Joan Jett may now be known as the Godmother of Punk. However, it was thanks to her chutzpah that the Runaways co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and I Love Rock ’n’ Roll hitmaker got to play electric guitar in the first place – especially after being told by her guitar teacher that she could only play folk music on an acoustic guitar.

“People will call us, just saying you couldn't do it. Girls can't play rock and roll,” she tells Kathleen Hannah on the Music Makes Us podcast. “All of it is just a joke, because I'm in school next to girls playing Beethoven and Bach on violins and clarinets, and they're saying girls can't play rock and roll.

“No, what they mean is girls aren't allowed to play rock and roll socially, because rock and roll is sexual by its nature,” she says matter-of-factly.

“I took the one lesson and left and never went back. I got to learn how to play guitar by myself and just played to my records. All those kinds of things, [I] always turned it into, ‘Okay, I'll show you.’ And then you find other people who can relate, and you have people to fight with.”

Despite being discouraged by her guitar teacher, Jett reveals her parents were the ones who supported her pursuit of electric guitar early on – even when they couldn't quite understand her passion or the industry she was in.

“I said, ‘I want to play electric guitar. I want to play rock and roll.’ They could hear me playing records – it was a variety of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, T. Rex, [and] David Bowie. They bought me a guitar for Christmas – one of those Sears Silvertones,” recalls Jett, joining the ranks of guitarists like Paul Gilbert, Steve Cropper, and Bootsy Collins who all began their journey on Sears guitars.

“My mom would drive me to rehearsals, would take us to gigs, pick us up places… She was supportive,” she continues, “and I found out years later, after the fact, that my father would come to shows, Runaways shows – because I thought that he hated the whole thing, and maybe he did, but learned to love it – but he was in the back of the clubs and saw the Runaways shows.

“And I never really got to talk to him about it, but I know he was there,” she concludes.

Jett previously talked about the rejection she faced when she decided to go solo post-Runaways, with “23 rejection letters” from different labels to prove it. She eventually set up her own label, Blackheart Records, alongside collaborator Kenny Laguna, to release her self-titled debut record in the States.

From her teenage beginnings in The Runaways to her steadfast run with her solo project, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, which spawned hits such as I Love Rock ’n’ Roll and I Hate Myself for Loving You, The Godmother of Punk – Joan Jett – has proven to be a trailblazer in every sense of the word.

However, when Jett first wielded a Gibson back in the ’70s, girls were still told that electric guitars, coupled with rock, weren't for them.

“It would have been okay if I had an acoustic guitar, but it was the fact the electricity made it like 'you're not allowed,’” Jett tells RNZ. “And it’s like, what do you mean I'm not allowed?

“You’re saying I can't play it, but I have girls in my class next to me playing Beethoven and Bach on violin and different instruments, so you’re not saying I’m not capable of it; what you're saying is I’m not allowed to.”

Like Fanny and The Liverbirds before them, The Runaways faced an uphill battle – and when Jett went solo, even more so.

“We have 23 rejection letters to prove it,” Jett recalls. “We sent them five hits, we sent them five hits, right? All songs that became hits here in the States, and they sent us a variety of rejection letters from uninterested with no reason, to ‘lose the guitar’, to my favorite, ‘you need a song search’.”

Five decades on, Jett is a bona fide legend – but doesn't shy away from relating her experiences and addressing the bigger issue.

“It felt to me that we were on the cusp of the girls breaking out,” she said in a 2017 Guitar World interview. “We were one hit away from opening the door for everybody else. But there was always resistance from radio. Like, only one girl gets to be played at a time.”

Earlier this year, Lita Ford, Jett’s former bandmate in the Runaways, spoke about the challenges the band faced in carving their own path and cracking the glass ceiling for women in rock.

Ricky Byrd – who helped Joan Jett make songs like I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll and I Hate Myself for Loving You famous in the ‘80s – takes a calculating approach to guitar.

“I’m always trying to be a little tricky,” he says. “After I finish my lines I’ll go, ‘Let’s see those motherfuckers try and figure that one out!’” [laughs]

He became sober 38 years ago, while still a member of the Blackhearts, and it’s an important aspect of his playing. But he says he wouldn’t change a thing about his past.

“I have zero regrets about what I had to get through to get here. It’s the way it was supposed to go. I’m sorry if I hurt people or wasn’t up to my potential, but them’s the breaks.”

He recalls that most of his debauchery was off stage, adding: “I’m not saying I was never hungover on stage. But I could count on one hand the number of times I was really blasted onstage. It was really after the show, and I did it in excess.”

He reflects: “I get people telling me, ‘I’m clean and sober, and I still listen to your music. It helps me stay that way.’ What more can you ask for as a recovery guy and a songwriter?”

How often do you play guitar these days?

“There’s an acoustic in the den and a Strat sitting at the couch, but I usually pick up the acoustic. I don’t do it as much as I used to – as you get older, there’s life stuff that you gotta do. I used to sit play for six hours to blues records, but that’s long in the past.”

Do you feel like you’ve settled into your sound, or is it still changing?

“The record I have out now, NY Made, is my sound now. There’s nods to what I grew up on, which I put in on purpose. I saw the AI answer to the question, ‘What does Ricky Byrd sound like?’ and I agree with most of it – melodic solos and focus on rhythm. Voice-wise it had me pegged.”

Do you still use a lot of gear from your days with Joan Jett?

“Not at all. I can’t even tell you the last time I used a Marshall amp. When I go, ‘Let’s try a Marshall,’ and we put it in, I go, ‘I don’t like that!’ Marshalls hurt my ears these days. I strictly use Fenders. I have a tiny pedalboard with the essentials – tuner, overdrive, delay, and maybe a chorus, straight into a Fender amp.

“As far as guitars I’ve got an ES-335, a couple of Les Pauls from the early ‘70s, and a Franken-Tele, which is body parts, with nothing Fender about it – but it sounds amazing! And I have a ’73 Tele.”

Would you tell your younger self to steer clear of Marshall?

“Oh, no! I loved the way they sounded back then. But now it’s not getting the sound I want for the music I play. In fact, my favorite live amp is a 15-watt Fender Pro Junior from the early ’90s. It’s got two knobs – volume and tone.

“When I had a Marshall stack I’d put them side by side with a 100-watt head. I took a couple of tubes out and got it down to like 50 watts. The Blackhearts were a loud band – which I’m sure has something to do with my hearing at this point!

“I had Fenders then too, but for the Blackhearts I needed Marshalls. I think Joan was using a Music Man, if I’m not mistaken. But my go-to sound with her was Marshall; that was right for me.”

How do you look back on what you were able to accomplish with the Blackhearts songs?

“There wasn’t much thought given to them! The written song is one thing, but in the studio I’m an on-the-fly person. I don’t really work out my solos in advance. I like that panic mode when they hit the record button, and you go through five takes of a solo, and pick the best one or maybe comp it.

“Back then, if I remember correctly, I would do a rhythm part, Joan would do a rhythm part, then when it came time for the solo, I’d sit in the studio, hit record and see what would come out. I might have given it a bit more thought for the I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll solo.”

How so?

“At the very beginning I pulled for the demo version she did with some of the guys from the Sex Pistols. I remember asking Leslie West, ‘How should I go about this song?’ He said, ‘Play a melody.’ And if you listen to Mountain’s stuff, it always had a melodic style to it. I think my playing does that, you know?”

What made you the right player to team up with Joan at that time?

“The combination of our playing. Our styles and influences cross on some things, but I was more of a blues and rock guy. Joan had a more punk influence. But we both love T. Rex, and glam, and my stuff has glam undertones. We came at rock ‘n’ roll from two different angles, which made the sound.”

How do you feel your sobriety has impacted you as a player?

“Has my playing gotten better? Oh, yeah. Have my vocals gotten better? Oh, yeah. Has my songwriting gotten better? You guys be the judge. But you can listen to my records, and everything got better.”

Do you have any regrets about the way you played before you got sober?

“You can’t have regrets. Everything happened the way it was supposed to happen. Was I good back then? Yeah – but I’m a way better player now, and a way more interesting player. I think of things now that I would never have thought of back then. I still play with reckless abandon, but my reckless abandon is… better!”

There’s a song from NYC Made called RnR’s Demise (Has Been Greatly Exaggerated). Can we assume that you feel guitar-driven music is in a good place?

“My point is that the music business for rock ‘n’ roll is in pieces right now as far as getting airplay. The opportunities are not what they used to be when I was with Joan, or even before that.

“It’s very rare that rock ‘n’ roll breaks into the top 40, but there are people who are playing Madison Square Garden that I’ve never heard of, and they’re rock ‘n’ roll bands. They make it happen because they tour a lot – but even that’s different. It’s difficult to make a splash, but I’m very excited because I’ve gotten amazing reviews.

“With that song, my point was that there’s a garage somewhere in Sheboygan with a bunch of 14-year-olds bashing away, with the neighbors banging on the door for them to turn it down! There will always be that.

“So I don’t believe rock ‘n’ roll is dead or dying; it’s just suffering. Could it come back? I guess so. But I don’t know.”

• NY Made is on sale now via Wicked Cool Records.

Joan Jett’s 1981 anthem I Love Rock ‘n Roll is an electric guitar – and air guitar – classic, and Ricky Byrd says he received some crucial advice from Leslie West before tracking its guitar solo.

The song was originally written by the Arrows' Jake Hooker Alan Merrill in 1975. Jett, who reportedly saw the band perform the track on TV, brought it to the Runaways with the view of covering it. Though the idea was dismissed, she revived it when she went solo at the start of the 1980s.

Speaking in a new interview with Guitar World, Byrd – who served as Joan Jett's guitarist at the time, and helped her track the I Love Rock ‘n Roll record – says he didn’t put much thought into his solos across the album, seeing himself as an “on-the-fly” player. It brings the best out of him.

“I kind of like that panic mode when they hit the record button,” he says, “and you go through things where you do five takes of a solo, and you pick the best one, or maybe you comp it.”

That being said, he confesses to approaching I Love Rock ‘n Roll with a little more pre-planning. For that, blues rock legend Leslie West stepped in to lend a hand.

“At the very beginning of it, I pulled for the version she did on the demo with some of the guys from the Sex Pistols, if I remember correctly,” he explains. “And I do remember asking Leslie West, ‘How should I go about this song?’ He said, ‘Play a melody.’

“I remember that as if it were yesterday. He said, ‘Make sure it’s a melody.’ And if you listen to Mountain’s stuff, it always had a melodic style to it. I think my playing does that, you know?”

Byrd isn’t the only guitarist that West gave some melody-driven advice to. When recording his first solo album, Joe Bonamassa was told he’d be West’s favorite guitar player if he only played fewer notes. Likewise, Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre has also recounted how West influenced his playing on one of the prog legend’s most iconic songs.

The full interview with Ricky Byrd will be published in the coming weeks.

The latest child prodigy to wow America’s Got Talent has continued his hot streak with a crowd-pleasing cover of a Joan Jett classic.

