Bad Reputation (2018) - full transcript

Subtitles by explosiveskull

Ever since I wanted

to play guitar...

when I was about 13,

I asked my parents

for a guitar for Christmas.

And they kind of thought,

you know,

that's strange,

but they got it for me.

It's like this thing

you get at Sears, you know,

Thirty dollars, you get

the guitar and the amp.

I was really excited.

I had no idea how to play it.

But I got it plugged in,

and I just sat there

on the low "E" string...

...for hours, and drove

my parents absolutely insane.

Then I wanted to learn

how to play

and went and took a lesson,

and the guy said,

"Girls don't play

rock 'n' roll."

♪ I don't give a damn

'bout my reputation ♪

♪ I've never been afraid

of any deviation ♪

♪ An' I don't really care

if you think I'm strange ♪

♪ I ain't gonna change ♪

♪ An' I'm never gonna care

'bout my bad reputation ♪

♪ Oh, no

No, no, no, no, no, no ♪

♪ Not me

Me, me, me, me, me, me ♪

♪ Oh, no

No, no, no, no, no, no ♪

♪ Not me

Me, me, me, me, me, me ♪

♪ Pedal, boys! ♪

♪ Not me! ♪

Growing up in the '70s,

it was sort of a feminism,

and I didn't think that it

would be such a big deal

for a girl to try

to play rock 'n' roll.

I'd started reading

about this club

probably when I was 12,

Rodney Bingenheimer's

English Disco.

He was the first to play

records by Blondie,

The Ramones, Sex Pistols,

and Nirvana, to name a few.

They'd play Bowie,

and they'd play T. Rex,

Iggy Pop, Suzi Quatro,

who I'd never heard of,

who was this girl

playing bass.

It was a disco for teenagers.

If you were, like, 21,

you were already too old,

though rock stars of that era

would come in.

I was a naive kid,

so going to Hollywood,

it was a big night out.

I talked some kids

to come with me,

and there were guys and girls

with tons of makeup on

and crazy hairdos

and lots of glitter

and really short skirts

and dresses and fishnets,

and it was just,

"What the fuck is this?"

A club full

of a bunch of weirdos

living in a city that's known

to be full of weirdos.

♪ I love you so ♪

And they're blasting

all this raunchy and dirty...

but clean dirty, you know,

like playing on

double entendres

and stuff like that,

and some of it

was straight-up dirtier.

That music hit you in a spot

you couldn't really describe,

and it made you want to do it

and there was something...

down there.

As you're a kid, you can't put

your finger on it yet,

so to speak.

I'm walking into

all these dirty jokes.

I only remember the sex.

I don't remember anything else

about LA at all, apparently.

There was

a kind of depravity

going on in Los Angeles

at that time.

Quaaludes were really

important to understanding

1970s rock 'n' roll culture

in California.

I think everyone

was into Quaaludes then,

'cause you could. Quaaludes

were a ridiculous drug,

but everyone

seemed to like them.

They were young suburban kids

out to wreak havoc,

and get the hell away from

the suburbs and their parents.

It was just a nutty time.

Again, this was

coming out of Stonewall,

the start of

the gay liberation movement.

The nuclear bomb has gone off

in the nuclear family.

♪ Bye-bye... ♪

My mother and I

used to go to the movies

pretty much every weekend.

We went to go see Cabaret.

Really blew my mind.

I loved Liza Minnelli.

I loved the combination

of the campiness,

1920s Germany,

and the flapper girl vibe.

So obviously being around

a place like Rodney's,

that was campy, too.

It was exactly the sort

of vibe in Cabaret.

♪ You're better off

without me... ♪

But whatever happened,

Cabaret, Hollywood,

and the idea about playing

music all fused into one.

I always called Joan Jett

and David Bowie "time travelers"

because they're into all

this music before it happens.

At one point, I met

a girl, and she wrote lyrics.

Kari Krome

was just another kid like me

hanging out at the Disco,

and she said, you know,

"Maybe you should talk

to my publisher.

His name's Kim Fowley."

He called me up one day

and, you know,

"So-and-so says

you want to form a band."

I said, "Yeah, I want to form

an all-girl band.

I can't be the only girl

in Hollywood

that wants to do this."

He said, "Well,

do you have any demos?"

I didn't even know

what a demo was.

A couple days later,

it happened that Sandy West,

who was the drummer

of The Runaways,

she drove up with some friends

to hang out at the Rainbow,

the Rainbow parking lot,

which is a place

where people go to watch stars,

and people would hobnob

and shoot the shit

for a few hours,

and she went up to him saying...

I said, "Hi,

you know, I play drums,

and I'm in a band right now."

He goes, "How old are you?"

"Well, I'm 15 and a half."

He says, "You're kidding me."

He goes, "I'm working with

a girl right now who's 14.

I think she knows

a friend out in the Valley

who plays electric guitar."

Turned out to be Joan.

She arrived

a couple weeks later

with her little Sears guitar

in hand,

three buses

and four hours later

from Canoga Park

to Huntington Beach,

and she had such great rhythm

that hit it off

so well together.

Picked up the phone,

called Kim,

said, "Listen to this,"

and we played

some sort of

Chuck Berry-ish thing

or maybe "Wild Thing."

♪ Wild thing ♪

♪ You make my heart sing ♪

♪ You make everything ♪

♪ Come on... ♪

Man, Sandy,

we really connected.

That was the genesis

of The Runaways.

It was the heart.

What were your

first impressions of LA?

It was Rodney and Kim Fowley

walking down somewhere together.

Kim Fowley looked

like Frankenstein

if Frankenstein was on crack.

He had produced a couple

of very obscure novelty hits.

I think he was involved

with something

called "Alley Oop"

by the Hollywood Argyles.

I always loved the song.

♪ There's a cat

in the funny papers ♪

♪ We all know

Alley oop-oop ♪

♪ Oop, oop-oop ♪

♪ He lived way back

A long time ago ♪

Et cetera.

He flirted around

with working with me,

and I really didn't want

to get too involved.

One day, he said,

"Well, I've got a group going,

and they are The Runaways."

I said, "Joan,

let's go to the Sugar Shack

because there will be

some girls out there

who will know who you are."

We had a three-piece lineup

that we created

in the first month,

but I was so shy at this point,

it was obvious

I couldn't sing lead.

You know, I was...

I was too shy,

and I was embarrassed

kind of to be on stage.

The whole room was full

of miniature lipstick lesbian

teenage girls,

and then you had the gay boys

who were mincing around.

And a girl, Cherie Currie,

walked up

and in a stage whisper said,

"That's Joan Jett!"

♪ You better watch out

if you got long black hair ♪

I had heard

about The Runaways.

And there was this little bit

of a buzz going on

about this teenage rock group,

so when I met her, it was...

you know, it was a little,

"Wow, it's Joan!"

I said,

"You're either cruising her

because you're a dyke,

or you want to be

the lead singer of

The Runaways.

Can you sing?" "Yes."

"Good, you're gonna

audition tomorrow."

And then she brought

her twin sister up.

And I said, "I'm not

interested in a sister act.

I'm interested

in one Brigitte Bardot

fronting the screaming, loud,

obnoxious, rebellious girls

who can take over the world."

And everybody had big smiles

on their faces.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."

The Runaways!

I think Sandy came across

Lita by December of '75.

The three-piece was over,

and we had Cherie

and a bass player

named Jackie Fox.

♪ Can't stay at home,

can't stay at school ♪

♪ Old folks say

"You poor little fool" ♪

♪ Down the street

I'm the girl next door ♪

♪ I'm the fox

You've been waiting for ♪

♪ Hello, Daddy, hello, Mom ♪

♪ I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch...

Cherry bomb ♪

♪ Hello, world

I'm your wild girl ♪

♪ I'm your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch

Cherry bomb ♪

Kim and I wrote

"Cherry Bomb" on the spot

when Cherie came to audition,

and it became such an iconic

song for The Runaways.

♪ Bad nights

Causing teenage blues ♪

♪ Get down, ladies

You've got nothin' to lose ♪

When we were putting

The Runaways together,

it was based on Darwin.

Let's start with the evolution

of a man in show business.

♪ Hello, world

I'm your wild girl ♪

♪ I'm your ch-ch-ch... ♪

The guys just kept getting

more and more

and more and more feminine.

Elvis was feminine.

Sinatra was feminine.

Bing Crosby was feminine,

but if you keep getting

more and more feminine,

you're gonna get

to female, duh.

♪ Hello, Daddy, hello, Mom... ♪

What Jimi Hendrix said

about women

playing rock 'n' roll

and when they do, they'll be

looked at like aliens.

In our case,

it was absolutely true.

♪ Cherry bomb! ♪

If you look at the lyrics

of The Runaways,

you'll find that there

is an openness

that most teenage girls

did not have in real life.

Everything

happened really fast.

We were playing gigs.

We were in the studio.

We just cut the tracks live.

I was so into this idea

of girls being able to play

rock 'n' roll,

and that they'll play

as well as boys will,

and girls playing

rock 'n' roll

would be so cool and sexy

because it's never been done.

I thought everybody

would love it.

Once they realized

it was serious

and we planned to make

an album and go on tour

and do everything

the male bands were doing,

the tables turned

where it went from,

"Oh, cute, sweet,"

to "Slut, whore, cunt."

I've been hurt.

