3/30/2023 0 Comments Joan jett cherry bombThe Runaways quickly became lumped in with the growing punk rock movement. Their second album, Queens of Noise, was released in 1977 and the band performed a world tour in support of the album. For their stage performance, the documentary Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways (directed by former Runaway bassist Vicki Blue) revealed each girl patterned herself after their musical idol: Currie on David Bowie, Jett on Suzi Quatro, Ford on a cross between Jeff Beck and Ritchie Blackmore, West on Roger Taylor, and Fox on Gene Simmons. in support of headlining groups such as Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Talking Heads, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The Runaways were signed to Mercury Records in 1976 and their debut album, The Runaways, was released shortly afterward. Lead singer Cherie Currie was recruited in a local teen nightclub called the Sugar Shack, followed by Jackie Fox on bass. Steele soon left the group, replaced by bassist Peggy Foster, who left after just one month. They soon added lead guitarist Lita Ford and Jett switched to rhythm guitar. Starting as a power trio with singer/bassist Micki Steele, the Runaways began playing the party and club circuit around Los Angeles. Two decades later he said, "I didn't put the Runaways together, I had an idea, they had ideas, we all met, there was combustion and out of five different versions of that group came the five girls who were the ones that people liked." Fowley then helped the girls find other members. The Runaways were formed in August 1975 by drummer Sandy West and guitarist Joan Jett after they had separately introduced themselves to producer Kim Fowley, who gave Jett's phone number to West. Never a major success in the United States, the Runaways became a sensation overseas, especially in Japan, thanks to the single "Cherry Bomb". Among their best-known songs are " Cherry Bomb", " Hollywood", " Queens of Noise" and a cover version of The Velvet Underground's " Rock & Roll". The band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. You can listen to these songs and previously discussed cover songs in a Spotify playlist.The Runaways were an all-female American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. But that we also got a great song about wild youth from the band? Well, that’s just the cherry on top. Those successes, along with the fact that bands like The Bangles or The Go-Go’s existed, has been the gift of The Runaways. Runaways alums had more success after the band than they ever had with the band: Joan Jett had hits with “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “Crimson and Clover,” Lita Ford found a niche in hair metal, and Michael Steele was bassist for The Bangles. With good reason: the spats between former members have a new context in light of Jackie Fuchs’ statement that her former bandmates had witnessed her being raped by Fowley.īeyond that, though, there’s not much to say about the music of the Runaways compared to what the band’s members did later. In the four decades since The Runaways’ debut, much has been said about the band’s legacy, but very little of that discussion mentions the band’s actual music. In a way, “Cherry Bomb” covers are like covers of Kim Wilde’s “Kids In America”: on their own, few of the covers stand out, but when viewed en masse, they show how influential the source material was. The artists put themselves into the song - The Dandy Warhols’ version dripped with Courtney Taylor-Taylorisms - but these versions felt less like reinterpretations and more like tributes. Of all of these covers, few of them reinvent the song. The 1997 re-release of that album featured the sisters teaming up on “Cherry Bomb.” Jett became the lead singer, but she left the band in the spring of 1979, paving the way for the band to break up soon after.Ĭurrie went on to release some solo records, including 1980’s “Messin’ with the Boys,” which she recorded with her sister Marie Currie. The Runaways released a few more albums, but never had another song on the same level as “Cherry Bomb.” After butting heads with Fowley, Currie was gone by the end of 1977. It reached Number 194 on the Billboard Hot 200. The Runaways’ self-titled debut came out in 1976. Regardless of how the players met and when the song was written, Currie joined the band, and soon after, The Runaways had a record deal. Furthermore, McDonnell wrote, “Cherry Bomb” had probably been written the night before the audition. In her book “Queens of Noise: The Real Story of the Runaways,” writer Evelyn McDonnell suggested that in reality, Cherie Currie probably approached Fowley, rather than the other way around.
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