Stepping into the quarter-final stage, 10-year-old Bay Melnick Virgolino delivered his take on I Love Rock and Roll with oodles of shred during a performance brimming with confidence.

With the kind of name destined to be up in lights, Virgolino first picked up an electric guitar aged four. Six years later, he stunned AGT judges during his audition by nailing a Lenny Kravitz cover on a PRS Guitar nearly as tall as him.

Here, he’s stayed faithful to PRS, but has swapped his gold SE DGT for an S2 22 Standard, complete with chrome 58/15 humbuckers.

He wastes no time in encouraging the crowd to clap along, rifling through the riff and ripping into his first guitar solo of the spot, courtesy of some tasty pentatonic licks.

After some time behind the mic, he delivers a second, even more impressive solo right in front of the judges. It includes some speedy playing, slick descending runs, and ends in an explosion of confetti.

“You're so young, but you came out with this real attitude and stage presence,” judge Simon Cowell gushed. “You absolutely nailed that.”

Fellow judge Mel B was a tad harsh on his vocals, but admitted, “Your guitar playing was on point.”

Virgolino also earned the praises of former Megadeth guitarist Kiko Loureiro, who has been coaching, mentoring, and supporting the young shredder on his journey to guitar stardom.

"So proud of [Bay Melnick Virgolino] for that amazing performance at America’s Got Talent!" he wrote on Instagram. "Loving being part of his journey as his coach and mentor."

AGT is becoming a melting pot of young guitar stars, with the likes of percussive-acoustic maverick Marcin and fellow pre-teen starlet Maya Neelakantan making their names on the show.

Neelakantan has since jammed with Testament on stage and hung out with Jason Becker among other delights. Virgolino may soon find himself following in her footsteps.

Ricky Byrd spent over a decade playing alongside Joan Jett as a member of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, with his contribution to what many consider Jett's golden era earning him a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Now, the guitarist, who has just released his fourth solo album, NYC Made, is looking back at that heady era – and reflecting on the electric guitar gear changes that he's since made.

“I was a Marshall guy back then with Joan,” Byrd tells Guitar World. “Now I literally cannot listen to Marshalls. I use a lot of small old Fender amps. That all came about after I went to see Jeff Beck play at the Iridium in New York, Les Paul’s old club.

“Jeff was using two small Fender Pro Junior amps – 15 watts, two knobs – Volume and Tone, and that’s it. So I went on eBay and found one. I just mic it up and it’s loud as shit. And I can carry it with two fingers.”

Beck wasn't the only guitar great who inspired Byrd's gear choices. In fact, his entire guitar-playing journey boils down to two guitarists – George Harrison and Keith Richards – and two historic performances that ushered in the British Invasion.

“I was around nine when I saw the Rolling Stones and the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show,” he recollects. “I was instantly attracted to George Harrison and Keith Richards’ guitar playing, so I asked my mom if I could get a guitar.

“She was working at a handbag company, and her boss gave her a gift – for me – on my birthday, a no-name acoustic. That little acoustic was how I first learned to play guitar.

“The second guitar I got, which was my first electric, didn’t even have a name, but it was from a store called Lafayette Electronics. It looked like a Gibson ES-335, but it was cheap and came with a little amp.”

In more recent Ricky Byrd news, the guitarist has recalled his worst onstage experience, which may or may not involve being wrongly accused of stealing gear.

Ricky Byrd has recalled his worst onstage experience, during which a crowd turned against him and Joan Jett after they were wrongly accused of stealing electric guitar gear.

Chances are we’ve all played to less-than-ideal crowds, but it’s probably unlikely that you’ve ever had to face the ire of a room full of people who have taken it upon themselves to exercise some form of misplaced justice following a bizarre backstage incident.

As the Joan Jett guitarist remembers in the new issue of Guitar World, he and Jett were opening up for the Scorpions during a European show. Unfortunately, the act that came before them reportedly had their gear stolen – and they took the blame. Even worse, the crowd took matters into their own hands.

“There was this one time when I was with Joan Jett. We were opening for the Scorpions at an indoor stadium in Spain, and the crowd got a little rowdy,” he says. “Something went down as somebody had stolen some equipment from the opening act that played before us.

“Somehow we got blamed for it, so the crowd went crazy and somebody threw a 9-volt battery, and it hit me right above my eye.

“We stopped the show, and Joan and I just stood in the shadows. I remember me and her looking at each other going, ‘I’m not going back out there.’”

Jett herself has spoken about the disaster gig in the past, although Byrd’s mention of false accusations and stolen gear adds a new layer to the tale. As Jett told it, the crowd’s fury was largely a result of the local opening act dropping out – which Jett was wrongly blamed for.

“There was another band on the bill," she once told SiriusXM (via Loudwire). "Rosa Negro was the name of the act. So we had two nights in this city in Spain. Rosa Negro was on first, they were a Spanish band, and then we played and then the Scorpions played.

“The next day, it’s supposed to be the same thing and there was a car show in town and the Scorpions wanted to see the car show, but in order to do that they had to blow out one of the bands. So, they blew out Rosa Negro, who had a girl lead singer and they blamed me, saying I didn’t want another girl on the bill.

“So that night, I was bombarded with spit, loogies... cause this was a local band. You had guys drunk, working up loogies… spitting on me… and there are pictures of me drenched in spit and stuff hanging off of my guitar. They wanted me to leave, and I would not leave, because I didn’t do anything [wrong], I didn’t understand it.”

Visit Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitar World, which features interviews with Zakk Wylde, Billy Corgan, Kiki Wong and Khruangbin.

When The Runaways exploded onto Los Angeles' bustling scene in 1975, they were initially touted as “an all-girl answer to Grand Funk.” However, the band went on to carve their own path, achieving considerable success both in the States and especially in Japan – with songs like Cherry Bomb and Queens of Noise starting to at least crack the glass ceiling for women in bands and rock ’n’ roll.

While fraught with controversy, the band managed to launch long-lasting careers for both Joan Jett and Lita Ford, although, as the latter suggests in a new interview with Classic Rock, the beginning was far from easy.

“Back in 1976 people didn’t know what to make of The Runaways,” she asserts. “They labeled us as teenage jailbait or punk rock. I didn’t care about labels. Just give me my guitar. I just wanted to play. I wasn’t trying to copy any other guitarists – not even my favourite, Ritchie Blackmore – I wanted to be Lita.

“And now it’s gone full circle. It’s okay to be a good-looking girl and to be able to sing your arse off. It’s acceptable. Back then people just didn’t complete the dots. Well, believe your ears and eyes because this is what you are seeing and hearing.”

Her Runaways bandmate, Joan Jett, also reflected on the norm-shattering band's legacy in a 2017 interview with Guitar World.

“It felt to me that we were on the cusp of the girls breaking out,” she said. “We were one hit away from opening the door for everybody else. But there was always resistance from radio. Like, only one girl gets to be played at a time.”

In more recent Lita Ford news, the trailblazing guitarist recalled having her prized B.C. Rich Mockingbird stolen, and how she ended up crossing paths with it in the most bizarre circumstances.

Last night (January 30), a remarkable assembly of all-star musicians came together in LA for FireAid, a massive benefit concert that aimed to raise money for those affected by the devastating fires that tore through Los Angeles earlier this month.

The bill was stacked enough as it is, but one of the biggest performances of the night came from a band that wasn't even on it: Nirvana.

The three surviving members of the group – guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Dave Grohl – played four Nirvana classics, each with a different singer in the captain's chair.

The band started off with a ferocious take on Breed, featuring St. Vincent accessing her inner punk growl.

Naturally, the alt-rock A-lister also, with a sleek, black-finished version of her Ernie Ball Music Man signature guitar, highlighted the performance with a noisy, free-spirited solo that would almost certainly have made Kurt Cobain proud.

Wielding one of her favored Jazzmasters, Sonic Youth legend Kim Gordon then took the reins for School, a scrappy highlight from the band's debut album, Bleach, using the offset's whammy bar for all it's worth.

After that it was Joan Jett's turn, for a break-neck version of the band's ultimate thrasher, Territorial Pissings, for which Jett used her sticker-adorned Gibson Melody Maker.

The mini-set was then rounded out by a powerful All Apologies with Grohl's daughter, Violet, on vocals, and Gordon returning to the stage to fill in for Novoselic – who picked up the accordion – on bass.

But for Lorde, it was the same group of frontwomen the surviving Nirvana trio played with at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction performance in 2014.

“We thought, ‘Wait, it has to be all women,’” Grohl told Rolling Stone of the lineup of singers that same year.

“‘Don’t even ask anyone else. If we can fill the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance with these incredible women singing Nirvana songs, then we’ll have achieved our own revolution.’ It also added a whole other dimension to the show. It added substance and depth, so it didn’t turn into a eulogy. It was more about the future.”

“Joan Jett, who formed the Runaways, changed rock & roll for women,” Grohl continued. “Kim Gordon, from Sonic Youth, was this beacon of light in the predominantly macho, male underground punk rock scene. St. Vincent is a wicked musician that’s pushing boundaries now.”

Where are all the great female electric guitarists? Not in music magazines, according to new academic research published in the Journal of Popular Music Studies.

The study, conducted by guitarist and MA student Isabella Fincher, analyzes coverage of 43 influential female guitarists between 1959 and 2023 in 10 established American press outlets. It includes pioneering players like Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, St. Vincent, Joan Jett, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie. 

According to the study, 16.3% didn’t appear in a single article. 46% were mentioned in fewer than 10 articles – and often cited in connection with their work with a well-known male artist, such as Orianthi with Michael Jackson, Lady Bo with Bo Diddley, and Carmen Vandenberg with Jeff Beck.

It should be noted that while, historically, guitar publications, including Guitar World, have likely been no exceptions to this trend, this particular study has limited its focus to mainstream music and news titles such as The New Yorker, NPR, and Rolling Stone. 

Black female guitarists, in particular, tended to get even less press coverage. 27.9% guitarists in the study are Black women. Yet they were only featured in 10.6% of the articles analyzed.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the electric blues pioneer and Godmother of rock and roll who inspired everyone from Eric Clapton to Keith Richards, was only praised in 29 of these articles posthumously. According to Fincher’s study, none of these major publications wrote anything about her while she was still alive.

In her analysis, Fincher proposes that these players have been the subject to a set of double standards rooted in long-running masculine stereotypes around the electric guitar and rock music. 

Fincher writes that male electric guitarists are typically perceived as mythological god-like figures. Their over-the-top performances, with shocking gestures and over-exaggerated facial expressions, are key to their fans worshipping them as their heroes. 

On the other hand, women are chastised for similar performances. Most notably, a 1989 Rolling Stone article criticized Vicki Peterson of The Bangles for “relying heavily on cliched Moves R Us poses” and “playing guitars in a Pete Townshend-like windmill motion.”

In addition, many of these guitarists have often been framed as novelty acts and exceptions, or depicted as female versions of male stars.