I've had my head split open

by a beer bottle,

a rib cracked by getting

a battery thrown at me,

like, a big metal rig thing

just because I was a girl.

You know, get spit on.

I mean, I just felt like

I couldn't leave the stage.

You know,

I'd go off afterwards and cry

just because they didn't get it,

and then I'd feel better

after I'd... you know,

cried a little bit, going,

"Why? What's with that, that

people need to be so hateful

because you're playing

rock 'n' roll," you know?

Some of the other girls

got tired of it,

and I don't blame them.

It was just that to me,

it felt like

that's what I had to do.

Tell me I can't do something,

and you'll make sure

I'm gonna be doing it.

Hey, I heard a story,

a rumor.

Someplace

where you're rehearsing,

what were you guys wearing

during the rehearsal?

I heard it was so hot,

the air conditioner

broke down, and...

What do you want to hear,

"Yeah, we took off our pants"?

I remember early on,

one of my first interviews

where people probably asked me

about sex in the band.

And I thought to myself,

if I answer this question,

that's all The Runaways' music

will ever be about, is sex.

I have to talk about music.

It has to be about music.

Because just being girls

exudes that sexuality.

We don't have to talk about it.

They don't know

what to say

about an all-girl band

besides the fact

that we're just a band.

They don't know where to put us,

and so they just say, well,

we're young,

we sing about, you know,

slightly outrageous things,

rebellious things.

So they stick us in that field.

I was sitting around my house,

and I found an old copy

of Crawdaddy magazine,

it was a review of The Runaways

where the guy just

slammed the shit out of them.

The stuff he didn't like

about them is all the stuff

that everybody loves now,

the fact that they were young

and sexy and female.

We were all sort of rejects

in terms of the industry.

A lot of the criticism

that was heaped on them

was very negative

and condescending

and, you know, misogynistic.

Especially

with mainstream press

in, like, the mid-'70s,

You know,

people are fucking stupid,

and they'll do anything

to create an article,

to create some kind of outrage.

Rolling Stone

hated The Runaways.

The only time

they wrote about us,

"Runaways get arrested and

thrown out of Disney World."

We were in a line

taking a photo,

and we put our arms

around each other walking.

"That's it! Lesbians, out!"

But if you listen

to The Runaways,

those are bad-ass rock songs,

and they kick the shit

out of almost everything else

that was out at that time.

♪ ♪

Women were stepping out

as rebels.

Women were getting pissed off

in the culture.

They were getting out there

and kicking some heads.

The guys

were turning into fags,

and the women were turning

into John Wayne.

♪ Hey, you, the air

Is pretty thick tonight... ♪

At this point,

there were signs

the women's-lib movement

was really taking root.

It showed so much promise.

All it meant to us was that

we could do what we want.

♪ We don't care what we do

Is right as long as we do it ♪

♪ We don't care

What we do is right... ♪

Kim took us to see

Clockwork Orange

and Rollerball, and afterwards,

he turned to me and Cherie

and said,

"That's what I want

The Runaways to be."

What he did in rehearsal,

you know,

throwing stuff at us,

calling us names,

that was our boot camp.

We were preparing for exactly

what we walked into.

Kim could come off

pretty intense,

but I wasn't afraid of him.

Kim is the, you know,

most controversial part

of The Runaways.

There were people

who loved Kim,

and there are people

who actually despise him

and think he

was a kind of Satan.

My mother liked Kim,

and he would be on the phone

with her for hours.

He talked to her a lot,

you know, I mean,

probably more than any

of the other mothers

and was probably

the most friends with her.

I think she felt reassured,

but she also knew

how the other mothers

were hesitant.

My parents told me

I could be anything

I wanted to be

when I was five years old,

and I believed them.

So that's the attitude

as a young child

that I took into life.

I wanted to be an astronaut.

I wanted to be an archaeologist.

I wanted to be

all different things.

You know,

I didn't realize, really,

there was this glass ceiling.

When they got me

that guitar for Christmas,

the electric guitar,

I was thinking,

most parents wouldn't do that.

She always had

this inner confidence

that she knew what she wanted.

She didn't care

what anybody else thought,

even when she was young,

and it's, you know,

the single vision,

and that's how she was, always.

My rebellion, as they say,

was not against my parents.

What I saw, that society,

with all this lip service

to women,

women's lib and all that,

I saw that it was... bull.

♪♪♪ Rows and flows of

angel hair ♪♪

♪ And ice cream castles

In the air ♪

There were a lot of girls

who didn't want to be

Joni Mitchell, you know?

They wanted to rock.

The heaviest ones

would drink with you,

do everything with you,

but they were always

in that sidecar role,

and then along came

The Runaways.

Joan Jett

was nobody's sidecar.

♪ ♪

It was

a very male-dominated

rock-'n'-roll scene

in the 1970s,

and the women that were

making music at that time

were in kind of stereotypical,

"I'm a singer-songwriter,"

had a different

kind of cultural power.

♪ In overdrive ♪

♪ Cobra kings ♪

♪ Wet and wild ♪

♪ Love the devil

That's in your smile ♪

♪ Let me tell you

What we've been doin' ♪

♪ Neon angels

On the road to ruin ♪

♪ Let me tell you

What we've been doin' ♪

♪ Neon angels

On the road to ruin ♪

Rock radio did not play

a lot of women artists.

The FM stations at the time,

there'd only be

one female artist

on the air per hour.

This was like a literal policy

of radio stations.

♪ Let me tell you

What we've been doin' ♪

♪ Neon angels

On the road to ruin... ♪

How many radio stations

are playing

this kind of music

in the United States now?

- Do we know?

- I would think almost none.

Maybe like one or two

in New York, one or two in LA.

But from what I've

read about it, there's no music.

It's just chords and ranting

and raving and putdowns.

- Uh-uh-uh-uh.

- No, it's more than that.

I think

it's a B-movie on record.

They were young,

they were hot,

and their music spoke

about who they were

and about their generation.

I mean, it was heartfelt

and mentally correct.

I feel it's a vacuum

because we're living

in a fragmented '70s

where there's so many

different things happening

that there isn't one Beatles

or one Elvis Presley.

It hasn't come yet,

and here we are almost in 1980,

and we're still looking over

our shoulders at the '60s.

There's an inflection

point in every generation

where new ideas bubble

to the surface

and express themselves

in new ways.

The world had never seen

a band like us.

I felt that England got us more

and did take us seriously.

We were selling out

wherever we went.

They seemed to get it.

Kids my age in England

had a much wider exposure

to different kinds of music

and would embrace it.

The Sex Pistols were a huge

part of the British punk scene.

We got a chance to see some

of the punk stuff up close.

Really influenced me.

So I kind of went over

as a glitter person,

came home dressed as a punk.

♪ There's no point in asking,

You'll get no reply ♪

Yeah, so I used to buy

a lot of my accessories

at a sex store,

S&M fetish store

called The Pleasure Chest.

I bought this great ring belt,

and I used to wear that.

We were hanging out

on a houseboat

that we had rented for a month

to record in London.

Sid and Nancy came over

to the houseboat one night,

and he liked my belt,

and so I gave it to him.

Nobody in the United States

was wearing, like, safety pins

on their leather jacket

and all the chains...

and, you know. She was a real

punk rocker in California.

Nobody was a punk rocker.

I mean, she lived that.

♪ 'Cause we know

What we feel... ♪

The Runaways from USA.

Thank you, we're

really happy to be here.

When we got to Japan,

you know,

that's when I felt,

"Wow, thousands of girls,

like, treating you like

the Beatles."

I mean...

I know it sounds funny.

That's the only way

you could describe it.

They love

their music stars over there,

but it felt like we tapped

into something else

with female audiences.

I thought it was exhilarating,

but just because I thought

"That's powerful, man,

it's all girls."

The more I thought about it,

I realized,

"Wait, Japanese women

are treated sort of like

second-class citizens there.

So these teenage girls

were feeling

the power of The Runaways

saying, "No, we can do it."

The studio audiences went nuts.

Oh, God. Oh, boy.

Okay, why don't you just

tell me about...

Oh, they all know you very well,

but why don't you tell me

about how this band was made?

It wasn't until Japan

where we actually got

a paycheck.

We knew something was wrong

when we weren't

really getting paid.

We'd have to ask for money

for Tampax

or a hamburger on the road,

and there was

always some excuse,

but yet we were selling out

everywhere,

and there were the t-shirts,

and there were all the kids

and the fans.

In the middle of the tour,

we got this booklet.

It was an all-color booklet.

It said "The Runaways."

And there was like

a tiny picture of all of us,

and then it was like foldout

soft-core porn shots

of Cherie all the way through.

Kim made a very bad mistake.

He set up a photo session

with the Japanese for me.

Next thing I knew,

there was a complete tour book

with, you know,

me in my corset.

We're, like, going,

"What the fuck is this?"

And we were all really annoyed

by the fact

that Cherie had done it

and that she

didn't say anything to us.

And the girls

really thought

that I had done that myself,

but Kim did things like that

that caused damage to the band

that just could not

be fixed after a while.

You know, they ended up

not trusting me at all,

and that caused me to separate

myself a lot from the girls.

And Joan and I had been very,

very, very close.

Jackie had left from Japan

kind of a broken child,

and I was the second to go.

After she left the band

and after our Japanese tour,

I didn't follow

what she was doing right away.

Obviously, there were parts

of me that was very hurt

by that because we were close.

