Joan Jett‘s (not so) Bad Reputation. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 along with Lou Reed, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Green Day. The following year, Jett learned that she was going to receive a special honor for her contributions to music. The project gave her a chance to work with such artists as Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Nirvana fame. Jett put out her latest studio album, Unvarnished, in 2013. The song "Riddles" was her first political song, which she wrote as "a commentary on the state of our country," she explained in Interview magazine. Sinner marked a change in direction for Jett.
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Her next full studio album was 2004's Naked, quickly followed by 2006's Sinner, both of which she released through her own record label. She took a long break between full studio efforts as she faced difficulties with her record company. In 1999, Jett released Fetish, which featured a mix of old and new material. She also recorded with the surviving members of the Seattle punk band the Gits as Evil Stig. Outside of her own music, Jett worked as a producer for groups such as Bikini Kill and L7, along with several other female-led rock bands that drew inspiration from Jett and the punk-glam rock sound of the Runaways. It's like a death," Jett later explained to Esquire. A breakup is like losing a very good friend. "When the Runaways broke up, I didn't know what I wanted to do. The band struggled through two more albums before they were dropped from their record label. She was already a powerful force behind the scenes, writing most of the Runaways' songs. The following year, the Runaways released their sophomore effort, Queens of Noise, which featured such tracks as "Born to Be Bad" and "Neon Angels." While the album performed poorly in the United States, the Runaways received a warm welcome in Japan, scoring three gold records there.Īfter Currie and Fox left in mid-1977, Jett emerged as the group's lead singer. Still, the song "Cherry Bomb," with its rebellious and raw edge, which Jett wrote with friend Kim Fowley, became a punk hit. In 1976, the Runaways released their first self-titled album, which failed to impress critics and music buyers alike. The musicians' fashion choices also alienated them from mainstream fans Currie chose to wear lingerie on stage, and Jett often appeared in her trademark red, leather jumpsuit. They also felt dismissed by audiences and critics because of their young age and their gender the public didn't seem to know what to do with five girls who sang about sex, rebelling and partying.


The band was ahead of its time in many ways, with its hard-rock sound emerging during an era when disco music was king. The final line-up included Jett on guitar and vocals, Sandy West on drums, Cherie Currie on lead vocals, Jackie Fox on bass guitar and Lita Ford on guitar. Jett started her musical career as a teenager, forming her first serious band, the Runaways. "I learned to scream from Marc Bolan of T.

There, she found inspiration from the glam rock stars of the day. Moving to Southern California, Jett began frequenting a popular youth club known as Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco.
