The album got decent reviews and would be primed for chart success after Jett’s ascent the following year it hit the Top 100 chart in the wake of I Love Rock ‘n Roll. Though the duo initially only sold the album at Jett’s shows, it made enough of an impact that Boardwalk Records picked up distribution. Frustrated but empowered by punk’s DIY aesthetic, Jett and Laguna founded their own label, Blackheart Records, and put the album out themselves. The record got released in Europe that May, but Jett and Laguna got turned down by a whopping 23 labels as they shopped it in the States. In 1980, Jett recorded her solo debut, Joan Jett, which would later be retitled Bad Reputation. “Bad Reputation” (Uploaded to YouTube by blackheartrec)Īfter The Runaways, Jett teamed up with producer Kenny Laguna.

A 2010 feature film, The Runaways, told the story of the group Jett was an executive producer and was played by Kristen Stewart. Nevertheless, the band would be remembered as a huge influence on the female-fronted bands that followed, including The Go-Gos and L7.

With rotating membership and battles over music direction within the band, The Runaways had stopped running by 1979 after four albums and a live release. However, they gravitated more toward the punk movement of the time, becoming friends with both American and U.K. Their self-titled 1976 debut scored them opening gigs with acts like Van Halen and Cheap Trick, putting them right in the center of that decade’s boom of new rock bands. In 1975, she co-founded The Runaways, an all-female rock band that would include fellow future solo star Lita Ford and future Bangle Michael (Micki) Steele. County, she began to find a musical scene that suited her, and adopted her stage name. Born Joan Marie Larkin, Jett started playing guitar at 13.

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