You know,

a band is like a family.

No! No!

If you wanna see "Cherry Bomb,"

find Cherie

because we're fucking tired

of that song.

Shortly thereafter that,

they fired Kim Fowley.

I think Kim's

biggest mistake in life

was not recognizing

that Joan Jett

was his great star

and his great discovery.

Joan took over

the front person's role,

which she earned

and which she deserved,

but it changed the perception

of the band by the industry

because the industry

was so focused on Cherie

and the blonde-bombshell look,

and that's haunted

not just the music business

but all entertainment formats,

TV and film, for years.

What you do when

your iconic lead singer

just is gone, you know,

and you gotta step up?

It's kind of incredible

that she, you know,

had the balls to even do it.

So do you have a new

record or anything coming out?

Nope.

No we're going to Europe,

right,

two days after the Whisky,

and we're gonna record

in either London or Berlin.

♪ Blue-skinned

Sleeping boys ♪

♪ Man,

You're lookin' wasted ♪

♪ Greasy wheels,

Streets of steel ♪

♪ No tellin' what ya tasted ♪

We did "Wasted"

on the TV show

Old Grey Whistle Test

when we were in London.

First time The Runaways

were on TV

with me as lead singer,

which was really scary.

♪ Sad you are so shattered ♪

Everything was just

kind of splintering.

I felt the album was going in a

very heavy direction musically,

and I could feel

a camaraderie between Sandy,

Lita and this producer,

John Alcock,

and I was not part of it.

He drove a wedge between Sandy

and Lita on one side

and Joan on the other

that destroyed the band.

You know,

I'm not gonna get fired

from a band I started,

so we're not on the same page.

So I should probably

let you guys do your thing.

You know, we'd always

been close enough to laugh

and all that stuff,

and you could tell

those sort of elements

were leaving.

You know, you felt like

you had to walk on eggshells,

and I didn't want to fight.

You know, I loved these girls.

It was our baby.

♪ It doesn't

Really matter... ♪

I remember at the end

of The Runaways period,

she, you know, gained weight

and was really bummed out

as it was closing.

If they had, you know,

proper management, you know,

they probably would have gone

a lot further a lot longer.

How did I personally deal

with the crumbling

of The Runaways?

I drank a lot starting

at 8:00 in the morning.

Not a good thing.

Not a good way to deal

with things.

No, it got heavier than that.

Definitely.

Felt like LA was totally

laughing at me going,

"We told you it wouldn't work.

We told you

you couldn't do it."

She moved to Sunset

and San Vicente

in that weird house

across from the Whisky.

It was decadent, honey.

I would go by there,

and it was like

tons of people all over

the living room,

and I remember being

with Chrissie Hynde,

and Chrissie's like,

"Honey," to Joan,

"You gotta pull it together."

Her friend Lisa called

and said, "Joan's very sick.

"I have to take her

to the emergency room.

She's sweating.

She's very sick.

Something's wrong,"

and she had a heart infection.

And she ended up in Cedars,

and it was pretty scary.

I'm lucky I'm still here.

I know my mom

was really worried about her.

It was a really hard time.

She was really depressed

because she had high hopes

for The Runaways.

It is funny

that it's a heart infection

because she did have a broken

heart for losing The Runaways.

I was angry.

I didn't know how to make sense

of a world

that would give girls shit

for playing guitars, you know?

Like, "Don't you have important

things to be upset about?"

I thought, you know,

I'm gonna fucking kill myself.

Accidentally,

but I'm gonna do it.

I gotta do something.

What can I do?

Maybe I'll join a branch

of the military,

straighten up,

learn something.

I considered that because

I didn't know what else to do,

but we still had

some legal obligations.

We had signed to do

the music for a movie,

and even though the band

wasn't together anymore,

I cannot get sued,

I can't afford to get sued.

I need to write these songs.

I went through

a few offers to produce them,

and I wasn't really interested.

Although I was intrigued

by five crazy girls

who were attractive,

took a lot of drugs,

made good music,

and the band broke up.

And they were teenage girls

so they didn't care

about commitments

or responsibility.

I probably would have

turned it down again.

I was in England.

Joan Jett

was the only one left

who was gonna live up

to the commitment.

They had eight days to create

six songs when Toby called me.

Before John Alcott,

I had thought of Kenny Laguna

as a guy who might produce

this Runaways album.

He blew me off.

I went back to Kenny Laguna

because I'm obviously

a masochist.

"I know you're

a good songwriter,

and I really think

that you'd click with Joan."

My wife Meryl

said to me,

"I've been reading

about Joan Jett.

I think she's significant."

I was in the studio

with him,

and I used to read

"Melody Maker" and the "NME,"

and there was a picture

of The Runaways,

and Joan just popped

out of the picture.

I said,

"I think this girl's got it."

And we went and stayed

at the Riot House,

the Hyatt House on Sunset,

and Joan walked in the room

with Toby,

and I saw this girl

with a black leather jacket,

and she was a little beat up

by then.

She was drinking.

She was hanging

out with Sid Vicious

and Stiv Bators,

Sid's girlfriend Nancy,

and a bunch of people

who all ended up dead.

She had a sad look in her eye.

She was

this lost waif,

and your heart

just went out for her

'cause you could see she was

so upset and destroyed by it.

You know,

I was pretty much a mess.

Hi, guys.

But he saw something.

I don't know

what it was, you know?

He bought me a pair

of pants first, though.

Because

he couldn't write songs

with a person

with ripped jeans or something.

We head into the studio,

and I said,

"We'll cut the tracks

with the session guys,

and then we'll put

your guitar on.

It's no big deal."

She goes,

"Then it won't be a record,"

and she wasn't kidding,

but I dug it.

One, two, three, four!

So we fulfilled the contract.

It wound up being on

some weirdo porn movie,

which was not

what we signed up for.

Joanie Jett, she's got the

greatest voice I've ever seen!

Now, I went out to California

to meet Joan

with a fella named

Ritchie Cordell.

I said, "You know, Ritchie,

I think we can we have hits

with her.

I think we should make her

a partner."

"What, do you wanna fuck her?"

"We're gonna steal

her money."

I'll never forget it.

♪ I want you like I never

wanted anythin' else... ♪

But I knew that this girl

should be a partner.

She was that unique.

Things were definitely

looking up.

I felt good, I felt, "Okay,

I've got someone to talk to,

to write music with.

Let's see where this goes."

♪ Yeah! ♪

And then I took her

to England.

I had a flat

on the Kings Road,

and every day,

we'd go to Ramport,

The Who's studio, and

record the Joan Jett record.

I was

introduced to Kenny

by a guy called Peter Meaden,

a real character,

and in so doing,

he also came to me with

an artist called Steve Gibbons,

and Kenny produced the album

for Steve Gibbons,

a fantastic album.

♪ Go ahead on, Tulane ♪

♪ He can't catch up

With you ♪

♪ Go, Tulane, he ain't

Man enough for you ♪

♪ Go, Tulane,

Use all the speed... ♪

But the thing he's got

extra is he's got great ears.

He can produce.

He knows what he wants.

I was born

in the Village,

and my parents were...

predated hippies and beatniks.

They were Bohemian.

They started me on piano

lessons five years old.

I learned Mozart and Bach,

and then

I saw "Jailhouse Rock,"

and he was doing art,

and he still had a Cadillac,

and that was all

I needed to know.

When I was about 16,

I moseyed into New York City

and started hustling.

They gave me a songwriting job

at Kama Sutra Records,

and their specialty

was bubblegum music.

♪ Sugar ♪

♪ Oh, honey, honey ♪

...which was coined

by Neil Bogart,

the great record exec.

♪ You are my candy girl... ♪

Kenny Laguna did

some great stuff pre-Joan.

I don't know where we would've

been without that guy.

He was a bubblegum hero.

Our generation,

when we were kids,

that's what the music was.

No guilty pleasure.

It's just like, "Look, we're

making this music to make money.

"We're gonna

sell it to kids.

"We're gonna turn it into,

like, you know,

records that are on literally

the back of the cereal box."

All the songs were,

like, about, like,

naughty sexual things

that they sort of acted

like they were about candy

and bubblegum.

♪ Yummy, yummy, yummy

I got love in my tummy ♪

♪ And I feel like

a-lovin' you ♪

♪ Love, you're such

a sweet thing... ♪

One of our little sayings

was "Don't bore us.

Get right to the chorus."

But something weird happened.

When the punks

got on the scene,

they didn't like

Crosby, Stills, and Nash.

They hated Neil Young.

They thought those bands

were pretentious.

I am a hook guy.

Kenny and I share that.

I like a hook.

Problem with bubblegum

is that sometimes,

it's was so saccharine, for me,

it was almost unlistenable.

There was a lot of shared

DNA between bubblegum and punk.

Bubblegum was short,

to-the-point little songs

with hooks

and an ass-kicking beat.

And that was punk.

♪ They're going

Through a tight wind ♪

♪ The kids are losing

Their minds ♪

♪ The blitzkrieg bop ♪

I was making 100 grand

when I was 17.

I remember my father said,

"You should try to save

some money."

I said, "I can have a hit

anytime I want."

By the time I was 19,

bubblegum died,

but we wanted to be cooler

than bubblegum.

I did a soundtrack album

for Andy Warhol,

Lonesome Cowboys,

and I used orchestration.

I was putting horns on

and then strings

without much of a plot line.