For instance, the study notes Orianthi has routinely been described in the press as a “female Slash”, “female Carlos Santana” and “female guitar hero”. In a live review of The Runaways, Lita Ford was described by a Los Angeles Times critic as “a girl guitarist [that] can play [as] authoritatively and obnoxiously as the boys.” 

In a New York Times article from 1971 about the band Fanny, the writer posits: “a Four-Girl Rock Group, Poses a Challenge to Male Ego. Going to see an all-girl rock group, one has to bring a mixture of condescension and paranoia. What if they are good?”

The study evidences what has long been considered the anecdotal experience of many non-male guitarists.

In 2024, gender inequality remains a clear issue in the music industry, particularly in the guitar scene. Fender research revealed in 2018 that 50% of all beginner and aspirational guitar players are women – yet only 6% of all signature electric guitars were designed by women and non-binary artists, despite demand for female and non-binary artists' signature guitars outstripping supply. The relative lack of publicity from the mainstream music press may have contributed to these statistics.

On the music press side, meanwhile, inequality is slowly being addressed. For instance, Fincher notes that of the articles in the study that were published between 2020 and 2023, 41.3% of them were written by women.

Fincher suggests that to continue to address these systemic inequities, the music press must actively feature more female guitarists from all across the board, especially women of color. 

Moreover, Fincher stresses that it's necessary to go beyond gendered categories and markers, such as “women in guitar”, as well as their hyper-sexualization, as this excludes, rather than includes, women from serious consideration. 

Fincher concludes that, by challenging the stereotypes of rock culture, female guitarists embody the values and ethos that we associate with rock 'n' roll in the first place.

The full study is available at University of California Press.

Eric Carmen – best known as the performer of Dirty Dancing hit Hungry Eyes and the writer of pop ballad, All by Myself – has died aged 74, according to a statement from his wife.

Raised as a classically trained pianist, Carmen turned to guitar in the ‘60s, following the British Invasion, and credited a four-month period with the Beatles songbook as giving him his real start as a player.

By the end of the ‘60s, Carmen had been recruited by burgeoning power pop group, The Raspberries. As both frontman and chief songwriter, he was behind all of the bands hits, including the suggestive Go All the Way, which drew the ire of the era’s somewhat buttoned-down authorities. It later featured on the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack.

When the band split in 1975, Carmen’s classical roots came in handy as he pursued a solo career that saw two of his biggest hits – All by Myself and Never Gonna Fall in Love Again – both draw on themes from Rachmaninov (Piano Concerto No. 2 and the third movement of Symphony No. 2, respectively). 

All by Myself was certified gold by the RIAA in 1976. Carmen’s composition repeated the trick in the hands of Celine Dion just over 20 years later, when the cover became one of the Canadian powerhouse’s most successful US singles. 

Moving on musically, Carmen decided to sell an instrument that had proved fruitful in his Raspberries writing days – finding his White Melody Maker an iconic new home in the hands of Joan Jett.

“This is the guitar that he played on Go All the Way and all those [Raspberries] hits,” Jett told Guitar World in 2017. 

“And then I played it on I Love Rock ’n’ Roll, Crimson and Clover, Do You Want to Touch Me, Bad Reputation…all those early records. Then I took it off the road because I got nervous that someone was gonna steal it or break it.

“It’s so beautiful. It’s white, has no stickers on it, and there are cracks in the paint and yellowing from age or club cigarettes. It’s an unbelievable-looking guitar… [and] It’s got a great heritage. It’s a guitar full of hits.”

Carmen, meanwhile, continued to enjoy chart success in his newfound soft rock niche but sales of his solo records tailed off towards the turn of the decade. However, by the 1980s, Carmen found new opportunities in writing original songs for motion pictures and, quite literally, scored some huge successes. 

Most notably, Footloose’s Almost Paradise (Love Theme), performed by Mike Reno and Heart’s Ann Wilson became one of three top 10 hits from the Kevin Bacon classic. 

Then, a few years later, a cover of Hungry Eyes – which Carmen once admitted he had been reluctant to record – became the standout track from 1987’s surprise word-of-mouth hit Dirty Dancing. 

“That worked out rather well,” dead-panned Carmen, in a bio written for his website. “I think just those two soundtracks sold about 30,000,000 records.”

Carmen’s fanbase was vast, with everyone from Courtney Love, to Mötley Crüe, Hank Williams Jr., Tom Petty, Paul Stanley, Axl Rose and Bruce Springsteen hailing the influence of his music in the Raspberries and beyond.

As the millennium rolled around, Carmen received the ultimate compliment for a Beatles fan as he was asked to join Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band, alongside Jack Bruce from Cream and guitarist Dave Edmunds.

“As you can imagine, that was a bit unreal,” wrote Carmen of the All-Starr era. 

“There were times, I admit, when I had to pinch myself, notably, when we performed on the David Letterman Show, which is taped in the Ed Sullivan Theater, on the stage where The Beatles were the first time I saw them. 

“Now, here I am, on that very same stage, playing in a band with a Beatle! Pretty cool…”

Carmen’s passing was announced on his website, with a statement from his wife, Amy – signed with a reference to his 1977 solo album Boats Against The Current. 

“It is with tremendous sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the passing of Eric Carmen. Our sweet, loving and talented Eric passed away in his sleep, over the weekend.

“It brought him great joy to know, that for decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy. Please respect the family’s privacy as we mourn our enormous loss.

“‘Love Is All That Matters… Faithful and Forever’ – Amy Carmen.”

Joan Jett played Cherry Bomb and shared memories of friend and former tour mate Taylor Hawkins last night (September 27), as she appeared at the LA tribute show for the Foo Fighters drummer. 

Fan footage shows Dave Grohl taking to the mic first and introducing the event to those assembled in LA’s Kia Forum. 

“What we really wanted to do was to pay tribute to Taylor in a way where you could spend some time in his musical mind, which could be a pretty terrifying place,” explains Grohl in the footage above. 

“But just as the show in London we have all gathered here today to celebrate this person that has touched our lives, whether from afar, or for all of his friends and family and loved ones and musician buddies and heroes that are here tonight… So what we’ve done, is we’ve brought an even fucking crazier cast of characters for you tonight, to tear it up with the people that Taylor loved and by the people that loved Taylor.”

Grohl then welcomes Jett to the stage to open the proceedings and the rock icon proves visibly moved by the occasion.

“I have lot of beautiful memories of Taylor… I’m not going to be able to get through this without crying. He was such a beautiful soul,” she says.  

“He was such a beautiful soul, as a person, as a human being and like Dave said, he was such a music fan. He loved all kinds of stuff and, I guess that makes me a bit of a snob, but he really does love everything and I was honoured that he was a fan of mine, too, and my music. So I just want to say, thank you for having me, thanks Taylor for being there with me and we’ll form our supergroup when we get there with you, OK?”

The band is then diverted into Runaways classic Cherry Bomb, ably backed by Travis Barker, which you can view above. It’s a no-nonsense performance that does not attempt to add frills or frippery to the hard rock anthem. 

Yesterday‘s appearance was not Jett’s first with the group. The guitarist and songwriter has performed with Foo Fighters multiple times, including at Madison Square Garden in 2011. 

The LA gig marked the second Taylor Hawkins tribute show, following the previous event in London on September 7. Elsewhere, the night featured appearances from members of Rush and Soundgarden, The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins, Chad Smith, Krist Novoselic, Nancy Wilson, Josh Homme, Def Leppard, Wolfgang Van Halen and many more. 

Joan Jett and The Blackhearts have announced their first-ever acoustic album, Changeup.

Boasting 25 tracks, and set for a March 25 release via Blackheart Records, Changeup contains acoustic re-imaginings of some of Jett's biggest hits, like Bad Reputation and Crimson and Clover.

The album's announcement has arrived in tandem with its second single – an unplugged take on Jett's 1981 tune, (I'm Gonna) Run Away. It was preceded by the acoustic version of Bad Reputation that Jett released last year.

Though quite faithful to, and lacking the brawny power of, the original, the acoustic (I'm Gonna) Run Away has an endearing, Stones-y, campfire-sing-along vibe. You can hear it below.

Changeup's stripped-down sound is fitting, given the signature guitar that Jett released in January. 

A collaboration with Epiphone, the Joan Jett Olympic Special is a no-frills rock machine that's painted in Aged Classic White, and features one PowerHammer PRO humbucker, a single black volume knob and a kill switch.

Changeup also prefaces Jett and the Blackhearts' upcoming, many-times-rescheduled stadium mega-tour with fellow '80s rock giants Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard and Poison, which is set to kick off in June. 

You can check out Changeup's cover art and track list below.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts – Changeup:

1. (I’m Gonna) Run Away
2. You’re Too Possessive
3. Long Time
4. Victim Of Circumstance
5. Coney Island Whitefish
6. Love Is Pain
7. Oh Woe Is Me
8. You Drive Me Wild
9. Frustrated
10. Bad Reputation
11. Fake Friends
12. Fresh Start
13. Soulmates To Strangers
14. Make It Back
15. Fragile
16. I Love Playin’ With Fire
17. Cherry Bomb
18. I Want You
19. Crimson And Clover
20. A Hundred Feet Away
21. Androgynous
22. You Don’t Know What You’ve Got
23. School Days
24. Good Music
25. Light Of Day

Slash, Joan Jett, Peter Frampton, Nile Rodgers and Richie Sambora are among the names of music industry leaders who will head up the Les Paul Foundation’s newly established Advisory Council.

The Foundation, who aim to honor the legacy of the late Les Paul, has assembled its new group of advisors in a bid to further strengthen and support its mission, with an emphasis on promoting music education, engineering and hearing health.

According to the Les Paul foundation, these three values were “priorities for Les during his lifetime”, and the new Advisory Council will continue Paul’s work by offering its insight, ideas and guidance.

Joining the electric guitar stars listed above is multi-platinum producer Alawn, CAA Nashville President Rod Essig and bass guitar player Brian Hardgroove, as well as music executive Don Was, multi-instrumentalist Jeff Peretz and Middle Tennessee State University’s John Merchant.

The Advisory Council lineup will be completed by Les Paul’s godson and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Steve Miller, and TMWRK Management CEO Andrew McInnes

Of the new cohort, the Foundation’s Executive Director Michael Braunstein said, “The individuals who have joined the Les Paul Foundation Advisory Council are a prestigious and influential group of music industry artists, educators, executives and friends. 

“The names we announced today are a fitting tribute to Les,” he continued. “We look forward to their ideas and are thankful for their commitment to helping us share the historic legacy of such a great man, our friend Les Paul.”

To date, the Les Paul Foundation has headed up a number of charitable initiatives and has awarded over $4 million to non-profit organizations.

For more information, head over to the Les Paul Foundation.

All the way back in 2019, Mötley Crüe announced that they would be hitting the road – for the first time since their 2015 "farewell" tour – in the summer of 2020 for a co-headlining stadium tour with Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.

