O'Brien remained in England when the others returned to the States and was replaced by Lee Crystal for a US tour, while Jett and Laguna had continued to independently distribute her album.
That was in 1980, when Jett embarked on a European tour with her new backing band, the Blackhearts, comprising guitarist Eric Ambel, drummer Danny 'Furious' O'Brien and bass player Gary Ryan. A composer and producer, Laguna had first teamed up with Jett when writing material for We're All Crazee Now, a film based on the Runaways' career, and not only had he assumed the production reins when they entered the Who's Ramport Studios to record her own eponymous debut album, but the two of them had even released it on their specially formed Blackheart Records label, after it had been rejected by all of the major companies. The studio session with Cook and Jones had been financed by one Kenny Laguna, and as Jett's manager and co‑producer he would play an integral role in attaining mainstream success for both her and the song that she loved. Jett's punkish version had her making all the right moves to land a young guy for the night - "Said I can take you home where we can be alone / And next we were movin' on / He was with me, yeah me” - yet it, too, didn't do much for her career at a time when she couldn't land a record deal, and it would remain unreleased until its inclusion on Flashback, her 1993 compilation of out-takes and rare cuts. Written by Arrows lead singer Alan Merrill and guitarist Jake Hooker, the song was 'I Love Rock & Roll', and, as Merrill later explained, it had been their "knee‑jerk response to the Rolling Stones' 'It's Only Rock & Roll',” which they viewed as Mick Jagger's "apology to those jet‑set princes and princesses that he was hanging around with.”īe that as it may, the song was basically about a guy picking up a girl and taking her home, which was more than could be said for the Arrows' recording that, produced by Mickey Most and released as a B‑side on his RAK Records label, didn't find its way into many homes at all. That same year, while in England, Joan Jett recorded three numbers with Sex Pistols Paul Cook and Steve Jones, and one of these just happened to be a cover of a song by a group called the Arrows which she had seen them perform on their self‑titled ITV pop show. Glen Kolotkin in Studio B of Columbia's San Francisco facility, late 1970s. Yet despite a solid following in Europe and massive popularity in Japan, the band had never enjoyed major success in their home country, and following the Runaways dissolution in 1979, Jett pursued a solo career. A world tour had followed shortly after, by which time the Runaways had become part of the punk scene on both sides of the Atlantic. This outfit quickly evolved into a quintet, signed with Mercury Records and released an eponymous debut album, after which Jett and her colleagues had toured the US and headlined shows with support acts that included Cheap Trick, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, the Ramones and Van Halen. A native of Philadelphia who had relocated with her family to Los Angeles at the age of 12, the former Joan Marie Larkin had co‑founded the all‑girl power pop trio the Runaways in late 1975. In the autumn of 1981, 23‑year‑old Joan Jett was already something of a rock & roll veteran. Joan Jett on stage at the Hammersmith Apollo, 1982. Joan Jett's heartfelt reworking of the Arrows' 'I Love Rock & Roll' became an international hit and turned her career around.
0 kommentar(er)