Just very effeminate guys

dressed as cowboys

hanging out together,

and I remember giving

a spiel to Andy Warhol

and Paul Morrissey

about the art,

and Morrissey said,

"Don't talk to us about art.

We hired you

because we want money."

It was very shocking to me

because I grew up

with artists

who thought it was gauche

to want money.

I really

liked Kenny

from the first moment

I met him.

I don't know why.

I always have.

I remember saying to Kenny,

maybe getting a bit bored,

I don't know,

but just saying, you know,

"Go talk to Bill."

- Stop all this shit.

- Oh, Bill! Oh, my God.

- How you doing?

- What's all this shit?

What affected me

was their self-belief,

but under the self-belief,

there's a fear,

"Oh, is it ever gonna happen?"

Or, "Are we ever

gonna get a break?"

And for me,

life's about that.

And Bill said to Kenny,

"You know what?

"Why don't you just go

into our studio, Ramport,

do what you gotta do

and pay us when you can?"

Now I'm in business.

And that was the start

of their relationship and ours.

I'll tell you all

about this girl.

I'll tell you the truth

about this girl. Mwah!

It felt you were kind of

blessed by, you know,

the rock-n'-roll gods,

and then we were like,

"Well, we want to tour

this music.

This is great."

So we needed to form a band.

And went back to LA,

put an ad in The LA Weekly

or something and said,

"Joan Jett looking

for three good men."

I remember very clearly

going to the audition.

I knew all The Runaways songs

because as a 13-year-old kid,

14-year-old kid,

I'd been at home

playing along with the records.

♪ Hey, you must obey ♪

♪ Or you will bleed, you know

I need to get my way... ♪

And Joan knew me from

the punk scene.

I kind of knew in my gut

that there's no way

I could play with girls again,

certainly not right away

because it would only

be compared to The Runaways,

and that was not good

on any level.

We got

the Whisky A Go Go,

and we picked the worst night

of the week,

which was Tuesday,

and we played there every week

for a month,

and by the time

we were done with that,

we were on the map there

in LA.

All of a sudden, there's...

there's a lot of chicks here.

I'm kind of getting into it,

and by the last gig,

I was like, "Well,

wait a minute, they're...

they're looking at her."

You've got

this weird punk rocker

who has an extraterrestrial

good voice,

and then you have someone

who's worked in the business

of making bubblegum music.

♪ I was caught

So unaware ♪

♪ When you made other plans ♪

She brought menace,

and I brought a lot

of pop sensibility.

♪ More than you

Could stand ♪

♪ You don't know

What you've got ♪

♪ You don't know

What you've got ♪

♪ You don't know what

You've got till it's gone ♪

You mix that together,

and you've got, like,

a Molotov cocktail

that's gonna, like,

totally do some... damage.

First one we wrote was

"You Don't Know What

You've Got Till It's Gone."

To me, you know,

Kenny was taking my life.

You know,

I guess being a therapist.

And the more

we knew each other,

the more she trusted me.

♪ You don't know

What you've got ♪

♪ You don't know what

You've got till it's gone ♪

Joan sort of needs

to experience heartache

to write about it.

♪ I gave you love

So true ♪

♪ But you ran away ♪

♪ So you just don't know

Whatcha blew ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

Kenny actually

was looking for record deals.

So Kenny would send

the tapes in.

We sent it to all the labels,

all the majors, all the minors.

That was 23 labels,

and we got back 23

rejection letters

all saying,

"You need a song search.

No songs here.

Maybe if she loses the guitar."

These people heard five songs,

four of which were top-20 hits.

That can't be a song search.

That's you don't have ears.

We asked for no money.

Just put out the record.

I know it had something

to do with my image,

The Runaways, the girl.

I think Kenny thought it

was going to be a lot easier

than it ultimately

turned out to be.

My mom

was an outrageous feminist.

She used to drive the car,

and my father sat where

everybody else's mother sat.

So when I met Joan

and heard about The Runaways,

I never really thought

it was, like, weird

or groundbreaking

until I tried to promote her,

and I ran into these...

walls, these brick walls.

An interviewer

who once said to her,

"When you're playing on stage,

do you feel like a man

or a woman?"

And I was like, what?

Could you ever see

yourself getting married?

No, you know,

I don't like to knock

the American dream

or anything...

Do you ever

want to have children?

No.

If you really want

to be a musician, now,

that's where you gotta really

do some soul-searching

and decide, do I want

to be a musician,

or do I want to be

a flash in the pan

and ride in limos for a week?

You gotta decide what you want

to do with your life.

♪ Are you in the mood

For a lot of singing? ♪

♪ Are you in the mood

For a lot of singing? ♪

Kenny Laguna came over,

and he literally

pulled out the map.

He's like, "Look, here's Boston,

New York, Washington, DC.

Look at all these towns."

In LA, there's

a limited amount of cities

you can hit when you're

a poor band

and you're struggling,

making every penny count.

He just convinced us

on the spot

that we would move

to New York.

♪ Yeah... ♪

It was a circuit.

There was The Rat in Boston,

The Malibu

and My Father's Place,

Privates and The Ritz

in New York,

The Left Bank in Westchester,

these places

that were incubators

for rock bands,

and they'd give you $500.

Didn't cover much.

But you had

a lot more opportunity

to play and survive.

♪ Yeah, oh, yeah... ♪

We got a minor deal

in Europe.

That was the beginning,

but we couldn't get

anything going in America.

And all of a sudden,

we find out

that we are

the number-one import.

The record's on the radio,

and nobody wants

to be our label.

I'm seeing something going on

that I can't put my finger on,

but I know we're tapping

into something.

So it gave me the courage

to empty our bank account.

My daughter was just born.

She's only a couple months old.

And we started a college fund,

so there was like $3,000

or $4,000 in there.

I mean, it was like

I jumped off the diving board,

and I was hoping somebody

was gonna put water in the pool.

But we discussed

about, you know,

"Let's print up

these records.

We'll make our own records...

nobody's gonna sign us.

We'll take music

we believe in so much

and just do it."

Our first office

was, more or less,

Kenny's big,

huge Cadillac.

And so we had this big

old 1976 Sedan de Ville

We used to always have

records in the trunk.

♪ Temperature

Is running high ♪

You know, we'd hang out,

and there'd be a little crowd

of 30 or 40 people,

and we'd sign autographs

and then if anybody

wanted the record,

we had the trunk

full of albums.

And it wasn't done.

In those days, you did not

sell records at gigs.

It wasn't part

of the landscape yet.

♪ Yeah, yeah,

Do you wanna touch? ♪

♪ Yeah!

Do you wanna touch? ♪

♪ Yeah! Do you wanna

Touch me there, where ♪

♪ Do you wanna... ♪

And that was the beginning

of Blackheart Records.

We're not getting

any traction?

Like, fuck it,

we'll put out our own records.

I don't know if that came out

of a punk aesthetic.

Maybe it did,

or maybe it was just

that they were just punks

before they knew it.

Oh, you mean

I don't need to have someone

trying to discover me?

I can actually

just do this myself?

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

In the beginning,

the first gig we did

was at The Malibu

in Long Island.

Fifty-four people came.

Twenty-five of them were

my guest list for my neighbors.

The next time

we played there,

they had to shut down

the Southern State Parkway.

♪ My, my, my,

Whiskey and rye ♪

♪ Don't it make you feel

So fine? ♪

♪ Right or wrong,

Don't it turn you on? ♪

♪ Can't you see

We're wastin' time, yeah? ♪

♪ Do you wanna touch? ♪

♪ Yeah!

Do you wanna touch? ♪

♪ Yeah! Do you wanna

Touch me there, where ♪

♪ Do you wanna touch?

Yeah! ♪

The way that Joan

and Kenny have done things,

it inspired people

to make their own labels

because people figured out

that they don't need

a bunch of guys

in suits and cigars

and cash to start a label.

♪ No, no, no! ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ Do ya, do ya? ♪

And I think it was

in a bar in upstate New York,

and a big tour manager...

I'll never forget him

saying this

because at this club,

the line was around the block,

and when we got in,

he said to me,

"Remember these days.

This is the best time

you're ever gonna have,

and never take it for granted,"

and I never have.

- ♪ Yeah ♪

- ♪ Fuck you ♪

- ♪ Yeah ♪

- ♪ Fuck me ♪

- ♪ Yeah ♪

- ♪ Fuck everybody ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

Is that something

that gnaws at you,

the fact that they'll take you

seriously fronting a male band,

but they wouldn't

take you seriously

being an all-girl band?

I think audiences

are forced to listen more,

and they're more accepting

than maybe the business.

Like, I think

the record companies

haven't come far at all.

Until women get into

the position of A&R men.

Oh, I'm sure she

had to go through a lot of,

you know,

"I can play guitars

just as good as you can,

motherfucker," you know?

"Just 'cause I'm a girl,

don't think I can't play."

I know very

few men that can play like her.

You know, she's ferocious

when she plays that guitar.

Out of nowhere,

an old friend of mine,

the head of Buddha,

Neil Bogart, decided to help us.

Neil ran

Casablanca Records,

which had KISS,

but they were a disco label,

basically.

♪ I love to love you,

Baby ♪

I mean, this guy knew senators

and presidents and made movies.

He was really

into what we were doing,

and that was so different.

I liked it

'cause it felt like

he was shoving it up

people's ass.