Of course, COVID-19 put those plans on hold, first to 2021, and then again to 2022. Now though, the tour's schedule has finally been set in stone, with a few new dates to boot.

Set to begin on June 16 at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, the tour will take the '80s rock giants across North America before ending on September 9 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.                           

"It's on! We don't think we've ever looked forward more to kicking off a tour than this one," Mötley Crüe said in a joint statement. "We can't wait to finally see all the fans across North America again. Get ready for a wild ride this summer!" 

“On behalf of the band, we’re beyond thrilled that the stadium tour is finally happening this summer," added Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott. "It’s been a while coming and we can’t wait to get back on stage again, and we can’t wait to see you in one of the many stadiums soon."

Mötley Crüe played what was billed as their final show ever on December 31, 2015 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, but reunited in the studio in 2019 to record four new songs for the soundtrack to The Dirt, a biopic about the band that was released on Netflix that same year.

After months of rumors, the band confirmed that they would return to the stage in November 2019, announcing the full end of their breakup in typically colorful fashion – with a video of the band destroying the 'cessation of touring' contract they had signed just a few years before. 

You can check out the bands' full itinerary below. Tickets for all of the shows can be purchased at Live Nation.

Mötley Crüe/Def Leppard/Poison/Joan Jett & The Blackhearts 2022 tour:

Thursday, June 16 – Atlanta, GA: Truist Park
Saturday, June 18 – Miami, FL: Hard Rock Stadium
Sunday, June 19 – Orlando, FL: Camping World Stadium
Wednesday, June 22 – Washington, DC: Nationals Park
Friday, June 24 – Queens, NY: Citi Field
Saturday, June 25 – Philadelphia, PA: Citizens Bank Park
Tuesday, June 28 – Charlotte, NC: Bank of America Stadium
Thursday, June 30 – Nashville, TN: Nissan Stadium
Saturday, July 2 – Jacksonville, FL: TIAA Bank Field
Tuesday, July 5 – St. Louis, MO: Busch Stadium
Friday, July 8 – Chicago, IL: Wrigley Field
Sunday, July 10 – Detroit, MI: Comerica Park
Tuesday, July 12 – Hershey, PA: Hersheypark Stadium
Thursday, July 14 – Cleveland, OH: FirstEnergy Stadium
Friday, July 15 – Cincinnati, OH: Great American Ball Park
Sunday, July 17 – Milwaukee, WI: American Family Field
Tuesday, July 19 – Kansas City, MO: Kauffman Stadium
Thursday, July 21 – Denver, CO: Coors Field
Friday, August 5 – Boston, MA: Fenway Park
Saturday, August 6  – Boston, MA: Fenway Park                          
Monday, August 8 – Toronto, ON: Rogers Centre
Wednesday, August 10 – Orchard Park, NY: Highmark Stadium
Friday, August 12 – Pittsburgh, PA: PNC Park
Sunday, August 14 – Minneapolis, MN: U.S. Bank Stadium
Tuesday, August 16 – Indianapolis, IN: Lucas Oil Stadium
Friday, August 19 – Houston, TX: Minute Maid Park
Sunday, August 21 – San Antonio, TX: Alamodome
Monday, August 22 – Arlington, TX: Globe Life Field
Thursday, August 25 – Glendale, AZ: State Farm Stadium
Saturday, August 27 – Inglewood, CA: SoFi Stadium
Sunday, August 28 – San Diego, CA: Petco Park
Wednesday, August 31 – Seattle, WA: T-Mobile Park
Friday, September 2 – Vancouver, BC: BC Place
Sunday, September 4 – Edmonton, AB: Commonwealth Stadium
Wednesday, September 7 – San Francisco, CA: Oracle Park
Friday, September 9 – Las Vegas, NV: Allegiant Stadium

Joan Jett has teamed up with Epiphone to create a new signature Olympic Special electric guitar.

Based on Jett's onstage axe of choice (the similar Gibson Melody Maker) this super-straightforward signature guitar features a mahogany body and mahogany neck with an Indian laurel fingerboard boasting 22 frets and a 24.75" scale length.

Sonically, the guitar's about as simple as it gets, boasting just one PowerHammer PRO humbucker wired to a single CTS volume potentiometer. Just as on Jett's signature Gibson Melody Makers from years past, the Olympic Special boasts a kill switch in place of a pickup selector.

Elsewhere, the guitar boasts an adjustable wraparound bridge and tailpiece, Die-Cast tuners, nickel hardware, a Graph Tech nut, and a retro Aged Classic White finish.

The guitar is light on signature flourishes, but the Olympic Special headstock – with Jett's signature reproduced on the rear – is a nice touch.

The Epiphone Joan Jett signature Olympic Special guitar is available now – with a custom premium gig bag included – for $549. In price, specs and looks, it brings another one of Epiphone's recent signature offerings – the similarly no-bells-and-whistles Billie Joe Armstrong Les Paul Junior – to mind. 

For more info on the guitar, stop by Epiphone.

When Joan Jett released I Love Rock ’n Roll in the early '80s, she instantly transformed herself from an underground punk/hard rock misfit best known for her role as the former rhythm guitarist for the Runaways into an international superstar and female rock legend. 

The single was a massive hit, reaching Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1982 and remaining in the top spot for seven weeks. Surprisingly, this was not the first time the song was released. The original version by the Arrows was issued as a single in the UK in 1975, and Jett recorded a different, previous version in 1979, which appeared as the B-side to her first solo single, You Don’t Own Me.

Jett recorded her first version of I Love Rock ’n Roll with former Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, and it’s possible that Jones may have influenced the gritty, growling rhythm guitar tone that later emerged on Jett’s recordings. 

While with the Runaways, Jett played Gibson Les Paul and Melody Maker guitars plugged into a Marshall stack, but after that she swapped the Marshall for a Music Man 212-HD 130 combo (Leo Fender’s post-Fender answer to his legendary Twin Reverb). Jett loved the sound of Jones’ Les Paul/Fender Twin rig, and the Music Man delivered similar goods to a Twin and more.

Featuring a quartet of 6CA7 power amp tubes (the American equivalent of EL34s), a solid-state preamp and a pair of high-efficiency Electro-Voice EVM 12L speakers, Jett’s Music Man amp provided wonderfully clangorous crunch, thanks to the power tubes being pushed to the hilt while the clean headroom of the EV speakers kept the overall tone tight, punchy and dynamic. 

Engineer Glen Kolotkin captured the Music Man’s mighty roar using an Electro-Voice RE20 microphone pointed toward the edge of the speaker and placed a few inches away from the grill. 

Another secret weapon that boosted the punch further was the Red Rhodes Velvet Hammer 54 humbucking bridge pickup installed in Jett’s circa 1965-66 Gibson Melody Maker. 

Wired in series, a Velvet Hammer humbucker typically delivers 21 to 22k ohms of DC resistance that can hit an amp’s front end like a Ronda Rousey uppercut. With just a guitar, amp and some well-timed power chords, Jett crafted a vicious sound that redefined rock and roll and is still loved today.

Get the sound, cheap!

Epiphone SG Muse

Fender Bassbreaker 15

DiMarzio X2N humbucker

Tone tip: Crunch is the key, so crank up the Master Volume but dial in only a moderate amount of gain. The DiMarzio X2N isn’t quite as hot as Jett’s Velvet Hammer pickups, but its ceramic magnet provides suitable treble cut and midrange punch.

Joan Jett, Lukas Nelson and James Bay have put autographed Gibson guitars up for auction to benefit the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund.

The auction is a joint endeavor between Gibson Gives and Rolling Stone, with the instruments available for bidding on CharityBuzz.com.

Jett’s electric guitar, a limited-edition wine red Gibson Joan Jett ES-339, is one of just 150 that were produced worldwide, and was the last guitar made at Gibson’s Memphis factory before it was moved to Gibson USA in Nashville.

The guitar boasts a thermally-engineered chambered maple center block and thermally engineered Adirondack spruce bracing, a first for Gibson ES models.

Other features include AAA figured maple veneers, Gibson Burstbucker 2 and Burstbucker 3 humbuckers and Orange Drop capacitors.

Nelson’s Vintage Sunburst Les Paul Junior, meanwhile, was inspired by his own ‘56 model, while Bay’s Epiphone Limited Edition James Bay Century Cherry Outfit is a replica of his customized Century, and also features a reissue of a ‘60s-era compensated floating bridge with brass wheels, USA-made "CTS" 500K pots and a Kinman Noiseless "Sweet Neck" P-90.

“Along with our iconic artists, we are proud to support MusiCares through our Gibson Gives movement at such a pivotal time for musicians and the music industry,” says Gibson President and CEO James “JC” Curleigh.

All three artists also recently filmed performances for Rolling Stone’s In My Room Presented by Gibson IGTV series.

Bidding for the autographed guitars is open now on CharityBuzz.com and close on May 8 at 3:00 PM ET.

Bt the time of writing, bidding on Jett’s guitar currently stands at $9,500, with Nelson’s at $2,250 and Bay’s at $1,550.

For more information or to place a bid, head to Charity Buzz.

Singer, electric guitar player and bassist Alan Merrill, who was the frontman for 1970s rockers the Arrows and was best known for co-writing I Love Rock ‘N Roll, died from complications of coronavirus in New York on March 29. He was 69 years old.

Merrill’s death was confirmed via a Facebook post by his daughter, Laura.

“The Coronavirus took my father this morning,” she wrote. “I was given two minutes to say my goodbyes before I was rushed out. He seemed peaceful and as I left there was still a glimmer of hope that he wouldn’t be a ticker on the right hand side of the CNN/Fox news screen.

“I walked 50 blocks home still with hope in my heart. The city that I knew was empty. I felt I was the only person here and perhaps in many ways I was.

“By the time I got in the doors to my apartment I received the news that he was gone.”

Born in the Bronx, Merrill’s career stretched back to the late-'60s, when he auditioned for well-known New York City band the Left Banke. He later joined the Japan-based act the Lead. Following that band’s dissolution he recorded the solo album Alone in Tokyo and formed the Japanese-American glam outfit Vodka Collins, as well as worked as an actor in Japan.

In 1974 Merrill founded the Arrows in London, playing bass and singing lead vocals. The band had a hit that year with Touch Too Much, and under the guidance of producer Mickie Most notched a series of successful UK singles, including My Last Night With You and 1975’s I Love Rock ‘N Roll, which Merrill co-wrote with Arrows guitarist Jake Hooker.

The Arrows dissolved in 1977 and Merrill went on to form another act, Runner, as well as play guitar with Rick Derringer.

In 1982, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts covered I Love Rock ‘N Roll. Their version hit number number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for seven weeks.

The following year Merrill relaunched his solo career. He also joined Meat Loaf’s band for a stint in the late-'80s, as well as continued to write, record, perform and act.

Following his passing, Joan Jett paid tribute to Merrill in a tweet, writing, “I just learned of the awful news that Alan Merrill has passed.

“My thoughts and love go to his family, friends and music community as a whole.

