Joan Jett & the Blackhearts – I Love Rock ‘n Roll
#quotefromthe80s
And I could tell it wouldn't be long
'Til he was with me, yeah, me, singin'
I love rock 'n roll
So put another dime in the jukebox, baby
#JoanJett #Blackhearts #ILoveRockNRoll
The month of November 1981 was about to give way to the Christmas ceremonies of the 80s (but in that period rituals were very different from the current ones), when a song was released and it quickly became a real symbol of rock music, as the song mentions, but the kind of 80’s rock that would soon lead to metal. Actually, the song had come out several years earlier, in 1975, and had a particular story that also concerns people of a certain degree of notoriety.
Yes, because in 1975 Rolling Stones had launched a song destined to become an important column of their repertoire entitled It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (but I Like It), with a famous video in which they appeared dressed as sailors. It was probably the first contribution from Ron Wood, who had recently joined the band.
However, someone felt a little offended by the song, or rather, felt they had to defend the honor of rock from this song. In those times Mick Jagger, who was certainly a symbol of transgression, actually frequented high-ranking personalities, members of the aristocracy and the jet-set in exclusive night clubs and international contexts with great satisfaction. So, many interpreted this song as a kind of apology gesture, as if to say, yes dear friends in high places, it’s true that I play rock which is a very popular music, but I really like it, so excuse me for that.
In particular, an English musician, Alan Merrill, who was the leader of a group called The Arrows, a rock group of course, felt touched firsthand, because rock and whoever played it had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of or apologize for to rich and aristocrats. Alan then decided to compose an answer song, almost straight to Jagger’s song, just to proudly claim the fact of playing rock music. And of course, this song was called I Love Rock and Roll.
The song was a good success, and when the Arrows performed on Top of the Pops they were so successful that the producers even decided to give them an entire TV show, The Arrows Show, which aired between 1976 and 1977. Among the viewers of this broadcast, a girl who played and sang in a band, Joan Jett, totally fell in love with this song, bought the record… and remembered it a few years later.
We finally get to 1982 with the very famous cover of Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, who were a group created by the production company, Blackheart Records, where Joan Jett was looking for a new career after the breakup of her previous group, The Runaways, a girls band including, in addition to Joan, Lita Ford and Michael Steele who will later join the Bangles. The Joan Jett version has a title with a missing ‘: I Love Rock ‘n Roll
The video for the song was filmed in a New York club called Private’s. Joan Jett and her crew recorded the video surrounded by an audience of true fans, and they were delighted with the video…until they saw the result. They hadn’t realized that many fans were dressed in red or purple colors, and Joan also had a red leather jacket. In short, the video was a whole big red spot, really painful for the viewers’ eyes. They finally managed to create a black and white version, and they discovered that with these shades the video had exactly that slightly retro but very rock look that Joan was looking for!
I Love Rock ‘n Roll starts climbing the charts and it will reach number one in the US in few months. It will stay for seven weeks at number one, before leaving the place to Ebony and Ivory by Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney, staying at number one for seven more weeks.
One last note regarding the lyrics of the song: Joan had changed the lyrics, because the original Arrow version was sung by a man trying to get along a girl, while Joan Jett turns the matter into a feminine one, trying (and succeeding) to bring home the boy she noticed by the jukebox. And of course, that made Joan Jett, in her very first experience, a tough girl in the world of rock and music – and she wasn’t even twenty-five yet!
Joan Jett on Wikipedia
Visits: 180