He helped me put out

the Joan Jett record,

which he renamed

Bad Reputation.

He never checked with us.

It completely pissed us off.

He said,

"You're a cult marketer.

I'm a mass marketer.

I have two Rolls-Royces.

That makes me a lot smarter

than you, Kenny."

We were selling so many

more records than we knew about

because the factory

was printing them up

and selling them

out the back door.

You gotta be very careful

how you handle it

because the guys

doing that are...

thugs.

So you don't sue them.

Neil knew how to handle that.

We went, and we took

our own money,

and we made

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll."

And people just didn't do that.

Today, it's common.

I had seen this song

that was a B-side

of another song,

I saw it on TV.

It was called

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll."

I'm like, that's a hit.

The Runaways

didn't want to do it,

and so I did a version

with the Sex Pistols

and Steve Jones

and Paul Cook.

I thought their version

was a little unsophisticated,

a little sophomoric.

I thought we could make

a better record.

So once I was with Kenny

and we formed

The Blackhearts,

it was something

that I wanted to try,

and the rest is history.

♪ I saw him dancin' there

By the record machine ♪

♪♪ I knew he musta been

About 17 ♪♪

♪ The beat

Was goin' strong ♪

♪ Playin' my favorite song ♪

♪ An' I could tell

It wouldn't be long ♪

♪ Till he was with me,

Yeah, me ♪

♪ An' I could tell

It wouldn't be long ♪

♪ Till he was with me,

Yeah, me ♪

♪ Singin'

I love rock 'n' roll ♪

♪ So put another dime

In the jukebox, baby ♪

♪ I love rock 'n' roll ♪

♪ So come and take your time

And dance with me ♪

Ow!

MTV started around

the same time we were starting.

I was brought up

to believe television

is the enemy of rock 'n' roll.

♪ It's all the same ♪

Les Garland

started harassing me.

He was one of the heads of MTV,

and he just begged me,

and I said, "Okay,

but you're only allowed

to play it two times a day."

He was playing it 16 times

a day and freaking me out.

There was very little

I could do about it.

It was number one

for eight weeks.

♪ He was with me,

Yeah, me, singin'... ♪

But I felt

that in retrospect,

the second four weeks

it was probably number one

because all of a sudden,

the image went on.

I mean, I love rock 'n' roll.

Fuck, of course I love

rock 'n'... I'm in.

I kind of wanted to be,

like, you know,

the guy version of that.

It was kind of, "Aha,

I told you so," in a way,

but, look, it's real.

We're good.

It wasn't, "I'm good."

It's, "We're good."

It's a team.

It's an effort,

a team effort,

and we were all out there

to make this music.

Things rapidly

changed immediately after that.

♪ The police were waiting

When the sun came up ♪

♪ Better move your ass

Or we'll really get rough ♪

Touring the United States,

Canada, Japan, and Australia...

- Joan Jett!

- Joan Jett and The Blackhearts.

We just traveled

the world.

We went down to Panama.

It's like if there's trouble,

we go.

So we get there,

and we get a message.

Noriega wants Joan,

and he sends his plane

to pick up Joan.

You couldn't really

tell him no.

We tried to weasel out.

Luckily for us,

less lucky for him,

there was some bad incident

that happened

that saved our asses

because he was serious.

He wanted to meet Joan Jett.

♪ You know I never meant

To cause anybody harm, no ♪

♪ Just a victim

Of circumstance ♪

- ♪ Didn't you know? ♪

- ♪ Just a victim... ♪

David Bowie

and Freddie Mercury

came up on stage

to watch Joan.

We're talking like

80,000 seats or something

in Leeds, England.

A few years earlier,

I was listening to him

on the radio, you know,

and all of a sudden,

you're on stage with him.

The fame and everything

didn't affect her

like I thought it would.

She didn't care about

the press conferences

and the parties

and this and that.

To her, playing was what

it was all about.

♪ I've been shut out ♪

♪ Let there be no doubt ♪

♪ I've never been afraid

Of chances I been takin' ♪

It was like you were

always one foot in the gutter

and one foot in...

possible stardom.

I can't even figure out

how to say it.

♪ I ain't that tough, no ♪

♪ Just a victim

Of circumstance ♪

♪ Didn't you know? ♪

♪ Just a victim

Of circumstance ♪

♪ Doesn't it show? ♪

♪ I'm just a victim

Of circumstance ♪

♪ Wherever I go ♪

♪ Just a victim

Of bad reputation

♪ I got no chance of shakin' ♪

It was surreal,

so surreal.

It went so far beyond me,

it made me realize

what people can do...

in general

if the circumstances are right.

First time I heard Joan,

I was in the car with my dad,

and it came on the radio,

and it was "Crimson and Clover,"

and I heard that voice,

and I was just like...

♪ Ahh ♪

Who is this person?

♪ Now I don't hardly

know her ♪

And then when she

would get to the pronouns.

♪ But I think

I can love her ♪

And say "she,"

I got really interested.

♪ Crimson and clover ♪

You could sing a song

about really caring

about another girl?

- ♪ Yeah ♪

- ♪ Ba da da da da da ♪

'Cause my friendships

were so important to me

at that age that I was like,

"Somebody gets me."

It's that sort of,

"Oh, my God,

she's gonna take me home

and fuck the shit outta me."

It's scary, and it's not

what people grew up with.

They're used to being

the dominant one.

They're not used to girls

using their sexuality

in a way

that they feel they own it.

♪ Ba da da da da da ♪

♪ Over and over ♪

You can say,

"Oh, people just want

to play music,

and they don't want it to

become about their sexuality,"

even if whatever they're wearing

or whatever they're doing.

But sometimes you do wanna

fucking be sexual,

and I think there's this thing

that women are supposed to act

like we don't wanna fuck,

too,

and that we don't

like sex, too,

that only guys like to fuck,

that we don't like to have sex.

The music scene

was a total boys club.

The analogy I always made

was Mick Jagger came out

in Madison Square Garden

riding a giant inflated cock.

And if Debbie or Joan

had come out

riding a giant inflated pussy,

all the fucking male critics

would've been running,

screaming for the exits.

If Mick Jagger

can transcend his sexuality,

so does Joan Jett,

you know what I mean?

It gives you

power to prove everyone wrong.

There's a huge energy in that.

It's so valuable to have

something to fight against.

♪ Over and over ♪

♪ Crimson and clover ♪

I think the attitude

is a really big one.

I think that's impossible

to miss, you know?

I wouldn't know

how to get Joan's sound

because I'm not technical

in that way,

but the attitude I picked up on

right away.

And that's something

that I want in my head

and my heart when I'm going

out there to do that thing

that's so scary

in front of all those people.

Well, because rock 'n' roll

is from the waist down

if you're doing it right.

Neil died

unfortunately of cancer

at 39 years old in 1982,

and at his funeral,

his mother grabbed Joan

and said

that record

meant more to Neil

than all the other hundreds

of hits he had had.

He said, "See?

I can do rock 'n' roll."

Boardwalk went out of business,

and we moved to MCA Records.

It was beginning

of Irving Azoff's tenure there.

MCA gave us

a multimillion-dollar deal,

and while Irving

was brilliant,

they weren't really ready

for a rock-'n'-roll band.

The album known as "Album"

didn't do as well

as I Love Rock 'n' Roll,

and the label kind of started

kicking the shit out of us,

and then we had

an urban-contemporary

pretty big hit

with everyday people.

Joan ran around

with The Commodores

and The Temptations

and Frankie Crocker.

♪ There is a yellow one that

Won't accept the black one ♪

♪ That won't accept

The red one ♪

♪ That won't accept

The white one ♪

It's yellow, black,

red, white.

And then

Glorious Results came out

and by then,

we were fighting with MCA,

and they kind of buried

that record.

Rock is a business for people

who can't do anything properly.

It's what only a shark

would be.

The situation at MCA

became so acrimonious

that they actually

did something unthinkable.

They actually went out

in the street

to try to stop people

from playing our records

to teach us a lesson,

and that was unconscionable.

It's one thing when they're

not helping you at all.

It's another thing

when they're coming after you

and trying to hurt you.

That's hard to overcome.

So what happened?

We were hot, hot, hot, hot,

and now we're cold, cold, cold.

We felt like...

we're back to square one.

Now, we could still sell out

almost any club in America,

but a lot of people

who left us for dead.

It's not gonna

be so easy this time, Patti.

You're gonna

have to prove yourself.

From what I can see,

you're not a fit mother.

I'd always wanted

to act since I was a kid,

and then out of left field,

I got an offer to do a movie.

It was called Light of Day.

There's a young woman

in rock 'n' roll today

who has long had the respect

of her peers,

and now she's breaking out

into the mainstream.

And since when are you

an authority on fit mothers?

Since when are you

an authority on anything?

- This can wait, right?

- I ain't staying in this house.

How did Kenny put it?

Rock 'n' roll cancer movie.

Paul Schrader

of the movie Taxi Driver

and movies like that

wrote this movie

and was also directing it.

People who

haven't done a lot of acting,

but they're natural performers

it's because they're able

to access stuff.

They're able to go to places,

look at things

from a different angle,

and as kind of rock-hard

and stoic as Joan may seem,

she's a very curious person,

and she would test the limits

of where she thought

she could go

and bring in new things

and new emotions.

I've seen other actors

manufacture

and summon up for roles,

but you always see

the work behind it,

whereas with Joan,

she just had that.