“I can still remember watching the Arrows on TV in London and being blown away by the song that screamed hit to me.

“With deep gratitude and sadness, wishing him a safe journey to the other side.”

Earlier today, Guitar World reported on the death of country music singer, songwriter and guitarist Joe Diffie, also from COVID-19. Diffie was 61. 

Gibson has launched its new Joan Jett ES-339 guitar.

The guitar—which will be produced in a limited run of 150 models, 50 of which will be signed by Jett herself—features hand-wired Orange Drop capacitors paired with Gibson Burstbucker 2 and Burstbucker 3 humbucking pickups. Additionally, in a first for an ES-series model, the guitar features a thermally-engineered chambered maple centerblock plus thermally-engineered Adirondack Spruce bracing.

The Joan Jett ES-339 also features AAA figured maple veneers finished in Wine Red, plus a Gibson Joan Jett Signature hardshell case and a custom Joan Jett certificate of authenticity.

The Gibson Joan Jett ES-339 is available now for $2,999.

For more info on the guitar, head on over to gibson.com.

Reverb.com has announced the Girls Rock Reverb Gives Auction, a partnership with some of the biggest names in music to auction off music gear, records, memorabilia and more for charity. The auction launches May 21, with proceeds benefiting 10 nonprofits dedicated to empowering female, transgender and gender non-conforming youth through music.

Among the items that will be up for auction on Reverb is a Sennheiser microphone and several records autographed by Stevie Nicks. Fans can also bid on a Fender ukulele signed by Billie Eilish, a pair of Hurley sneakers worn by Joan Jett on tour, an Oscar Schmidt autoharp used and signed by Nancy Wilson of Heart, a pair of drumsticks used on tour and signed by Shakira, an Epiphone amplifier owned by Tegan and Sara, an LP hand-painted by Alison Mosshart, an Epiphone electric guitar used by the Indigo Girls, an Ernie Ball electric guitar used by Kimbra and a show poster signed by Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor.

The auction will also feature signed memorabilia from Kacey Musgraves, Mavis Staples, Dolly Parton, Patti Smith, Lita Ford, Ani DiFranco and Kelly Clarkson.

Said Linda Perry, who donated a signed acoustic guitar gifted to her by Natasha Bedingfield, “I want young girls to know that there are so many ways that they can contribute to the music industry. They can be producers, writers, CEOs and managers. There are very powerful positions in the business that need to be filled by powerful young women.”

Of the guitar, Perry said, “It has written many songs all over the country and in different parts of the world. I hope the energy inspires someone to write something incredible.”

The Girls Rock Reverb Gives Auction will also feature:

Music gear, including: A Kala ukulele signed by Ingrid Michaelson; an Epiphone acoustic guitar signed by Faith Hill; a KC Hawaii ukulele owned and autographed by Colbie Caillat; a signed Hendrix guitar strap and Vox amp used extensively on the road by Khruangbin; a Helms Alee-owned pedal—one of 50 created; the first microphone that Caroline Rose ever owned, signed by the singer/songwriter; and pedals owned and/or autographed by Lindsay Ell, Yvette Young, and Chelsea Wolfe.

Clothing, including: Fergie Footwear sandals signed by Fergie; REBA by Justin cowboy boots signed by Reba McEntire; a pink belt and record signed by Loretta Lynn; a 1999 tour t-shirt signed by Charli XCX; and a jumpsuit from I'm With Her.

Experiences, including: Concert tickets and a meet and greet experience with The B-52s; two tickets to any show on P!nk’s Beautiful Trauma World Tour; two tickets to any upcoming Patty Griffin concert; two tickets to any upcoming Lauren Alaina concert; and a VIP Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Vault Tour valued at $2,500.

Multiple autographed vinyl LPs from artists like Annie Lennox, Regina Spektor, CHVRCHES, Michelle Branch, Khruangbin, Phoebe Bridgers, Norah Jones, Lucius, Julien Baker, Tash Sultana, Joan Jett, Elle King, Wynonna Judd, Little Big Town, Marian Hill, Neko Case, and Lindsey Stirling; as well as memorabilia and more from Sharon Van Etten, Evanescence, Cat Power, Larkin Poe, Lake Street Dive, Nicole Moudaber, Warner Bros. Records, and Bloodshot Records.

The Girls Rock Reverb Gives Auction will run from May 21 to May 28. You can learn more and preview a portion of the items that will be available here. 

L7 have announced a new album, Scatter the Rats, their first studio effort in 20 years, due out May 3. In advance of the album, L7 have shared the first single, “Burn Baby.” The official video, by Blue Hats Creative, was directed by Courtney and Hillary Andujar. You can check it out above.

The new effort will be the band's first for Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records. 

Said Jett: "I’ve been friends with L7 for years and am very excited and proud to have the opportunity to release their new album on Blackheart!"

Added L7’s Donita Sparks, “When we decided to make a new record, Joan was there for us as the good friend she has always been. So great to stomp into Blackheart Records with her at the helm. We’re very excited to work with Joan and the entire Blackheart family. Just imagine the family dinners!”

Scatter the Rats was produced by Norm Block (Jenny Lee, Paper Cranes, Plexi) and Nick Launay (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and recorded at Happy Ending Studios and Sunset Sound in L.A. 

Regarding the title, Sparks said: “There were a couple of rats in the basement of the studio, where all the amplifiers were, and at one point Norm said to us, 'Let’s get rockin', we can scatter the rats.' "

For more information, head over to L7TheBand.com.

Scatter the Rats track list:

1. Burn Baby
2. Fighting the Crave
3. Proto Prototype
4. Stadium West
5. Murky Water Cafe
6. Ouija Board Lies
7. Garbage Truck
8. Holding Pattern
9. Uppin’ The Ice
10. Cool About Easy
11. Scatter The Rats

Heart have announced a summer U.S. tour, “Love Alive,” their first outing in three years. The 39-city jaunt kicks off Tuesday, July 9 at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in St. Louis, MO and wraps September 9 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

The band will be joined at select stops by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Sheryl Crow and Brandi Carlile. Along appearing are Elle King and Lucie Silvas.

Said Heart guitarist and singer Nancy Wilson, “I think this year is a good year to show the collective impact of some powerful women in music. We would usually steer clear of the female-centric concept, but in the light of current events it seems like the right statement at the right time."

Added singer Ann Wilson, “Sheryl and Joan we have known for a long time. We have hung out and appreciated each other's music onstage and off. Brandi Carlile is a fresh and authentic artist that we both love....and Elle King is my favorite new artist. She has so much soul and attitude! We are so thrilled to host all these artists on the ‘Love Alive’ tour.”

Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, February 15 at 10:00 AM local time at LiveNation.com. 

Additionally, Citi cardmembers will have access to purchase pre-sale tickets beginning Wednesday, February 13  at 10:00 AM local time until Thursday, February 14 at 10:00 PM local time through Citi's Private Pass program. For complete pre-sale details visit www.citiprivatepass.com.

Regarding the deep catalog of songs the band will pull form on the upcoming tour, Ann said: “It feels good to see people's eyes light up when we play one of the classic songs they know and love. I always wonder how a song like ‘Crazy On You’ hits the mind and soul of a 17-year-old in 2019...they seem to be as into it live as everyone else. When I think of the connection we continue to have with our very diverse audience, I am deeply grateful and always amazed!”

Added Nancy: “It's an incredible feeling and a great compliment to see our loyal fans and the new generation of Heart fans at the shows. It speaks to the songs as well as giving a bigger sense of history to the younger ones. It's authentic live music with no added prerecorded or auto tuned vocals or tracks blended in. No bells or whistles, smoke or mirrors. I think in many ways that's a whole new thing for young kids who love music and they know the difference and appreciate it. It's completely real.”

Check out the full "Love Alive" itinerary below. For more information, head over to Heart-Music.com.

Heart "Love Alive" tour dates:

7/9    St. Louis, MO +&                Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

7/11  Chicago, IL +&                    Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

7/14  Toronto, ON +#                 Budweiser Stage

7/16  Montreal, QC +#                Centre Bell

7/17  Mansfield, MA +#               Xfinity Center

7/20  Hartford, CT +#                   Xfinity Theatre

7/21  Saratoga Springs, NY +&    Saratoga Performing Arts Center

7/23  Bangor, ME +#                     Darling's Waterfront Pavilion

7/24  Gilford, NH +#                     Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion

7/26  Darien Center, NY ^#         Darien Lake Amphitheater

7/27  Cincinnati, OH #                 Riverbend Music Theater

7/29  Bethel, NY +#                      Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

7/30  Syracuse, NY +#                 St. Joseph's Health Amphitheater

8/1    Burgettstown, PA ^#         KeyBank Pavilion

8/2    Camden, NJ ^#                    BB&T Pavilion

8/4    Cleveland, OH ^#               Blossom Music Theater

8/5    Detroit, MI ^#                     DTE Energy Music Pavilion

8/7    Indianapolis, IN ^#            Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center

8/8    Nashville, TN ^#                Ascend Amphitheater

8/10  Raleigh, NC ^#                   Coastal Credit Union Music Park

8/11  Virginia Beach, VA ^#       Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater

8/13  Columbia, MD ^#              Merriweather Post Pavilion

8/14  Charlotte, NC ^#                PNC Music Pavilion

8/16  West Palm Beach, FL #     Coral Sky Amphitheater

8/17  Tampa, FL ^#                      MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheater

8/19  Atlanta, GA %#                   Ameris Bank Amphitheatre

8/20  Birmingham, AL %#           Oak Mountain Amphitheatre

8/22  Houston, TX ^#                  Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

8/23  Dallas, TX #                         Dos Equis Pavilion

8/25  Albuquerque, NM ^#         Isleta Amphitheater

8/27  Chula Vista, CA ^#              North Island Credit Union Amphitheater

8/28  Phoenix, AZ ^#                   Ak-Chin Pavilion

8/30  Salt Lake City, UT               USANA Amphitheater

8/31  Denver, CO ^#                   Pepsi Center

9/3    Portland, OR ^#                 Sunlight Supply Amphitheater

9/4    Tacoma, WA ^#                 Tacoma Dome

9/6    Concord, CA ^#                 Concord Pavilion

9/8    Las Vegas, NV ^                 Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino

9/9    Hollywood, CA ^#              Hollywood Bowl

+ with Sheryl Crow

^ with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

& Lucie Silvas opening

# Elle King opening

% with Brandi Carlile

Joan Jett has shared the official video for "Fresh Start." The song is featured in the recently-released Jett documentary, Bad Reputation. You can check out the Election-Day-themed clip above.

Jett discussed "Fresh Start," her first music since 2013’s Unvarnished album, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:

“Part of it was just thinking about rock in general. It’s always been a young person’s game, writing about sex, love and partying. As rock and rollers get older, what do they write about? I’m not sure there’s an answer, but we’re looking for it.”

