‘Cherry Bomb’: The Runaways’ most laid-back anthem
It feels wrong to describe any The Runaways track as “laid-back”. In fact, the descriptor is probably the exact antithesis of what the band were and how it remains in cultural history. They boomed onto the scene as a total phenomenon, and for four short years, they reclaimed punk rock as an art form for the girls.
While the Sex Pistols and the punk scene were breaking out over in the UK, Joan Jett was across the pond wanting to get involved. “There were no young girls at all playing guitar or any sort of instruments,” she said of the time, yearning to take to the stage with the same kind of rebellious spirit and raging energy that she saw in her male counterparts.
So The Runaways became precisely that, as the troupe was put together with the intention of melding punk, glam rock, and pure teenage angst and energy for something new and powerful. For the years they existed, they toured the world with their heavy rock tracks, inspiring hoards of girls to pick up guitars, plug them in, and play them loud. Today, they remain a key influence that several acts cite as a major reference.
But that entire legacy really all hangs on one track, ‘Cherry Bomb’. It was the song that made their name as the first single to be released and catch the world’s attention. But it was also the piece that made the band in the first place, as it was written as an improvisation during Cherie Currie’s audition for the troupe. After coming in with the intention of singing ‘Fever’, a song the group and their founder Kim Fowley thought was too square, Jett and Fowley wrote the bones of their biggest hit right there and then.
It’s a timeless classic. From the rolling and seductive verses to the big, booming chorus, there is no other song as evocative of the band’s legacy than this one, as it mixes sex appeal and riotous power in perfect measure. It was also the perfect combination of Jett and Curie as their two leading lights, mixing Jett’s rock education with the way that the band’s singer was slowly coaxed out of her shy girl origins and morphed into the star she would become.
But compared to the band’s other songs, there is something different to ‘Cherry Bomb’. Even though it’s still a high-octane cut, it feels more considered in a way that always stood out to Jett.
Jett said that the track sounds “completely different” to their other works. “I love it,” she said, attempting to put her finger on what it is that makes the song so special. “It’s sexy, but I think it always is supposed to be sexy, but it’s moody and sort of got a different mood about it,” she continued.
“It’s almost, I don’t want to say spooky because that’s not it but it’s just got a difference, a sort of coolness about it,” she said, adding, “But it’s got the same vibe, it’s just a laid back expression of it.”
“It still has the menace but in a different way,” she concluded.
What ‘Cherry Bomb’ seems to have is the perfect formula for a song that teases and reveals. The verses hook you in and seduce you while the choruses blast your ears with their rock energy. But it’s not the kind of relentless guitar blast that some of their other piece are. In that way, it’s certainly more “laid-back” for the band, but nothing they made could ever truly fit the descriptor.