I told her. I warned her.

I was real clear.

I told her if she mentioned

church or rock 'n' roll

or marriage, I'd walk out

of the room if I was in it,

hang up the phone

if I was on it.

She can't bring up those

subjects no more.

- It was just prayer.

- Yeah, that's her trick.

Thought she could get away

with it. No way, man.

There's no middle ground.

It's her or me.

When she'd get there,

it'd be scary.

Whether she was acting

or she was playing,

she would get to a place where

you just don't fuck around.

Just let her do

what she's doing

and hope you don't get hurt.

♪ Just around the corner

Till the light of day, yeah ♪

Bruce Springsteen wrote

the title song for the movie.

Initially, Bruce

was supposed to play my role.

♪ Driving 500 miles,

Got 500 to go, yeah ♪

♪ I've got rock 'n' roll

Music on my radio ♪

She's sensitive

and emotional,

and things like loyalty and

friendship mean a lot to her

and empathy, and those are all

great qualities in an actor.

He said that you were

very patient with him.

He got the sense that as long

as he took what he was doing

seriously then you wouldn't

have a problem with him.

We treated each other

as peers in each other's worlds,

which was...

I thought was very helpful.

The relationship between

your label and yourselves

I think was capsulated

by Neil Bogart who said to me,

"Think of me as your surgeon.

And if you piss me off,

you're gonna die."

We were a really small

boutique label.

♪ Midnight, gettin' uptight,

Where are you? ♪

A big star machine

is available to you

if you're on Warner Brothers

or Columbia,

and that was what Joan missed

for most of her career

because that star machine

makes the difference.

♪ I turn my back,

And you're messin' around ♪

♪ I'm not really jealous... ♪

So there was a part of me

that always wanted the major.

So when we went to Epic,

we had our little honeymoon,

and then once again,

we had this monster

kind of holding us back.

♪ Away ♪

♪ I hate myself

For loving you ♪

♪ Can't break free from

The things that you do ♪

♪ I want to walk,

But I run back to you ♪

♪ That's why I hate myself

For loving you ♪

We fought like mad dogs.

Joan toured herself to death.

I was working day and night

going to radio stations

taking everybody out,

buying televisions

for their kids in their dorms,

you know, whatever I could

think of to get an edge,

and somehow we kept that record

alive for 17 weeks,

and then we were back,

and we had friends again.

Washington, D.C.

Only two miles

from the White House,

storeowners prepare for

another night of civil unrest.

The summer of '92,

there was a riot

in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood

of Washington, D.C.,

and that neighborhood was

filled with punk group houses.

There was a lot of women

who were very political.

This woman Jen Thomas said,

"We should have a girl riot."

So she said, "We should

be riot girls."

That was the beginning

of the Riot Grrrl movement

or whatever

you want to call it.

♪ Rebel girl ♪

♪ Rebel girl ♪

♪ Rebel girl,

You are the queen of my world ♪

♪ Rebel girl,

Rebel girl ♪

Two girls, Tobi and Kathi

from my band, Bikini Kill,

went to see

a Fugazi show.

And Joan and Kenny

came down for the gig,

and you can see her

in the back of this...

you know, on the side

of the stage just going off.

So they got

one of our demo tapes.

They must've had one

in their bag or something,

and then they wrote

"For a good time call,"

and they wrote

my phone number.

Phone rings, and I pick it up,

and it's like,

"Hey, Kathleen,

it's Joan Jett."

And I was just like, "Yeah,

whatever, who the fuck is this?"

"No, I was at the Fugazi show

last night."

She's like, "I heard

a demo of your band.

I think it's really great,

maybe we could work together."

I was just like,

"This really is not funny."

So I walk into

the living room.

We have this

Glorious Misspent Youth poster.

I said, "Okay, if you're

really Joan Jett,

tell me

what your hair looks like."

And she goes, "It's like

a bastardized, disheveled bob."

And I was like, "Oh, shit,

you are Joan Jett!"

I got such a kick

out of watching them

fight their fight because

their fight was my fight.

I'm not willing to deal

with the mainstream anymore

when they're constantly asking

me questions about sexual abuse,

about if I've been a stripper,

if I haven't been a stripper,

constantly just completely

sexist shit.

And probably on another level,

she related to it

because she's a woman,

you know?

And she had been,

of all people, in the trenches

in an era where women were,

you know, so marginalized.

I wanted to use music

to spread feminism,

and I thought punk

was a great vehicle.

I equated being on a major label

with, like,

"Oh, I'm gonna

start using drugs and die."

Kim and Thurston

from Sonic Youth

were really nice to us and would

let us crash on the floor,

but Joan was the person

who stepped forward

and said,

"I want to be involved."

She really understood

where we were coming from.

For lack of a better term,

you know, an updated version

of what The Runaways

were trying to achieve,

some kind of legitimacy.

She kind of

was the cement

that kept

a lot of things going

for some of the feminist bands

in the '90s, definitely for me.

I mean, she changed

my whole career path

and taught me

how to record a record.

When they did

that Bikini Kill record,

they produced a record,

which was I think

the best Bikini Kill record.

Joan's name is on there,

but Kenny's really...

he's involved.

He's working.

He's always in the studio.

I have to say, this kind of

ties in Joan pretty intensely.

I hadn't heard

of The Runaways.

One of the earliest scenes that

we were really interested in

was the LA punk scene,

and then The Germs' album

came out,

and that record was hugely

significant for us,

and Joan had produced it.

Wait a minute, that's the

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" person.

Like, that's crazy

that she produced this record.

She has been a part

of not only her own music

that she's produced

but also some of the greatest

punk music

that's ever been put out.

We have a few friends

for you to meet,

Mercury recording artist

Joan Jett of The Runaways,

and we have with us tonight

The Germs

performing at the Whisky.

What are you guys

gonna do tonight?

Same stuff we always do.

The Germs,

they were a pretty...

infamous LA punk band.

The lead singer, Darby Crash,

and the guitar player,

Pat Smear,

were huge Runaways fans.

Eventually, they started

this band called The Germs,

and they were hard-core punk.

Darby is some kind

of crazed Colonel Kurtz-like

shaman of teenage people.

Must have been '79

at some point before I moved,

they asked if, you know,

I would produce an album,

and I'm figuring you know,

they think I know what I'm doing

because I've made a couple

albums with The Runaways.

She didn't engineer.

That wasn't her thing.

Had a great sensibility.

She's like, "I think you gotta

tune the guitar, Pat."

It was a no-frills album

but just straight-up punk rock.

I was very proud of the record.

We needed

someone with ears

and someone with

a rock 'n' roll heart

and they're helping us

make a good record,

and she did that, by gosh.

She knew how to get us

to do the things.

And then the last day,

I partied too much

and passed out on the couch,

which Darby documents

in one of the songs.

♪ Joan Jett ♪

♪ Passed out

On the fucking set ♪

Since 1991, the hottest spot

in rock 'n' roll has been

Seattle, Washington.

Nirvana, Pearl Jam,

and Alice in Chains

all came out

of the local music scene.

Many people thought

the next breakthrough band

would be The Gits,

a punk-rock group

fronted by Mia Zapata,

a charismatic 27-year-old

with a tragic destiny.

Two of her roommates

finally broke down

and called the morgue,

where she... where she was,

and she was

an unidentified victim

at the morgue at that time.

She was found strangled

to death by her...

her hoodie tie,

raped, and left in an alley.

Somehow came up in the studio

with Joan, and she's just like,

"We gotta do something.

We gotta be involved."

Next thing you know,

she's, like,

singing The Gits songs

with the surviving members

of The Gits.

The thing

that really struck me

really hard at the time

was how it could've been

any one of us

and how many times, you know,

I've come home late at night

in that exact same situation.

She could've been me,

and I could've been her.

Then he slapped you

right across the face.

And there's no singing.

So it emphasizes that.

It was a very strange thing

because it was...

you're celebrating the music,

but it was about

such a horrible thing.

It's gonna blow their minds.

It's unbelievable.

It's like, really good.

How did you guys

make that very painful decision

to keep on playing?

Because Mia would be

really upset if we didn't.

When you see the footage

and you see how close they were

and you see Andy and Mia

joking onstage

and you see this rapport

and how close they were,

I mean...

It really had

to be devastating, you know?

Hey, we'd like to thank you

all right here real quick

for coming out to Viva Zapata.

Thank you for supporting.

All the money went

to charity.

To help protect women

walking home,

self-defense classes,

all kinds of stuff.

It was a big deal at the time

because women were getting

raped, murdered.

It was also to contribute

money for the private eye...

To find the guy

that killed Mia.

♪ But I think I know

It hurts me to be angry ♪

♪ Kills me to be kind ♪

I'll still

never forget the day

I got a phone call

from Steve Moriarty.

No hello, no nothing.

"We got him."

♪ So messed up

I want you here ♪

The mid-'90s, you know,

we were doing all

of these one-off shows.

You'd be going to

a crappy little town

doing a state fair not really LA

but three hours outside of LA.

I went through a phase where

I didn't really give a crap.

Because they were,

you know,

gigs that I felt we shouldn't

have been doing or whatever.

♪ Now I wanna

Be your dog ♪

♪ Now I wanna

Be your dog ♪

Our business is funny.

You're hot and important,

then you're not.

It was a bad feeling,

but I always felt

like we had to fight on.