Bad Reputation arrives in theaters and on demand September 28. Watch the trailer below:

A new Joan Jett and the Blackhearts song, "Fresh Start," is available for streaming. The track comes off the original motion picture soundtrack to the upcoming Joan Jett documentary, Bad Reputation. The film and soundtrack are available September 28.

Jett discussed "Fresh Start," her first music since 2013’s Unvarnished album, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:

“Part of it was just thinking about rock in general. It’s always been a young person’s game, writing about sex, love and partying. As rock and rollers get older, what do they write about? I’m not sure there’s an answer, but we’re looking for it.”

Bad Reputation arrives in theaters and on demand September 28. Watch the trailer below:

She was a founding guitarist of Seventies teen girl group the Runaways and rose to stardom fronting the long-running rock act the Blackhearts. But what Guitar World readers really want to know is...

The new Joan Jett and the Blackhearts album [Unvarnished, released in October] deals with some really personal themes. Did writing these songs help you gain a new or different perspective on life? —Mikey Nichols
Absolutely. It’s like do-it-yourself psychology. [laughs] This is my most personal album in the sense that it directly points to events or things I’ve gone through. This last decade I’ve lost a lot of people, including my parents, who I was very close to. It’s been a really formative, eye-opening and hard time for me.

The song “Fragile” is specifically about my mother, and losing love. You think love is so strong—and it can be—but it also can be so fragile and broken just like a stick. Our music always focused on personal things like falling in love, falling out of love, having sex, not having sex and partying. I’m not saying nothing was ever serious or had messages. But this album’s subject matter is certainly more diverse and these news songs have a deeper personal relationship to me than my other albums.

You’ve had an amazing career. What is the one piece of advice you wish you were given back when you first got into the business with the Runaways? —Hank Tomesco
Wow… I guess my only advice is to pay attention, because everything goes so fast. Nobody gave me that advice. The Runaways was three and a half years, but it seemed to go very quickly. Just really embrace the moment, especially the special ones. And even the bad ones, because things always change. The bad will get better and the good will get worse. [laughs] Things cycle around. There’s no other way, man. It’s the way of life.

I have really bad performance anxiety. Did you ever experience that? Any tips on how to get over it? —Amanda Hoffman
I’m always nervous before I go onstage…and I want to be nervous. If I’m not nervous, something is wrong. When I start performing my anxiety goes away, and I think that’s true for a lot of people. I would also say don’t think while you’re onstage.

When I’m thinking, What are the chords? What are the words? then I definitely fuck up. I have to be an empty vessel. If I don’t know the words, if it’s a new song or whatever, I’ll have the lyrics down on the stage. I’ll make it part of the show that the audience is seeing me learn a new song.

Some people might think it’s stupid to be scared, but it’s a very natural thing and I think it can be a good motivator. Just keep it channeled and you can use it for a better performance. Oh, and I’d also say don’t party to get over it. It will affect your performance in a bad way. I know that from experience, too.

I read that one of the songs on Unvarnished was about living through Hurricane Sandy. Can you talk about that experience? —Paul
“Make It Back” is about how people come back after a tragedy. Specifically for me it was Hurricane Sandy. I live on the beach in a town called Long Beach [New York], and we got whacked. I was home for the hurricane, because I wanted to protect my house and what was in it. I had animals there. It was really scary.

It was also scary to see how little it was covered in the press. I travel a lot and there was no coverage, but the devastation was so severe. So that song was about seeing people be devastated and lose everything and collectively go, “What are we gonna do?” Then somebody or something changes the energy. And then it’s like you have to rebuild…or die. And then you see that spirit go through everybody, and everyone starts helping. It was a beautiful thing to see. And I saw it first-hand.

You’ve had great success with cover songs. How do you choose songs, and what’s the key to making them your own? —Tanya
Well, some of them have been suggestions. I trust my songwriting partner Kenny Laguna’s instinct a lot. Early on he suggested “Wooly Bully,” which was an obscure fun song that went over great live. But the songs come from all over.

Like AC/DC [“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”]. That’s a song I used to dance to at a club called Rodney [Bingenheimer’s] English Disco [in Los Angeles] before the Runaways even started. They used to play British glitter music from the Seventies. And that’s where I got turned on to bands like the Sweet. Making it your own? I try and not change much as far as the arrangements go, because that’s what made me fall in love with the song in the first place. I think me singing and playing them is change enough.

You’re a big sports fan and also passionate about social and political causes. Do you have any thoughts about what’s going on in Russia right now? Many people want to boycott the [Sochi 2014 Winter] Olympics because of Russia’s recent legislation against gay rights. [Russia recently passed a law that prohibits propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations.] —Johnny
First of all, I think it’s ridiculous that Russia would do that and make those claims. That is just absurd, and it’s not reality based. But I’m not sure about the boycott. I totally understand, emotionally, why people would want to do that. But I think in the end you might hurt the athletes who have been working their whole lives to compete.

Maybe there’s a better way to make a statement by going there, being gay and winning. That’s not just for the United States, either. I’m sure there are many other nations that have gay athletes that will be going. I don’t know if anyone will end up making a statement like that. But to me that might be a better way to protest, and show that we’re all just people.

You’ve been associated with the Gibson Melody Maker for years. Can you tell us the story behind your guitar? —Donnie Halsey
In the Runaways I was using a blond Les Paul. It’s beautiful, and I still have it, but it’s heavy as shit. I jump and run around a lot onstage, and it was really getting to my shoulder, so I was looking for a lighter guitar.

I heard from one of our road crew that Eric Carmen from the Raspberries was selling a Melody Maker, so I ended up buying it. Now, this is the guitar that he played on “Go All the Way” and all those [Raspberries] hits. And then I played it on “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll,” “Crimson and Clover,” “Do You Want to Touch Me,” “Bad Reputation”…all those early records. Then I took it off the road because I got nervous that someone was gonna steal it or break it.

It’s so beautiful. It’s white, has no stickers on it, and there are cracks in the paint and yellowing from age or club cigarettes. It’s an unbelievable-looking guitar. I have it in a closet and I take it out occasionally to record. But I don’t even need to use it to record anymore, because I have a guitar that sounds pretty much like it. I’m actually kind of afraid to bring out the original. It’s got a great heritage. It’s a guitar full of hits.

Back in the Nineties there was a real active movement of female rock bands, like L7, Bikini Kill and Babes in Toyland, which you were associated with. Why did that scene fizzle out? —Katherine
It felt to me that we were on the cusp of the girls breaking out. We were one hit away from opening the door for everybody else. But there was always resistance from radio. Like, only one girl gets to be played at a time.

But yeah, it felt powerful back then, and I don’t really know what happened. Nothing happened. Bands wound up breaking up. Some people realize that it’s not their life goal to wait for radio to see it their way. They want to do other things with their lives and move on. I totally see that as being appropriate, too. You have to be really dedicated to this as a lifestyle. It’s hard to live a double life and hold down a nine-to-five job and be in a touring band. You’ve gotta choose, at least for a few years, if you wanna give your rock and roll dream a shot. You have to go full on.

Go on tour, play every shitty gig you can for no money and no people. It’s how you build character and experience and you learn a lot. Hopefully after a few years you get lucky and get a foothold, and you can decide if you want to continue this and keep fighting. I think the rock scene has died down. It’s gone underground or something. But bands are out still there. Every town I go to there’s at least one all-girl rock band. You can be sure of that.

This is an excerpt from the all-new May 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the rest of the story—and all of the May 2015 issue—head here.

Girl’s Got Rhythm: Joan Jett has been banging out some of rock’s greatest power chords since the age of 15. With her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there’s only one thing you need to know—she still loves rock and roll.

Joan Jett looks perfect. In other words, she looks exactly the way you want Joan Jett to look.

With her iconic black shag and eyeliner, she saunters into the Guitar World photo studio wearing a variation on a rock and roll uniform she had worn almost her entire life: a tight black sleeveless shirt, black jeans and black motorcycle boots, all of it topped with a kick-ass leather jacket.

And if you have to ask about the color of her jacket, you clearly haven’t been paying much attention.

The last few years have been pretty supersonic for Jett and her band the Blackhearts. Since releasing the critically acclaimed Unvarnished album in late 2013, which featured the hit “Any Weather,” co-written with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, she has been touring up a storm while snagging honors right and left, like the Revolver Golden God award and the Alternative Press Icon Award.

To complete the trifecta, this month she is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, long considered music’s ultimate validation. Not bad for a veteran celebrating her fourth decade in the biz.

Truth is, Joan Jett’s entire career is nothing short of miraculous, especially when you consider just how difficult it was for her to simply get out of the starting gate.

“My parents got me a guitar for Christmas when I was 13 and I went to take lessons,” Jett says in her distinctive sandpapery voice. “I told the teacher I wanted to learn how to play rock and roll, and because I was just a naïve kid, I thought he was going to be able to show me in one lesson! I didn’t know that you had to learn the ropes. If he would’ve explained that to me, it would’ve been fine, but instead he said something far worse. He told me, ‘Girls don’t play rock and roll,’ and then tried to teach me ‘On Top of Old Smokey.’ ”

In response, Joan grabbed her guitar and stormed out never to return. A mere two years later, at the age of 15, Jett proved her teacher—and every other sexist naysayer—wrong when she formed the Runaways, a groundbreaking all-female rock band, best known for their 1976 hit “Cherry Bomb.” The band didn’t last very long, but their music and exploits became legendary to multiple generations, partly due to The Runaways, a successful movie biopic about the band released in 2010 starring Kristen Stewart as Jett.

While the Runaways were crucial to Joan’s development, it was her solo career that made her a household name. A succession of Top 40 hits including “Bad Reputation,” “Crimson & Clover,” “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)” and the 1981 monster smash “I Love Rock ’N’ Roll” cemented her status as the quintessential queen of noise. And the accompanying MTV videos didn’t hurt either.

If you had to design a woman rocker from the ground up, it would probably look a helluva lot like Joan in videos like 1988’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You.” With her white Gibson Melody Maker slung low, she was sleek, tough and sexy—the living embodiment of the ultimate badass girl with a guitar.

Image aside, as a musician, she’s no slouch either. One former Blackheart bandmate recently commented, “You could build a fortress on the foundation of Joan’s rhythm hand.” True, that. Her power chords detonate with the shattering force and clarity of a nail bomb going off at Tiffany’s, and outside of AC/DC’s Malcolm Young or Keith Richards, it’s hard to think of anybody that can lay down a groove like Joan. What’s her secret? That’s partly what we’re here to find out.

It’s interesting to note that Joan rarely uses the word “rock” to describe her favorite music. Instead, she almost always refers to it by its somewhat antiquated and more formal name, “rock and roll.” Maybe it’s just out of habit, but perhaps it’s out of respect. It’s clear from our conversation Joan has a deep reverence for rock and roll. One thing is very certain: she clearly loves it.

