Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

• Genre: Riot Grrrl
• Joan Jett & The Blackhearts Website

About

Joan Jett was the musical muscle in the short-lived Runaways, an all-female glam/bubblegum band put together by notorious Hollywood scenester Kim Fowley at the tail end of the mid-1970s glam rock craze. The band imploded before it had any real success and it wasn't long before the charismatic and talented Jett was fronting a hard-rocking combo. The leather-clad, Gibson-wielding singer-songwriter and her three-man backing group known as the Blackhearts toured incessantly before putting out the sublimely rocking "I Love Rock n' Roll." It became a monster hit -- and one of Jett's signature songs. Jett and the Blackhearts were an on-again/off-again chart presence until the late '80s, and in the late '90s Jett went solo and became the spiritual godmother of the riot grrrl movement, producing seminal acts like Bikinikill and Bratmobile. Into the millennium, she continued her aggressive stance on stage and off, hefting an M16 at Fort Bragg to show support for US troops and appearing in the Broadway cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Her 25-year-old record label, Blackheart Records, continues to release albums by young punk bands. Jett released her 20-somethingth album, Sinner, in 2006. She still loves rock 'n' roll.

- Will Lerner