We knew we had what it took.

We didn't stop working.

- And so...

- It was not fun.

Unless you've been gifted

in your 20s

with incredible piles of money

being thrown at you

by the system,

which almost all really,

really good musicians are not...

♪ Yes, and now I'm ready

To close my eyes ♪

♪ Yes, and now... ♪

You need

to exert incredible focus

on maintaining

your own identity

while still using a skill

to enter the system

without destroying yourself

as a force.

♪ Yes, and lose my heart

On burning sand ♪

Come on, Charleston,

I wanna hear you now!

You have to be really

willing to go anywhere with it,

up or down,

you know, sideways, whatever.

Joan, she gives it

100 percent

whether it's a state fair,

a sweet 16 birthday party,

or 10,000 people.

She still gives it her all.

No matter what.

I saw her live at

a summer music festival

here in Las Vegas,

110 degrees out, full leather,

up on stage

just ripping it apart.

'Cause this was mid-'90s

to late '90s.

We ended up doing

some private thing together.

I was like, "Man, I forgot

how bad-ass Joan Jett was,"

you know?

Rock 'n' roll animal, I mean,

is there was ever anyone

that fit that description,

it's Joan through and through.

I would say our period

during the '90s

was the most difficult.

If it was our fate to split up,

it would have been then,

but we stuck together.

Pretty scary sight?

It's a beautiful thing.

You know what?

I'm not trying to tell you

how to do lights or anything.

Doesn't it get cold

in the middle of the show?

We got a band here

from New York City

that have been performing

for soldiers for 18 years.

I wasn't for the Vietnam War,

but I also had people

in my family, like my godfather,

Uncle Nat,

who said, "You have

to serve your country."

So I started doing stuff

for the troops.

I feel it's really

important to give back

and serve on some level,

and since I didn't

in that capacity,

I feel like that's

the least I can do.

I never connected

the troops with the policy.

We put on a show,

packed house in Tuzla, Bosnia,

and you could see

her opening up

and trying to understand

what the people in that region

had been through, a very bloody

three-year conflict.

I'm an antiwar person

who loves the people

in the military.

I don't like the military

for the military's sake.

Isn't it scary

that kids fight the wars?

Yeah.

- It's scary that there's war.

- Isn't it?

It's scary

that they're fighting

because there

are two religions

and they can't just be

curious about each other

instead of dominant

over one another.

Long ago, we decided

that was the tack

we were gonna take

as species, you know,

that we were gonna dominate

instead of sort of merge.

♪ Oh, look good in latex ♪

♪ Get off having rough sex ♪

When 9/11 happened,

the first thing I thought of

was we gotta get over there.

They said they didn't want

the band.

They wanted just Kenny and I.

They wanted to keep

the footprints light.

People were just incredulous.

"Why are you here?"

We said, "We're here

'cause you're here.

We just want to say thank you."

The way she interacted,

there was nothing artificial

about it.

Others would come,

put on a show and leave.

Joan stayed.

I got so much

positive feedback

about how she made them feel.

And, oh, my God,

I have to say this.

You lifted up your arm,

and you've got hair

under your armpits

and no hair on your head!

I love that!

It's genius! It's genius!

You sound like my producer,

Kenny Laguna.

Will you show that again?

Now what are you doing?

Why can't you guys

get off my back?

Because it's such

a lovely back.

Do you want to lick it?

No, I don't wanna lick it.

- There's no hair on it.

- I don't care.

It's almost like watching

The Odd Couple a little bit.

There's something

about those two.

There's a special bond

and chemistry that they have

between them.

Kind of like George and Gracie

in reverse or something.

Can't you just keep your

thoughts to yourself for once?

You've been saying

the same thing over and over

and over and over all day

since I woke up.

Well, 'cause you said

as soon as I wouldn't

hand you the thing,

then you had to storm out!

I'm not arguing

with you anymore.

You can tell there's

a deep love for each other

and that they're

inseparable people.

They're alter egos in a way,

aren't they?

They're twins

from different fathers.

In a sense.

And I guess that happens

with most good friendships.

I think people get so stuck

on relationships being...

a sexual relationship or having

to be a romantic relationship.

What is it

with your best friend

that you hit things off

with so easily?

You know, you actually know

what the other guy's thinking.

You tune in,

and I suppose

that's what they've got

going for them.

People don't find this

in their life partners.

People don't have the love

they have in marriages.

That's why they don't

stay together

as long as Kenny and Joan.

It's a marriage

without the sex, really.

Um, it's a mentor marriage.

People literally

are fucking married

to people that they hate,

and then you see these two.

I'm putting this on just so

it'll be done for the future.

This is going in the trash.

No it's not.

I'm sending it to Caesar.

No. You'll just make

another one, Kenny.

I don't care.

I'm sending it to him.

No you're not, he won't be

able to get the tape off,

and it'll mark up the stuff.

He's gonna do... I know him.

Don't give me a fucking face.

Kenny is just...

He's just the classic

New York dude

that just loves music,

and he's a really caring person

that loves Joan

and just loves rock music

and just wants it

to just prevail.

Out, please.

I gotta get changed.

I'm sending it to

The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

It's the one you almost wore.

He's a hard-core

feminist man.

He is totally

just a contrarian.

And he likes to fuck

with everything

anybody says ever.

They're a family

with each other,

and they're interdependent

on each other.

They really are partners.

Sure, it's dysfunctional.

Everything's dysfunctional.

But it's like

it's my kind of dysfunctional.

And people want

to tell, I guess, everyone

how to be and who to love,

but you can't help

who you love,

and you can't help

what your relationship

is with them either.

Whenever

they appear to be at odds...

Just wait until it blows over.

Because it does, it blows over,

and ten minutes later...

not even, five minutes later,

they're acting

like it never happened.

Best friends are supposed

to annoy you a little bit.

They gotta push your buttons

a little.

They keep you alive.

So it's an extraordinary

situation.

You won't see another one

like it, really.

So the years went by.

Even though we were having

some profile,

we were not making money.

Carianne

came back from Colorado,

and Cari came on board.

When I got there,

my father was ready

to sign Rick Derringer's

Christian album.

It was "Rock & Roll,

Hoochie Koo,"

and instead of "Rock & Roll,

Hoochie Koo,"

it was "Jesus Christ,

Hoochie Koo."

My father always

had this philosophy of,

"If they're a friend,

we will put it out."

You know, she was like,

"I'll stick around,

but we've gotta treat this

like a real label."

And she had grown up

in the business

but also had the attitude

of a young person.

Like, I didn't want iTunes.

iTunes to me was the enemy.

I'm selling

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" for $17.

I don't want to sell it

for a dollar.

She finally talked me

into doing it,

and the first month,

we sold 70,000

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll"

downloads,

and we were in business.

Cari came in,

and boom, boom, boom, boom.

I had a meeting

with Kevin Lyman,

who owns The Warped Tour.

The Warped Tour

was this hip thing,

and it was kind of

a weird concept for Joan

to go on The Warped Tour.

I think at that point,

Joan was not feeling

as inspired and my father, too.

I didn't see the fire

that I saw

after The Warped Tour.

It reignited her,

and it reignited the passion.

How's everybody doing?

Wow, look where we are.

This is so pretty.

I was actually born

in Pennsylvania.

And

you're traveling around the US

and playing in parking lots,

and I'm like, "Whoa,

Joan Jett and The Blackhearts

are gonna be on this tour?"

Joan's a real rock star,

and we just all want

to be rock stars.

I just will forever have

that mental image

of Joan on her BMX bike

with camo cutoff shorts

and big black sunglasses

just riding around

hanging out with everyone.

You could just see

she was having fun,

and she was reminded of what

it was in the beginning.

♪ It ain't mine ♪

♪ It ain't yours ♪

♪ But I'm here ♪

♪ I ain't going anywhere ♪

♪ It ain't his ♪

♪ It ain't hers ♪

♪ It's for all ♪

♪ Is that something

We can learn? ♪

Your motivations

in order to survive

doing something like that

can't be, like,

fame and fortune.

You know, it has to be

the overall package

of, like, I'm going to be good

at every single element of this

or work at every single element

of this.

Seeing that as a younger

musician at the time,

you know, those are the people

I want to learn from.

♪ Gotta change

this world ♪

From there,

we found our voice.

We found our next chapter.

She runs the company now.

I think that's just

a beautiful cycle of life

when you see it

right in front of you.

We wanted to be a place

that said yes to people

and gave a platform

for young bands

that didn't fit into any kind

of typical major-label box.

There's a lot of bullshit

going on right now

with a dum-dum in office,

so we're musicians.

We have a platform,

people paying attention

to our music and lyrics.

She always let us speak freely

because she does so herself.

So in my final stay

at the state,

I was giving advice

to the new governor

that I've taken from someone

who I admire,

and they all know

that I love Joan Jett,

and so I just gave

one of her quotes

where she said, you know,

"Be yourself.

That's the way

it's supposed to be."

A lot

of musicians, entertainers,

they develop a degree of success

and notoriety

from their work,

and frequently,

they're less inclined

to take a stand

because that might alienate

a segment of their audience.

Joan, on the other hand,

is very outspoken.

When I came out

in 2012 as transgender, um,

Joan was one of the first people

to contact me to just say, like,

"Hey, you know,

if you need a friend

or someone to talk to,

I'm here."

