Rep for your rep, yo
219. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts "Bad Reputation"
Joan Jett (along with future heavy metal heartthrob Lita Ford) started her musical career in the legendary all-girl glam-rock outfit called the Runaways, which was concieved and run with an iron fist by seedy (if visionary) svengali Kim Fowley. Thirsting for some artistic freedom, she struck out on her own, but the music scene had moved on to synth-pop and the New Romantics, so the unapologetic rock Jett played was unwelcome. She had no less than 23 major labels slam doors in her face. She then ponied up her personal savings to record and release an album independently and became (for a while) a major star.
The whole experience seems to have left her with a deep distrust of trend-following philistines and mindless conformists and it shows here. With a beat that sounds like a sledgehammer-meets-a-pogo-stick, and her signature fat bristly guitar sound, Joan bellows a declamatory ode to independence that basically dares anybody to tell her to live otherwise. The fact that she's still out there doing her own thing, trends be damned, tells me it worked for her. I know that whenever I get discouraged, the advice 'I don't really care if you think I'm strange, I ain't gonna change..' has always stood me well.
Joan Jett (along with future heavy metal heartthrob Lita Ford) started her musical career in the legendary all-girl glam-rock outfit called the Runaways, which was concieved and run with an iron fist by seedy (if visionary) svengali Kim Fowley. Thirsting for some artistic freedom, she struck out on her own, but the music scene had moved on to synth-pop and the New Romantics, so the unapologetic rock Jett played was unwelcome. She had no less than 23 major labels slam doors in her face. She then ponied up her personal savings to record and release an album independently and became (for a while) a major star.
The whole experience seems to have left her with a deep distrust of trend-following philistines and mindless conformists and it shows here. With a beat that sounds like a sledgehammer-meets-a-pogo-stick, and her signature fat bristly guitar sound, Joan bellows a declamatory ode to independence that basically dares anybody to tell her to live otherwise. The fact that she's still out there doing her own thing, trends be damned, tells me it worked for her. I know that whenever I get discouraged, the advice 'I don't really care if you think I'm strange, I ain't gonna change..' has always stood me well.
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