The Runaways rejected Joan Jett’s hit song ‘I Love Rock And Roll’
If Joan Jett’s career is to be defined by one song, it would be ‘I Love Rock And Roll’. However, Jett originally plotted to release the track with her former outfit, The Runaways, but it transpired that her bandmates were simply not interested.
During their four years together, The Runaways helped bring women to the forefront of rock music and paved the way for future generations. The group were outliers in a male-dominated spare but soon proved that women could rock out just as hard as anybody. During their short career, the band released four albums and continuously toured before the wheels finally fell off in 1979, ahead of their split.
Ultimately, The Runaways decided they needed to part ways due to creative differences, the most common killer of bands. Having firmly established themselves in the punk rock scene, Jett wanted to lean further into the emerging glam movement. However, Lita Forde and Sandy West had other ideas and wanted to play heavy rock, which was at odds with Jett’s vision.
‘I Love Rock And Roll’ was the direction that Jett foresaw her career taking, and the idea to cover the track first came to her in 1976. While on tour in the United Kingdom, Jett saw Arrows perform the song on television and immediately gravitated to the effort. At the time, everything was going smoothly with The Runaways, and Jett hadn’t yet considered releasing it as a solo artist. She explained on Sirius XM: “I didn’t offer ‘I Love Rock N’ Roll’ to [John] Alcock [who produced the final Runaways album, 1978’s ‘And Now… The Runaways’]. I had it as an idea; The Runaways rejected it – early – you know, in ’77, that was pre-Alcock…That was my baby, I was saving that for whatever, but it wasn’t for John Alcock and The Runaways’ last album.”
Despite being discouraged about having her idea shot down by her bandmates, Jett understood their reasoning. She continued: “No, it wasn’t that; it was a completely rational reason why we didn’t do it. And I would have agreed, I totally kind of agreed with the girls. When I found the song, our first album [1976’s self-titled] had just come out, and we covered Lou Reed’s ‘Rock N’ Roll.’ So I didn’t want to just turn around and do another song with ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ in the title. They didn’t wanna do it, and I said, ‘I see what you mean, I’m just gonna hang on to it.'”
Following the demise of The Runaways, Jett recruited Sex Pistols members Steve Jones and Paul Cook to play on her recording in 1979, which featured as the B-side to her debut single, ‘You Don’t Own Me’. Surprisingly, ‘I Love Rock And Roll’ didn’t feature on Jett’s debut, Bad Reputation, and she re-recorded the track in 1981.
Jett’s second version of ‘I Love Rock And Roll’ provided the musician with her only number-one, and the single spent seven weeks at the top of the Billboard 100. Poetically, The Runaways’ decision to turn down covering the song remains one of the best things to happen to Jett’s career.
