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The Story Behind The Songs

The Story Behind The Songs

The Story Behind The Songs

Joan Jett “I Love Rock And Roll”

Author Donielle Flynn
Joan Jett (photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

Before we get to the story of Joan Jett “I Love Rock And Roll,” we need to get to the story before that. In 1974, The Rolling Stones released the album and song, “It’s Only Rock And Roll.”  David Bowie sings background vocals and it marked the first time that Ron Wood (not yet an official member) contributed to a Stones song.  While the song was meant to show love for rock and roll, not everyone took it that way.

” I almost felt like ‘It’s Only Rock and Roll’ was an apology to those jet-set princes and princesses that he was hanging around with – the aristocracy, you know. That was my interpretation as a young man: Okay, I love rock and roll. And then, where do you go with that?” Those are words from Alan Merrill’s interview with songfacts.com.  “I Love Rock And Roll” was written by The Arrows lead singer Alan Merrill and their guitarist Jake Hooker as a knee-jerk response to The Rolling Stones’ “It’s Only Rock And Roll.”

The Arrows “I Love Rock N Roll”

Was “I Love Rock And Roll a Hit For The Arrows?

No.  The Arrows released it as a B-side to their song “Broken Down Heart.”  By the time they made the decision to release “I Love Rock And Roll” as an A-side, the band was fighting with their record label and there was a newspaper writers’ strike so the song didn’t get much attention.   The shining light was The Arrows’ performance of “I Love Rock And Roll” on a TV show called Pop 45.  The show’s producer was so impressed with their performance,  that The Arrows were given their own TV show, The Arrows.  The show ran for two seasons from 1976-1977.

The Plot Thickens…

In 1976, Joan Jett was touring the UK with The Runaways.  Joan saw The Arrows perform on their TV show and she bought the record “I Love Rock And Roll.”  Joan brought the song to her band and said she thought they should do a cover of it.  The rest of The Runaways didn’t like the song and passed on it.  Instead, in 1979, Jett recorded it with Paul Cook and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols and released it as a B-side. In 1981, Joan Jett recorded a second version of the song with her band The Blackhearts and it became one of the most successful covers of rock history.  Here’s the 1979 version with Paul Cook and Steve Jones. Joan Jett is such a badass.

 

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock And Roll” went to #1 for seven weeks in 1982.  MTV had launched just months before the song was released.  The video was in black and white and stood apart from other videos.

Joan Jett “I Love Rock And Roll”

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, but there are plenty of ladies still waiting on a nod.

10 Women Artists Who Have Yet to be Inducted into the Rock Hall

From May 2011 to February 2012, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame featured an exhibit called “Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power.” From September 2012 to August 2014, the exhibit traveled around to various museums in the United States. It made its final stop at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. While at that museum, I was given a private tour of the collection of over 70 different performers. These performers ranged from Janis Joplin and Tina Turner to Chrissie Hynde and Stevie Nicks.

The exhibit’s artifacts dated back to the 1920s and traveled through to the present day. My tour guide made sure to point out that one “unusual” woman was responsible for the exhibit’s existence. On a visit to the Rock Hall, Cyndi Lauper took a tour of the museum, and she noticed that something was missing. “She very simply said, ‘Where the women at?!,” said my tour guide, and that was the impetus for that exhibit.

Frankly, the same question can be posed about the Rock Hall inductees in general.

RELATED: A Salute to the Women Performers in the Rock Hall

Rock Hall’s chairman John Sykes has made a point in a number of interviews to point out how the Rock Hall needs to evolve. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Sykes said, “…it’s time to take the Hall to 2.0. That means a more diverse board, that means more women, people of color, people who reflect the kind of music that’s now being inducted. We have to look and feel like the artists that come into our Hall. That’s just the natural transition.”

Eventually, we’d like to see the ten women artists in the gallery below inducted. They all more than deserve it, and there are plenty of others that still do. Truth be told, this list could be even longer than just ten. Howver, we’ll save our extended rambling on this matter for another day.

 

Donielle Flynn has two kids, two cats, two dogs, and a love of all things rock. She’s been in radio decades and held down top-rated day parts at Detroit, Philadelphia, and Washington DC radio stations throughout her tenure. She enjoys writing about rock news, the Detroit community, and she has a series called “The Story Behind” where she researches the history of classic rock songs.

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