The Runaways’ Cherie Currie claims she “could have been paralysed” by Rush
Cherie Currie, who rose to prominence as a member of The Runaways when she was a teenager, has looked back on almost suffering a severe injury due to an incident involving Canadian prog-rock band Rush.
During the 1970s, The Runaways found success as one of the first all-female rock bands, known for hits like ‘Cherry Bomb’ and ‘Queens of Noise’. The pioneering act toured with many popular groups during this period, including Rush, who they opened for in 1977.
Yet, The Runaways, who were still teenagers at this point, found themselves irritated by Rush’s immature behaviour. The classic rockers, who were in their mid-20s at the time, reportedly laughed at the women from the side of the stage, which angered Currie and bandmate Joan Jett.
Furthermore, Currie opened up about the incident that sparked their feud in an interview with The Metal Voice, stating, “We had been treated so well by Tom Petty who opened for us, and Cheap Trick who opened for us, but Rush sabotaged our set.”
She continued, “We’re at Detroit’s Cobo Hall. It’s a big venue. I saw them and they were throwing pieces of paper, just like standard 8×10 paper, onto the stage whipping it like you would a pizza. I was in 6-inch platform boots and I had to jump off of Sandy West’s drum riser. I hit one of those pieces of paper and I slid across that stage and there was an orchestra pit with all the photographers.”
Currie very nearly fell off the stage, with the singer recalling the faces of the photographers, “I’ll never forget seeing them reach up with fear.” Luckily, she managed to stop herself from falling and “did one of those, you know [rock star poses], to one of the photographers.”
She emphasised the severity of the potential injury, adding, “I could have been paralysed. I’m not exaggerating, I could have been very much injured had I gone off that stage.” Currie and Jett still think negatively of Rush because of that night. “They weren’t protecting us, they were sabotaging us that night and they would be sitting there behind Lita [Ford]’s amp [snickering].”
While Rush have been inactive since the death of drummer Neil Peart, the surviving two members, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee, have begun playing with each other again. However, according to Lifeson, it’s unlikely to result in a tour.
He shared earlier this year of their secret jam sessions: “We just picked some Rush songs and we started playing them and we sound like a really, really bad Rush tribute band. Trying to figure out the songs, I’m thinking, ‘Why did we write that so difficult? Why is this so hard to play?’ After about three run-throughs of all of these songs, muscle memory kicks in and your hand just goes to where it goes. You sort of get out of the way and you play and you go, ‘Thank God, I did make this simpler than it felt.’”
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