“They were mad”: The band that Joan Jett feuded with on tour
Joan Jett is regarded as an icon in the history of rock music by many, and her work with the Runaways and the Blackhearts was hugely important to the glam and punk movements that were taking place in the 1970s and ‘80s. Jett was a strong female role model for young women with interest in rock music to aspiring to be like and was an antidote to the machismo and bravado that the male rockstars of the era filled their performances with.
Often regarded as having paved the way for musical trends that would follow, such as the riot grrrl that emerged in the 1990s through bands such as Bikini Kill and Heavens to Betsy, Jett’s legacy continues today, with her impact being recognised through a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2015 alongside the Blackhearts. Like a handful of others before her, such as Janis Joplin and Suzi Quatro, Jett broke down barriers for women in the music industry and became lauded for being a feminist icon in a male-dominated field.
Jett was also adored by many artists during the peak of her career, with fellow performers such as Tom Petty praising her artistry and touring with her in the past. She was also known for having close friends in the Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones and Paul Cook, who assisted her with the recording of the Blackhearts’ debut album, Bad Reputation.
However, not everyone was a fan of Jett’s, and the guitarist certainly didn’t hold back from sharing her opinions of her detractors either. Her reputation for having been one of the foremost female rock musicians didn’t make her immune to the rampant sexism that has always had an unfortunate looming presence over the music industry, but Jett certainly knew how to bite back at anyone who stood in her way or sneered at her music with a sense of superiority.
One group that Jett was most certainly not a fan of was the German metal group the Scorpions, who were noted throughout their career for having been rampantly misogynistic in their lyrics, imagery and general presentation. Having been invited to tour with the group in Spain, she was used as a scapegoat for one of the local support acts having been dropped from a bill, with the Scorpions suggesting that Jett had said she didn’t want to share a stage with another female-fronted act. This sparked a backlash from the Scorpions’ audience, who booed and spat at Jett in disgust.
Having explained in an interview with Classic Rock how “Scorpions were mad because they were a German band and we were bigger in Germany than they were,” she would go on to lambast them for their sexist attitude, saying that “people just don’t want to see girls doing things they don’t think girls should do.”
Jett would comment on the tour incident to SiriusXM many years later, saying that “the rock and roll gods speak volumes. Look where I am and look at where the Scorpions are.” She’s not wrong, and it goes to show that boorish chauvinist acts’ time in the spotlight will always be limited when pitted against those whose art actually stands for something worth shouting about.