How do you feel about being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

It’s awesome and an honor. The Hall has inducted so many people that I look up to, so it’s incredible to be counted among them. That said, it’s not something I ever aspired to. When I write songs or play music it’s not something I really think about. You just want to tour and get your songs out. I mean this in the best way, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is just an aside. The part that I think is really positive about the Hall of Fame is that rock isn’t being acknowledged at the Grammy’s and other music awards shows, so it’s cool that we have our own moment. And I really hope it stays focused on rock, because all other music already gets acknowledged on all the other shows.

You are being inducted with two other musicians that are cut from the same cloth. Both Lou Reed and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day are great singer/rhythm guitarists. Did you ever hang with Lou and his legendarily decadent crew in the Seventies?

No, unfortunately. In the early days, I was based on the West Coast and he was in New York City. However, I remember buying Transformer with “Walk on the Wild Side” as a kid and I was really impressed with how it freaked people out! People would say he couldn’t carry a tune, but that wasn’t the point. He was a storyteller and singing about things nobody else was talking about at the time. I finally met Lou at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony a few years ago. We were sitting at different tables near each other, and that particular year there were a few acts being inducted that weren’t really rock and roll. We just kept looking at each other, making faces. It was a special moment between the two of us, because no one else saw what we were doing. [laughs]

When you were in the Runaways, you actually covered Lou Reed’s song “Rock and Roll,” but you did it more in the style of Mitch Ryder’s great 1971 version of the song. Yeah, the weird thing is, we weren’t even aware of Lou Reed’s version at that time. We had heard Mitch Ryder’s version and fell in love with the great guitar riff that kicks off the song so we focused on that. A couple years later I started listening to Lou’s original recording, and as a rhythm guitar player I started liking it more, because it had a weird rhythm to it. It has an extra bar tucked in, which is something I always find intriguing.

“I Love Rock ’N’ Roll,” your biggest hit, actually has that extra bar in it.

The two songs are connected in a funny way. I first heard “I Love Rock and Roll” in England while the Runaways were touring. It was the B-side of a single by a group called the Arrows and I immediately thought it sounded like a hit. I played it for the band, but they didn’t want to do it because we had just recorded “Rock ’N’ Roll” and they didn’t think it was a good idea to have two songs on the same album with the words “rock ’n’ roll” in the title, so we didn’t do it. I thought to myself, I’ll just stick it in my back pocket, and maybe we’ll revisit in another album or two. Anyway, the band broke up, I ended up recording it for my solo album and the rest is history.

You were only 15 when you formed the Runaways and had been playing guitar for just a couple of years, yet your rhythm playing was already rock-solid. Was that just something that came naturally?

After my first guitar teacher tried to discourage me from playing rock and roll, I went out and bought one of those teach yourself how to play guitar books and learned all the basic open chords and barre chords and started playing along with records. The first songs I was able to figure out were things like “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple, Black Sabbath songs like “Iron Man” and “Sweet Leaf” and “Bang A Gong” by T. Rex.

I immediately gravitated to power chords because I found I could be more rhythmically accurate with them and they sounded closer to the music I was listening to. But to answer your question, I never really thought about whether I was any good or could keep a beat, I just played along to albums. My bigger problem was that I was alone—I couldn’t find other kids to rock out with.

Eventually my family moved from Rockville, Maryland, to California, which was really great because I knew there had to be other girls in Los Angeles that could play music and maybe I could form a band. That idea really motivated me. Not long after, I met Sandy West, who would eventually be the drummer for the Runaways. She was a big, strong girl and her idol was Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and she played like him. We set up in the rec room of her house and just started to jam, and the sound was so powerful we knew we were on to something. We said, “We gotta go find some other girls.” I knew pretty quickly that I was a rhythm guitar player and not a lead player—I just wasn’t interested in that.

This is an excerpt from the all-new May 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the rest of the story, head here.Photo: Jimmy Hubbard

These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the May 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.

When Joan Jett recorded the title track to I Love Rock ’N’ Roll, which was a cover version of a song originally released in 1975 by the British band the Arrows, little did she know that this pagan battle cry would in time earn her status as one of rock’s most iconic figures.

Upon its release in 1982, the song stayed at Number One on the Top 100 chart for seven weeks and has since been named Billboard’s 56th greatest rock song of all time.

Now, more than three decades later, Joan is still rockin’ hard, and rock and roll is still alive and well. In this extended edition of In Deep, we’ll examine the roots of true rock and roll guitar and its essential, foundational elements that were chiseled into stone by the style’s founding father—the immortal Chuck Berry—the man whose playing would inspire and inform many of the world’s greatest rock bands, from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to AC/DC.

One of the small handful of records regarded as the “first” rock and roll song is “Rocket 88,” recorded in March 1951 by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats. Brenston was actually a horn player and singer in guitarist/keyboardist Ike Turner’s band, the Kings of Rhythm, and he is credited with writing “Rocket 88.”

Produced by Sam Phillips in Memphis and released on the Chess label, “Rocket 88” went straight to Number One and it’s incredible success enabled Phillips to launch Sun Records.

For the rest of this column, including the tabs, check out the May 2015 issue of Guitar World.

As we've reported, all four original members of Kiss were on hand last night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, when the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But that was only one of the highlights of the action-packed night.

At midnight, rocker Joan Jett took the stage with the surviving members of Nirvana, and the quartet dived head first into "Smells Like Teen Spirit." The Nirvana gang — Dave Grohl, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic — hadn't performed a Kurt Cobain-written song together since their troubled frontman killed himself in 1994.

But there was more: After Jett's performance, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon joined the band for "Aneurysm" and Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) sang "Lithium." The Nirvana segment of the show closed with Lorde's emotional version of "All Apologies."

You can check out a video of Jett and the Nirvana members below.

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts will appear on Guitar Center Sessions this Friday, December 6.

Below, you can check out a benind-the-scenes video of Jett on the set of the show. She discusses her guitars, including her trusty double-cutaway Gibson Melody Maker, which replaced her old (retired) Melody Maker, which she got from Eric Carmen of the Raspberries.

The episode features a blistering live performance of new and old material, plus an in-depth Jett interview conducted by the show's host, Nic Harcourt.

The episode will air 9 p.m. ET/10 p.m. PT Friday on DIRECTV’s Audience Network, Channel 239 (Check local listings). For more about Guitar Center Sessions, visit sessions.guitarcenter.com.

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts have premiered a music video for "Any Weather," a track off their new album, Unvarnished.

The video, which was directed by Kevin Kerslake, was shot in Los Angeles and showcases a new camera technique, which gives the production a raw, classic aura.

"Embedding the theme of the video in the form of my approach, cinematically speaking, my camera crew and I ripped apart two state-of-the-art cameras, exposing their guts and effectively turning them into 21st century versions of crude, antiquated devices," Kerslake says. "They were the digital filmic equivalent of two tin cans and a piece of string."

Jett calls Unvarnished the most introspective album she's ever done. She expanded her creative process to work with Dave Grohl and Against Me!'s Laura Jane Grace, plus Blackhearts guitarist Dougie Needles and drummer Thommy Price. Jett has continued her work with longtime writing partner/producer, Kenny Laguna.

"It's a real band album. Everybody was involved," she says.

For more information, visit joanjett.com.

The Sunset Strip Music Festival took place August 1 to 3 in Los Angeles, and Guitar World was there to catch the action.

To kick off the three-day music festival, 2013 SSMF honoree Joan Jett was presented with an exclusive VIP event on August 1 at the House of Blues to celebrate her career and legacy on the Strip. Since co-founding the all-girl punk quintet the Runaways when she was 15, Jett has continued to be an originator, innovator, visionary — and a pivotal figure in the history of the Strip.

Check out the red carpet recap video below.

Last night at Madison Square Garden in New York, Joan Jett joined Foo Fighters on stage for a rendition of Jett's classic track, "Bad Reputation." You can check out video of the performance below.

"Bad Reputation" comes from Jett's debut solo album of the same name, which was released in 1980.

Foo Fighters are still on tour in support of their latest studio album, Wasting Light, which was released earlier this year.

Originally published in Guitar World, May 2010

With a new two-CD retrospective in stores and the star-studded flick The Runaways in theaters, Joan Jett is flying high again.

“I’m a barre-chord basher,” Joan Jett says. “That’s pretty much what I do.” It’s what she’s been doing since 1975, when a teenaged Jett, an East Coast native transplanted to Los Angeles, formed the seminal female rock outfit, the Runaways. The band, which included co-guitarist Lita Ford, drummer Sandy West and corseted sexpot singer Cherie Currie, released four studio albums over the course of its brief career (with Jett assuming lead vocals for the last two), and racked up one enduring hit, the Jett-copenned “Cherry Bomb,” from the group’s self-titled 1976 debut.

While the Runaways' punky glam-pop sound failed to garner them substantial Stateside fame, they have since come to be regarded as rock and roll trailblazers of a sort, as well as been credited as a significant influence on new generations of female guitar-based acts. Now, the band’s story has been brought to the silver screen with the release of the major motion picture, The Runaways. The movie, based in part on Currie’s 1989 autobiography, Neon Angel, tracks the band’s raucous rise and fall through the experiences of its three primary movers: Jett, who is portrayed by Twilight star Kristen Stewart, Currie (Dakota Fanning) and Runaways manager and impresario, Kim Fowley (Revolutionary Road’s Michael Shannon).

Jett, who served as an executive producer on the movie, says that Stewart was a natural when it came to filling her sizeable shoes. “She and I move through space a lot alike; our energy is kind of similar. So I told her to just trust herself, and trust her instincts.” Jett did, however, have a few words of advice for Stewart as far as portraying her onstage. “I would yell at her, ‘Fuck your guitar!’ ”

Following the Runaways dissolution in a mess of drugs, ego clashes and mismanagement, Jett, in characteristic form, continued to bash her way through the largely male-dominated rock landscape. She launched a solo career, founded her own record label, Blackheart (a word she also appropriated for the name of her band, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts) and proceeded to rack up single successes like 1981’s “Bad Reputation,” 1988’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You” and 1982’s “I Love Rock ’n Roll,” her smash hit cover of the 1975 Arrows original. These and other solo tracks (as well as a handful of re-recorded Runaways classics) are collected on a new two-CD compilation, Greatest Hits.

Today, Jett continues to tour with the current incarnation of the Blackhearts and is preparing to record a new studio album, her first since 2006’s Sinner. At 51, the self-described barre-chord basher is as brash and defi ant as ever. “If you feel strong, if you feel sexy, then you act that way,” Jett says. “If you don’t, it’s a hard thing to fake.”

GUITAR WORLD Despite the growing appreciation for the Runaways over the years, in the larger music landscape they’ve remained very much a cult act.

JOAN JETT Hopefully the film will change that a little bit. This is a real Hollywood movie, with real movie stars. So maybe it will introduce the Runaways to people who have never heard of us and lead them to explore what we did and listen to the music. That said, I also think the movie has been mischaracterized as a biopic. It’s not the definitive word on the Runaways. The focus is more on Cherie, myself and Kim. To me, the Runaways as a band is more the environment in which the movie is set.

