Warnings: 1) I cuss in this post. A lot. 2) It’s heavy on the emo. 3) It’s long.
As excited as I am for The Runaways movie, there are certain unpleasant facts surrounding the making of the film that I’d rather not deal with.
Unpleasant fact #1: Jackie Fox and Lita Ford did not want this movie to be made.
Unpleasant fact #2: Cherie Currie and Lita Ford still do not like each other.
As a fan of The Runaways, Joan Jett, AND Lita Ford, my plan was to keep the peace and not address these facts. I cloaked myself in positivity and hoped it would be enough to shield me from the elephant in the room.
I started Born to be Jetthead on September 22, 2009 (Joan Jett’s birthday), but I’ve wanted to have a site like this for a long time. I used to write about Joan in my MySpace blog, but only a few people ever saw it.
All the way back in May, before The Runaways was filmed, I wrote an open letter to Kristen Stewart expressing my confidence in her ability to portray Joan. After seeing The Runaways trailer this week, I know that I am right. I am re-printing my letter to KStew here. Let me know what you think. (I can be a pretty emo broad, I know. :D)
Read my emo-tastic letter to Kristen after the jump.
Joan Jett’s I Love Rock ‘N Roll is a classic love story: Girl meets song, girl falls in love with song, girl records song and changes history forever. It’s a legend that Jettheads know by heart. Joan saw the original performed by The Arrows on UK television while on tour there with The Runaways. The rest of the band members weren’t interested in recording the song, but Joan could not forget it. After The Runaways broke up, the girl and the song were magically reunited when Joan recorded it with The Blackhearts. It dominated the charts for two months in 1982 and is now regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time. Fuck Cinderella, this is the stuff fairy tales should be made of.
I Love Rock ‘N Roll was not the first or last time that Joan Jett would record a cover song. They actually make up a significant percentage of Joan’s music. History-making or not, all of Joan’s cover tunes have a way of making us forget the originals. But we shouldn’t. Because even though the song is never the same without the girl, the girl is also never the same without the song. We should remember where they came from, because they are where Joan comes from.
Here are just a few of my favorites. Check them out and compare them to Joan’s versions and let me know what you think.
1. I’ll start with the big guns: I Love Rock ‘N Roll, by The Arrows (J. Hooker/A. Merrill, 1975). You can read a detailed history of the song and see who else has recorded it at www.iloverocknroll.org.
I like to do something nice to remember Joan Jett’s birthday every year. Sometimes I’ll send her a birthday card. I’ve never baked a cake or sent her a gift, but last year I donated money to the Arbor Day Foundation and planted trees in her name.
My gift to Joan in 2008
This year, I wanted to give something to the fans, so I created this site. Welcome to Born to be Jetthead. You can read more about it HERE.
I hope you like it. I can’t take it back because I lost the receipt.
Today I’m going to watch Light of Day and paint my nails black.
How do you like to celebrate Joan Jett’s birthday?
Born to be Jetthead 