From my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).
An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they taker turns. Today--and most especially today--this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
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| Photo by Meghan Jean Cafarelli |
JOAN JETT: Bad Reputation
Written by Joan Jett, Ritchie Cordell, Kenny Laguna, and Marty Joe Cupersmith
Produced by Kenny Laguna and Ritchie Cordell
From the album Joan Jett, Ariola Records [UK], 1980
In real life, there is perhaps no greater super power than the ability to shrug off the disapproval of others. Dig what you dig. Love who you love. Be who you want to be, not whatever some gray they want you to be. Don't give a damn about your reputation.
Joan Jett is about my age, and of course I had a crush on her. Duh. When the Runaways split at the end of the '70s, Jett seemed the one former member most likely to run wild and free; Lita Ford was more suited to hard rock, Sandy West, Jackie Fox, and Fox's replacement Vickie Blue didn't appear to be headed to solo careers, and although Cherie Currie (with her sister Marie Currie) did an appealingly basic cover of Rainbow's "Since You've Been Gone," none of them quite had Jett's potential.
But Joan herself? Joan loved rock 'n' roll.
So she made rock 'n' roll. She kicked the bad habits that could have ended her career and her life, she kept playing, she kept recording, and she kept playing some more. Her eponymous 1980 debut album (later reissued as Bad Reputation) was one of my favorite records in that period. She had done some recording with former Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, some of which appeared on that first album. But the B-side of her UK single cover of Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me" remained non-LP. I confess I was a little disappointed with the Gore cover, but I played that B-side a lot. That was "I Love Rock 'n' Roll."
I had never heard the song before. It turned out that it was also a cover, a song written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker, and previously a B-side for their group the Arrows. Man, I loved Jett's version. When she redid the song again as a single in 1982, I was initially disappointed in its comparative slickness, feeling it lacked the oomph of her Pistols-backed B-side. I came to embrace it in short order, and was positively thrilled when it topped the chart. Yep. A runaway success.
While (forgive the redundancy) I love "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," I've never felt it was Joan Jett's very best track. I'd put "Love Is Pain," "Bad Reputation" (and nearly all of that debut album), her take on Bruce Springsteen's "Light Of Day," "This Means War," "Eye To Eye," and several others above it.
So she made rock 'n' roll. She kicked the bad habits that could have ended her career and her life, she kept playing, she kept recording, and she kept playing some more. Her eponymous 1980 debut album (later reissued as Bad Reputation) was one of my favorite records in that period. She had done some recording with former Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, some of which appeared on that first album. But the B-side of her UK single cover of Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me" remained non-LP. I confess I was a little disappointed with the Gore cover, but I played that B-side a lot. That was "I Love Rock 'n' Roll."
I had never heard the song before. It turned out that it was also a cover, a song written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker, and previously a B-side for their group the Arrows. Man, I loved Jett's version. When she redid the song again as a single in 1982, I was initially disappointed in its comparative slickness, feeling it lacked the oomph of her Pistols-backed B-side. I came to embrace it in short order, and was positively thrilled when it topped the chart. Yep. A runaway success.
While (forgive the redundancy) I love "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," I've never felt it was Joan Jett's very best track. I'd put "Love Is Pain," "Bad Reputation" (and nearly all of that debut album), her take on Bruce Springsteen's "Light Of Day," "This Means War," "Eye To Eye," and several others above it.
"Bad Reputation" strikes me (repeatedly) as Jett's signature tune. Its confidence is genuine, with Jett's feet planted firmly as she makes clear her intent to blow right through any collection of suckers who try to stop her. It's as vital a rallying cry as "Do Anything You Wanna Do." When my daughter gets married, she and I have a long-standing agreement that our father-daughter dance will be Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation."
The agreement stands. I don't give a damn about my reputation. A world in trouble creates its own heroes. And I don't really care if you think I'm strange; I ain't gonna change. That's our super power. Joan Jett saves the world. Mazel tov, and away.
(And Mazel tov Meghan and Austin.)
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Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/
If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.
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