♪ Well, now,

Don't get him wrong ♪

♪ And don't get him mad,

He might be a father... ♪

And it really...

it meant a lot to me, you know,

that there were few people that

I felt like I could relate to

at that time and few people

that, you know, I felt like

I had any kind

of shared experiences with,

not just, like,

being in a band

but when you're talking

about gender fluidity.

♪ Androgynous ♪

♪ Closer than you know,

Love each other so ♪

I know she championed

for women's causes

and LGBTQ causes,

and that's all great,

but I don't think

she's mushy about it.

♪ See no damage ♪

She's straightforward

about it.

This is the way it should be,

and fuck you...

if you don't see it that way.

♪ Kewpie dolls

And urine stalls ♪

♪ Will be laughed at the way

You're laughed at now ♪

I wish that more people

who were in a position

to use their voice beyond

just the art

that they create, you know,

would do that.

The way we interact

with animals

says a lot about who we are.

When we treat them with cruelty,

it says something.

When we treat them

with kindness,

it says something

very different.

The way our culture

thinks about animals

or doesn't think about them

and their lives

and how they think and that they

feel pain and that they scream.

Chickens recognize each other

by their faces,

just like we do.

What do you want

Norway to do?

Stop supporting

the seal slaughter in Canada.

Joan has always shown up.

She speaks out for animals.

She speaks out for people who

don't have enough of a voice.

Most people

don't think about it.

Animal rights

is human rights.

You know, humans are animals.

We all have the capacity

to feel pain,

to feel fear, to suffer.

And I'm not trying

to demonize people

that do eat meat, and I try

not to preach to them,

but I do talk to people

about it if they're curious.

What have you been writing?

What are you doing?

Where you been?

How you doing?

Well, between watching

The View...

'Cause I watch it...

Yeah. I watch every day.

I did a movie.

I executive produced

a film about my first band

called The Runaways

that had Kristen Stewart,

Dakota Fanning in it,

thank you.

♪ Blonde bombshell

Better wear it well ♪

♪ Your mama says

You're going straight to hell ♪

In a rehearsal,

before

we actually shot "Cherry Bomb,"

I was, like...

couldn't commit to it,

just felt like I was traipsing

on something.

I'm not good at rehearsal.

So she was like,

"What are you doing? Come on.

You know this. You got this."

I was like, "I know, I know.

I know, I know. I do got it.

Don't worry."

And she was like,

"Pussy to the fuckin' wood."

And I was like, "All right."

It's funny,

'cause, like, rock 'n' roll

is supposed to be messy

and fuck it,

nothing matters,

but it's truly the opposite

of that for her.

She has, like, a diligent

almost, like,

compulsive, like,

dedication to it.

And then was just like,

"Kristen...

pussy to the wood."

♪ My brain began to fry ♪

I think

the most surprising thing

is just how emotional

she is,

and I guess in retrospect

it makes total sense.

You look at the music,

and it definitely has

this kind of precious,

gritty,

girly, feminine snarl

that could only come

from somewhere

that's a little self-protective.

So here is a lady

who I can't believe

is not in

The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame

who should be.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Joan Jett.

We all have

our fucking heroes, you know?

And we made friends

with one of our fucking greatest

rock-'n'-roll heroes.

She made Pat want

to fucking start a band,

made it okay to be

fucking dirty and cool

and play rock 'n' roll

like a real rock-'n'-roller.

♪ I'm worse

At what I do best ♪

♪ And for this gift

I feel blessed ♪

♪ Our little group

Has always been ♪

♪ And always will

Until the end ♪

♪ Hello, hello, hello

How low ♪

♪ Hello, hello hello

How low ♪

♪ Hello, hello, hello

How low ♪

♪ Hello ♪

♪ With the lights out,

It's less dangerous ♪

♪ Here we are now,

Entertain us ♪

♪ I feel stupid

And contagious ♪

♪ Here we are now,

Entertain us ♪

♪ A mulatto, an albino ♪

♪ A mosquito, my libido ♪

Hey, just 'cause you wore

a cape doesn't mean I gotta.

You know what?

I had a cape.

And I left it at home because

you were wearing a fucking cape,

and now you're not

gonna wear the cape?

- Can I wear her cape?

- Yes.

Try it on.

Depending on what

you think is a normal,

regular life,

being in a band,

you know,

you're pretty much all consumed

with it, yeah.

Is that healthy?

I don't know.

I'm not a doctor.

Probably not super.

But, you know,

it's what I enjoy.

I think it makes it

sort of difficult

to have relationships.

I would think that would

probably be...

I guess if you call it

a sacrifice, that would be it.

To say music is my mate

would be pretty fair statement.

And I get a lot from it.

But it's not...

it's not a person.

And I think I know

the difference.

I'm gonna start off

this induction

with the first time I wanted

to have sex with Joan Jett.

And we were doing Oprah

together,

and I go up to Joan's

hotel room,

and Joan opens the door,

and I come in,

and Kenny Laguna

is laying in bed.

And I don't know

what the fuck is going on.

Oh, looks beautiful.

You look beautiful.

That's it.

You're wearing the cape.

Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

I know there isn't one other

person on this planet

that's been an inspiration

to me like you have, and...

Is being famous

important to you?

I want a certain

sort of fame.

Like when they write

the ultimate

rock 'n' roll history book,

I want my name to be there,

you know,

standing for something,

like being one of the first

females to really,

you know, play rock 'n' roll

and have that sort of

rock-'n'-roll spirit.

Hi!

I think people

don't think of her like,

"Oh, you know, feminist",

like, immediately,

but the visceral experience

of Joan is

a feminist experience for me.

Watching the way she holds

herself like a normal person,

not like someone

who is self-conscious

and trying to be a good girl.

Here's somebody who was born

to do this and is doing it.

There's just those rare times

where you feel like

someone was put on the planet

to show you

what rock 'n' roll music is.

It could be Bowie.

It could be Kurt Cobain.

It's definitely Joan Jett.

I was really gonna try

not to cry and be tough,

but that's

a little overwhelming there.

Thank you very much.

First off, I really want

to acknowledge my parents,

Jim and Dottie, who can only be

with us in spirit,

which I know they are.

Hey, Mom and Dad,

did you ever think

that Christmas guitar

would lead to this?

I want to be a release.

I want to be a hard release,

a good release,

a primal release.

You do a primal scream,

but it's not at someone

or breaking something,

it's, "Aah!" just into the air

about appreciation

being alive, you know?

This is a family

that's been together

since 1979 and never wavered

from each other.

It's all of us.

We all get support and love

and strength from each other

and feel like we can go

to each other when we need to.

And I think

that's really important,

to be able to feel vulnerable

to the people you work with

and be able to feel like

they've got your back.

If you want to get really deep,

there are no two things.

We're all one.

I want to tell you

a story about Joan

being a wonderful woman.

I want to tell you a story

about how people say

that she opened the door

for women in rock.

And I don't think she opened

the door.

I think she took out

a sledgehammer,

and she knocked down

the whole damn wall.

♪ I don't give

A damn 'bout my reputation ♪

♪ You're living in the past

It's a new generation ♪

♪ And a girl can do

What she wants to do ♪

♪ And that's

What I'm gonna do ♪

♪ And I don't give a damn

'Bout my bad reputation ♪

Ow!

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Sometimes I feel like

I've been here before ♪

♪ It's like the past knocking

On my door ♪

♪ Sometimes I feel like

I'm standing still ♪

♪ Or better yet

I'm runnin' up a hill, hey ♪

♪ Sometimes I feel like

I need a crutch ♪

♪ Sometimes I feel like

It's all too much ♪

♪ Sometimes I wonder

What are we in for ♪

♪ And if I wanna do it

Anymore ♪

♪ I need a fresh start,

Let's go back to the top ♪

♪ Rewind the tape

And reset the clock ♪

♪ This time

There's no turning back ♪

♪ Hey! ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ So you say

You're not satisfied ♪

♪ And you want

A bigger piece of pie ♪

♪ Take my advice,

Don't hesitate ♪

♪ Before you know it,

It'll be too late ♪

♪ To make a fresh start

And go back to the top ♪

♪ Rewind the tape

And reset the clock ♪

♪ This time

We're not gonna stop ♪

♪ That's right, a fresh start

And go back to the top ♪

♪ Rewind the tape

And reset the clock ♪

♪ And this time

There's no turning back ♪

♪ All right ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Yeah, yeah, yeah, ow ♪

♪ Sometimes I feel like

I've been here before ♪

♪ Is that the past knocking

On my door? ♪

♪ Sometimes I feel like

I'm standing still ♪

♪ Or better yet,

I'm running up a hill ♪

♪ Don't wanna hear

That you're feeling old ♪

♪ Times are tough,

You better search your soul ♪

♪ There's some time

For one more dance ♪

♪ We may never

Get another chance ♪

♪ To make a fresh start

And go back to the top ♪

♪ Rewind the tape

And reset the clock ♪

♪ This time

We're not gonna stop ♪

♪ That's right, a fresh start,

And go back to the top ♪

♪ Rewind the tape

And reset the clock ♪

♪ This time

We're not gonna stop ♪

♪ This time

There's no turning back ♪

♪ This time

We're not gonna stop ♪

♪ This time

There's no turning back ♪

♪ This time

We're not gonna stop ♪

♪ This time

There's no turning back ♪

♪ This time

We're not gonna stop ♪

Subtitles by explosiveskull