Nicknamed the godmother of Punk Rock, Joan Jett shot to fame as a founding member of The Runaways, a rock band made up of Jett, Sandy West, Jackie Fox, Lita Ford and Cherie Currie, a group of precocious and in-your-face teenage girls who were set to take the late 70s rock world by storm. In his new film Bad Reputation, music video director turned documentarian Kevin Kerslake attempts to shine a light on the legend of Jett and the ups and downs she suffered throughout her rocky career, and how she came back from the brink to become one of the most iconic female rock stars of all time.
Discovered at 15, Joan Jett cut an impressive figure amongst the remnants of the deeply uncool hippy era when she and the rest of The Runways broke onto a scene which didn’t know what to do with them. Exploding onto the...
Discovered at 15, Joan Jett cut an impressive figure amongst the remnants of the deeply uncool hippy era when she and the rest of The Runways broke onto a scene which didn’t know what to do with them. Exploding onto the...
- 10/25/2018
- by Linda Marric
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Over the last year or so, you could go to the movies and/or turn on your TV, and see feature-length docs on Grace Jones, the Tragically Hip, Lady Gaga, Elvis (both an original-recipe cradle-to-grave portrait and an extra-crispy dive into how his decline reflects our current national mindset), Eric Clapton, the Avett Brothers, Deer Tick, Ed Sheeran, music mogul Clive Davis, a semi-obscure free-jazz drummer, a multi-chapter series on hip-hop, two Peal Jam shows at Wrigley Field, not one but two Whitney Houston postmortems and a two-part look at...
- 10/2/2018
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Previous | Image 1 of 4 | NextLita Ford, lead guitarist of The Runaways.
Chicago – There are rock stars, and then there are the women of “The Runaways.” The girl group that spawned Joan Jett was also notable for proving that punk rock was not just reserved for dudes. Lita Ford, the lead guitarist, has just written a memoir of those heady days – “Living Like a Runaway” – and appeared recently at North Central College in Naperville, Ill., at an event sponsored by Anderson’s Bookshop.
Formed in 1975 by Joan Jett and Sandy West, The Runaways were set with their personnel – including Lita Ford – by the time their first album debuted in 1976. They aligned themselves with the burgeoning punk rock movement of the era, touring with The Ramones in 1977. They were also huge in Japan, with record sales there rivaling Abba, Kiss and Led Zeppelin of the era. The broke up in 1979, after playing their...
Chicago – There are rock stars, and then there are the women of “The Runaways.” The girl group that spawned Joan Jett was also notable for proving that punk rock was not just reserved for dudes. Lita Ford, the lead guitarist, has just written a memoir of those heady days – “Living Like a Runaway” – and appeared recently at North Central College in Naperville, Ill., at an event sponsored by Anderson’s Bookshop.
Formed in 1975 by Joan Jett and Sandy West, The Runaways were set with their personnel – including Lita Ford – by the time their first album debuted in 1976. They aligned themselves with the burgeoning punk rock movement of the era, touring with The Ramones in 1977. They were also huge in Japan, with record sales there rivaling Abba, Kiss and Led Zeppelin of the era. The broke up in 1979, after playing their...
- 3/30/2016
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Joan Jett sure knows how to play the role of the hard-as-nails rocker. Her smoldering gaze, sharp-edged mullet haircut and black-on-black stage costumes may be a career-long homage to bass player Suzi Quatro, however, Jett has managed to transform it into her signature style.
When the Pennsylvania native formed the all-girl group The Runaways in 1975 with drummer Sandy West, eventually adding Cherie Currie into the mix, the band's status shot up the charts with hits "Cherry Bomb" and "Queens of Noise." However, it was her cover of "I Love Rock 'N Roll" that made Jett a certified sex symbol -- both on and off the stage.
As Jett celebrates her 54th birthday on Saturday (September 22th), we're taking a look back at the "Bad Reputation" rocker's style over the years. Vote on all her looks in the slideshow below.
Meanwhile, get a sneak peek of the costumes from the "Women...
