Leading the rebellion: Joan Jett once named her favourite punk album of all time
Most musicians hone their craft much later in their career, chasing perfection for many years before finally landing on greatness. For Joan Jett, however, it seemed already engrained in her from an early age, the success she found with The Runaways truly establishing her as a rock ‘n’ roll legend and playing a pivotal role in the feminist punk movement.
As a founding member of one of the earliest all-female rock bands, Jett’s achievements, alongside her later collaborations with bands like Bikini Kill and L7, proved that the music industry’s male-dominated staleness could be challenged with unabashed courage and fearlessness in the face of dated expectations. Her image and attitude reflected the punk ethos’ rebellious nature, proving that women in rock were just as worthy of respect and praise as their male counterparts.
During an interview with The Guardian, she once reflected on the industry sexism women often face, explaining: “For guitar-playing girls – this is important – don’t listen to what people tell you.” She added: “You may run into people asking you what you’re doing, saying that girls don’t play guitar. You’d think we’d be way past that now – it’s been 30 years since I played in The Runaways – but that’s not the case. […] Just screw all that and keep at it.”
Although most of her achievements can be pinned down to the 1981 masterpiece I Love Rock ‘n Roll, many of her earlier hits demonstrated her fiery spirit, including ‘Bad Reputation’, which came to symbolise going against the grain and not caring what others think. For this reason, it’s no wonder she once regarded it as one of her favourite songs she ever recorded.
Like much of the punk movement, music became a conduit for expression and anguish, which is one of the reasons Jett became drawn to rock music in the first place. “I got turned on to music because there was something about the way it touched me. Listening to the guitar really took over and made me feel great,” she once said, which makes sense, considering her favourite punk album is one of the most revered classics of the genre.
In fact, Jett’s most cherished punk album being The Sex Pistols’ Never Mind The Bollocks, makes complete sense, especially considering she later worked with Steve Jones and Paul Cook on her hit ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll’, its anthemic qualities perfectly encapsulating the rebellious spirit of both punk and traditional rock ‘n’ roll.
It’s difficult to pinpoint the moment Jett became entranced by the Pistols’ defiance, but she displayed one of the earliest examples of their impact on America, notably when she arrived at a photo shoot in 1977 adorned with a homemade Pistols T-shirt complete with additional safety pins fashioned into the neck.
Although she would soon travel to meet Jones and Cook to record ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll’, Jett remained consistent in her appreciation for the popular punk outfit for the entirety of her career, adopting punk-specific details into her image and injecting her music with the band’s signature attitude.