When the Pennsylvania native formed the all-girl group The Runaways in 1975 with drummer Sandy West, eventually adding Cherie Currie into the mix, the band's status shot up the charts with hits "Cherry Bomb" and "Queens of Noise." However, it was her cover of "I Love Rock 'N Roll" that made Jett a certified sex symbol -- both on and off the stage.
As Jett celebrates her 54th birthday on Saturday (September 22th), we're taking a look back at the "Bad Reputation" rocker's style over the years. Vote on all her looks in the slideshow below.
Meanwhile, get a sneak peek of the costumes from the "Women...
- 9/21/2012
- by Stylelist
- Huffington Post
I've been a fan of the band The Runaways for a while. For anyone who doesn't know, The Runaways were the first all-girl rock band that played together from 1975 to 1979. The band was comprised of Cherie Currie, Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Sandy West and Jackie Fox, and all were around 15 or 16 years old when they first formed. Despite being marketed by their manager as "Jailbait Rock," the girls took their music seriously and spawned a few hits such as "Cherry Bomb" and "Queens of Noise."
Their meteoric rise to fame and swiftly following dissolution makes for perfect movie material. A little over a year ago, I was thrilled to find out that Floria Sigismondi (who has directed music videos for Interpol, The White Stripes, David Bowie, The Cure and others) would be making a biopic about The Runaways, focusing on how it jump-started rock legend Joan Jett's career and...
Their meteoric rise to fame and swiftly following dissolution makes for perfect movie material. A little over a year ago, I was thrilled to find out that Floria Sigismondi (who has directed music videos for Interpol, The White Stripes, David Bowie, The Cure and others) would be making a biopic about The Runaways, focusing on how it jump-started rock legend Joan Jett's career and...
- 6/2/2010
- by noreply@blogger.com (Ashley)
- Reelartsy
Landing the role of drummer Sandy West in The Runaways biopic could not have come at a better time for actress Stella Maeve - she was broke.
The 28 year old reveals she was one of 500 hopefuls who auditioned for the role opposite Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart - and she was called back four times before she landed the part.
She says, "My dad was a drummer and taught me when I was 12... Sandy and I have a lot of similarities."
And she really needed the job because she was struggling financially - she literally took a leap of faith out of a plane and learned she had landed the part minutes later.
She explains, "I had $100 in my pocket... took my friend's car, drove up to Sacramento (California), jumped out of a plane... and found out that I booked a job."...
The 28 year old reveals she was one of 500 hopefuls who auditioned for the role opposite Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart - and she was called back four times before she landed the part.
She says, "My dad was a drummer and taught me when I was 12... Sandy and I have a lot of similarities."
And she really needed the job because she was struggling financially - she literally took a leap of faith out of a plane and learned she had landed the part minutes later.
She explains, "I had $100 in my pocket... took my friend's car, drove up to Sacramento (California), jumped out of a plane... and found out that I booked a job."...
- 5/12/2010
- WENN
The Runaways may not have been the very first all-girl rock-and-roll band -- but they were one of the first that mattered. Comprised of teenagers Cherie Currie on vocals, Joan Jett on rhythm guitar, Lita Ford on lead guitar, Jackie Fox on bass, and Sandy West on drums -- at least in the 1975-1978 incarnation -- the band becomes Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, Scout Taylor-Compton, Alia Shawkat, and Stella Maeve on the big screen. Fanning and Stewart talk about how they became rock stars, with a little help from their real-life counterparts. Q: So, Dakota, Cherie Currie said there was a moment you felt like it was fate intervening for you to get this role? Df: Yes! I had a cherry temporary tattoo that I had put on for fun that day, and I came home from school, and my mom was reading the script, and she said, "You need to read this.
- 4/5/2010
- AMC News Interviews
About as rock and roll as those late-night infomercials pitching metal compilations featuring Winger and Queensryche, The Runaways offers little insight into the influential all-girl rock band, but rather an excuse for the leads to try to shimmy off their Twilight bonds. It comes off as a Teen Titans version of a VH1 Behind the Music -- little girls in Halloween costume wigs trying to pull off rock moves in their mother's makeup mirror. As much as I respect the attempted anti-message of Twilight, any vestiges of grrl power are going to be drowned out by the sounds of perverts fapping under balcony trenchcoats. Running around in your panties, smoking and drugging, and playing at lipstick lesbianism doesn't make you rock n' roll, it makes you a half-assed version of Girl, Interrupted. Music-video director Floria Sigismondi takes Cherie Currie's memoir Neon Angel and turns it into an episode of...
- 3/22/2010
- by Brian Prisco
The Runaways, the biopic about the groundbreaking all-girl rock band starring Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, just opened this weekend - and People caught up with real-life members to catch up on their lives 30 years after their split. Best known for hits like "Cherry Bomb" and "Queens of Noise" and controversy-courting style in the days when rock music was dominated by men, the band became an international sensation, inspiring countless artists who followed. "People would say, 'Girls can't play rock 'n' roll,' because socially, rock 'n' roll is sexual and that was threatening to a wide majority of people,...
- 3/21/2010
- by Marisa Laudadio
- PEOPLE.com
Warning: Minor Spoilers
The Runaways had a typical teenage dream: they wanted to be rock stars. But unlike most restless adolescents with that vague hunger, they actually came close to superstardom. That's not a story you hear every day, especially not when the musicians are female and the music is an aggressive jumble of glam, punk, and straight-ahead rock.
The rise and fall of this pioneering all-girl band is a tale worth telling, but the film The Runaways isn't quite up to the task: it misses opportunities for fun and reduces heartfelt dreams to hackneyed drama. Luckily, Kristen Stewart is more than able to fill in the gaps and remind us why we love rock 'n' roll.
The Runaways depicts the formation, first tour and subsequent unraveling of the band. To writer/director Floria Sigismondi, "band" really means guitarist Joan Jett (Stewart) and lead singer Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) — guitarist...
The Runaways had a typical teenage dream: they wanted to be rock stars. But unlike most restless adolescents with that vague hunger, they actually came close to superstardom. That's not a story you hear every day, especially not when the musicians are female and the music is an aggressive jumble of glam, punk, and straight-ahead rock.
The rise and fall of this pioneering all-girl band is a tale worth telling, but the film The Runaways isn't quite up to the task: it misses opportunities for fun and reduces heartfelt dreams to hackneyed drama. Luckily, Kristen Stewart is more than able to fill in the gaps and remind us why we love rock 'n' roll.
The Runaways depicts the formation, first tour and subsequent unraveling of the band. To writer/director Floria Sigismondi, "band" really means guitarist Joan Jett (Stewart) and lead singer Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) — guitarist...
- 3/12/2010
- by scribegrrrl
- AfterEllen.com
Floria Sigismondi’s punk girl biopic “The Runaways” may still be short a few bandmembers, but the director may be making room for a boy: Michael Shannon, the buzzed-about character actor who finally snagged an Oscar nomination this year for his performance in “Revolutionary Road.” Scheduling conflicts could keep him from rocking out in “The Runaways,” but The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Shannon is currently “in negotiations” to play alongside Kristen Stewart’s Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning’s Cherie Currie.
What’s not specified is which of the few male roles Shannon is interested in. It is possible that the actor might be playing music producer Kim Fowley. While the idea of an all-girl band really belonged to Joan Jett and Sandy West, it was their associations with Fowley that helped them recruit other the other band members. Fowley’s marketing helped The Runaways become a phenomenon, but rumors...
What’s not specified is which of the few male roles Shannon is interested in. It is possible that the actor might be playing music producer Kim Fowley. While the idea of an all-girl band really belonged to Joan Jett and Sandy West, it was their associations with Fowley that helped them recruit other the other band members. Fowley’s marketing helped The Runaways become a phenomenon, but rumors...
- 6/1/2009
- by Elisabeth Rappe
- MTV Movies Blog
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