GW There’s a scene in the movie where your character is told that girls can’t play rock and roll. I’m guessing that was something you heard on more than one occasion.

JETT Oh yeah. Many times. Many, many, many times. And even as a kid it didn’t make sense to me. What does the statement “Girls can’t play rock and roll” even mean? Are you saying that girls can’t master an instrument? Because I remember as a kid being in band class with girls who played the cello, who played the violin, who could play Beethoven and Bach pieces. So, no, that’s not it. What you’re saying is, socially, girls aren’t supposed to play rock and roll. Because socially, rock and roll means sexuality. It’s that thing that made parents afraid to let their kids go see Chuck Berry, because Chuck Berry was gonna run off with their daughters. Or the thing that made TV stations film Elvis from the waist up. That’s what rock is about. Think back to the Sticky Fingers album cover. Or Robert Plant standing onstage with his shirt open, and you can see the bulge in his pants, and he’s holding his mic down by his crotch. Rock and roll is infused with sex. Go listen to “Whole Lotta Love”—that thing drips. It’s so dirty.

GW There’s basically an orgasm in the middle of the song.

JETT Exactly. And kids wanna do that. That’s why teenage boys form bands. And girls, they feel those same things. To deny that is really kind of fucked up. And it’s fucked up for teenagers who aren’t given a voice. So all we were trying to do in the Runaways was sort of give voice to that. We just happened to stumble into it very naïvely, not really knowing what we were getting into and not knowing it was going to be so threatening to people. But as we began to realize that it was threatening, all of a sudden it became the principle.

GW That sense of threat extended to your peers as well. In the movie, during soundcheck before a show, the Runaways are given a rough time by the bigger, male, headlining act. That incident supposedly occurred during your tour with Rush in 1977.

JETT Yeah, that’s true. But I’m not even so sure it was the members of Rush that were giving us crap as much as it was their road crew. They would be standing on the side of the stage, laughing during the show, throwing paper and wads of stuff at us. And I remember Cherie walking onstage and slipping, because we were all in platforms. Stuff like that. So it was like, people were threatened, but they were very juvenile in the way they took it out on us.

GW Afterward, your character breaks into the band’s dressing room and urinates on a guitar. Did you really do that?

JETT No, no, no. That whole scene, going into the dressing room, that was a complete embellishment for the movie. The Runaways never wrecked any other band’s gear. That would not be the way I would handle things. The way for me to get back at somebody has always been to blow them away onstage.

GW For the live scenes in the movie did you offer Kristen Stewart any advice as far as how to portray Joan Jett?

JETT One thing I made sure of was when she held the guitar that the pickup was right over her crotch. But basically, when I’m onstage I try not to think. As soon as you start thinking, you screw up. You have to just be in the music, because it’s really easy to get spooked. So with Kristen, if she was onstage and maybe not feeling it, or I could tell she was thinking about too many things, or worried about the camera or whatever, I would yell at her, “Kristen! Pussy to the wood! Fuck your guitar!” [laughs] Because you have to stay connected to it, you know?

GW With male players, there’s the cliché about the guitar being an extension of your manhood.

JETT Exactly. And I think that’s true for everybody. You want to expand. You don’t want to shrivel up!

GW After the Runaways broke up, was there ever a moment where you weren’t sure if you would continue in music?

JETT Oh, totally. I was devastated when the Runaways broke up, for a million reasons—my dream was over, I felt we had failed, I thought maybe it was all my fault. And I just felt really laughed at. It was like you could sense all of Los Angeles going, “We told you it wouldn’t work. Ha-ha.” And I was probably drinking too much, partying too much, kind of spiraling downward. So I definitely thought about other avenues. I even briefly considered enlisting in the military. I figured it’d help me get myself together, I’d get to travel some, maybe get some discipline.

GW Once you made the decision to continue as a solo artist, you were turned down by more than 20 record labels.

JETT Kenny [Laguna, Jett’s longtime producer/business partner] knew a lot of people, and he figured he could get me a deal quick, no problem. But everybody he went to said, “Can’t help you, Ken, can’t do it.” And they all gave various excuses that he thought were ridiculous.

GW Such as?

JETT “She can’t play.” “She can’t sing.” “She’s too intense.” “Maybe she should lose the guitar.” I’m sure there’s probably a few others that Kenny never even relayed to me because he thought it’d hurt my feelings. But we still have a lot of those rejection letters.

GW So you formed your own label, Blackheart Records.

JETT We had to. And, in retrospect, I’m glad it went that way, because now we own all our stuff. But it was totally DIY, selling records out of the trunk of the car after the show, getting the music directly to the fans. And I mean, back when we were being turned down by all these labels, the songs we had been sending around were “I Love Rock ’n Roll,” “Do You Wanna Touch Me,” “Bad Reputation,” “Crimson and Clover.” All eventual hit singles.

GW Your mainstream breakthrough finally came in 1982 with “I Love Rock ’n Roll,” which was a huge MTV and radio hit. The guitar sound on that song is massive. Do you recall what you used on that recording?

JETT Oh yeah. I actually still have all that gear. The amp was a Music Man 212 with EV [Electro-Voice] speakers. And I don’t believe I was even using a distortion box at the time; I just went straight in. And I had my main Melody Maker, which has a special pickup in it called a Velvet Hammer [designed by musician Red Rhodes] that is no longer in production. That’s the guitar Gibson used as a reference to make my signature model. [In 2008, Gibson began producing the Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker.]

GW In the earliest days of the Runaways you played a Les Paul. Why did you eventually switch to the Melody Maker?

JETT The Les Paul is a beautiful guitar but it’s heavy as shit! I had a beautiful blond Deluxe—actually, I still have it—with the switches reversed, because I only use the treble pickup. So the treble pickup would be on when the toggle switch was in the up position. That way I could just hit it down to kick off the pickup. I used that guitar on the first Runaways record and then switched to the Melody Maker sometime in ’77 around the time of [the Runaways’ second album] Queens of Noise.

GW Between the Runaways and your career as a solo artist, you’ve been a working musician for roughly 35 years. Not bad for someone who was repeatedly told that girls can’t play rock and roll.

JETT Well, when I was a kid, my parents told me I could grow up to be anything I wanted. And I took that to heart. I really did. So I wasn’t gonna let other people tell me what I could or couldn’t do. And I certainly wasn’t going to let other people tell me I couldn’t play rock and roll music, or that I couldn’t play guitar. Forget it. It just wasn’t gonna happen.

Gibson Guitar has announced the launch of the Joan Jett “Blackheart” Melody Maker. In anticipation of the forthcoming film release The Runaways and her recent release of the Joan Jett and The Blackhearts Greatest Hits album, the latest from Gibson USA embodies the hard-rockin’ style of Joan Jett herself with distinct features and attention to detail. The “Blackheart” Melody Maker will be available through select retailers beginning March 19.

“I needed a black guitar. This guitar has the same body and the neck runs smooth as silk,“ said Joan Jett. “I wanted some flash of color, so the fret inlays are bright red, and the 12th fret is marked by mother of pearl inlay hearts lying end to end. I am using it onstage now, and it sounds ferocious. But of course, she can play gentle as well. Just like the earlier white Joan Jett Gibson model, it is a great guitar for anybody."

The legendary Jett is now the subject of a major motion picture, the highly anticipated film The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, being released March 19 in select markets and in April nationwide; and Gibson USA’s newest model will give fans the chance to try out a few of Jett’s moves on their own with the “Blackheart” model. Jett got her own original Melody Maker back in 1977 and she has since made it one of the most iconic instruments in rock and roll. It’s the same guitar she used when she was in the renowned band The Runaways and then played on all of her hits including “I Love Rock n’ Roll,” “Bad Reputation” and “Do You Wanna Touch Me.” The Double Cutaway Melody Maker in black features the Mini Grover LP style with a buffed neck for a smooth feel when playing some licks. Going beyond the basic look, Gibson USA adds to the style of the guitar to include features that exude Jett’s personality as the neck is adorned with black heart and red dot inlays and Jett’s own signature on the truss rod cover. For sound, the Zebra Coil BurstBucker 3 accounts for versatility. Each comes in a Joan Jett hard shell case.

Jett has also released her greatest hits compilation, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Greatest Hits, a 2-disc one stop compilation of Joan’s greatest hits including “Cherry Bomb,” “Bad Reputation,” “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” “Crimson and Clover” and the ultimate rock-n-roll anthem, “I Love Rock n’ Roll.” Eight of the songs on the new release are featured in the film The Runaways, including a previously unreleased track, "I Want You". Next up for the Rock icon, a photo journey book of Joan’s life by Todd Oldham, which is being released by AMMO Books this spring.

Gibson.com

Joan Jett has been revolutionizing music for decades: from co-founding her first major band, the pioneering all-girl punk quintet, the Runaways ("Cherry Bomb"), at only 15 years old to bringing the infectious music of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts to the masses, her music has remained fresh and culturally relevant. On March 9, Blackheart Records will release Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Greatest Hits, a one-stop compilation of Joan’s greatest hits including “Cherry Bomb,” “Bad Reputation,” “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” “Crimson and Clover,” and the Rock N’ Roll anthem, “I Love Rock N’ Roll.”

With such a continued interest in Jett's music, the musician felt it was finally an appropriate time to release a definitive Greatest Hits album. “Fans have been asking me for years and years for a new Greatest Hits album. There has always been interest,” said the musician. “But, over the past few years I have been executive producing a film about my first band, the Runaways. In the process, I revisited the music and have really been living with it. It made me realize that it would be great to get it back out into the market place for the fans and for a new audience.”

Eight of the songs featured on the Greatest Hits album will also be featured in the highly anticipated film, The Runaways. The album will also feature “I Want You,” a never before released track, but fan favorite.

The collection will be released through Jett’s own Blackheart Records. Jett founded the label in 1980, making her the first female artist to own and operate an independent record company. This accolade comes with many others. Joan Jett is an accomplished singer/songwriter/guitarist with eight platinum and gold albums and nine Top 40 singles (including “Bad Reputation,” “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll,” “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” “Do You Want to Touch Me,” and “Crimson and Clover”), and was listed as one of only two women on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 100 greatest guitar players of all time.

Joan’s determination and drive has kept her consistently busy and in the public eye. She has remained a steady fixture in pop culture since she was 15 years old and her music remains a major force in mainstream culture. Faith Hill sings a Joan Jett composition, “I Hate Myself for Loving You”, as the theme for Sunday Night Football on NBC, her seminal classic, “Bad Reputation,” is the theme for the hit show American Chopper , and then there are the countless films that use Joan’s music including Shrek, Charlie’s Angels, Monster, and Tenacious D, to name a few.

Next up for Jett is the release of, the Runaways, the upcoming film about her first band, the legendary all female band of the same name. Twilight actress Kristen Stewart will play Jett in the film which Jett Executive Produced. 2010 will also see the release of the Second Edition of Joan Jett's Gibson Signature Guitar, the “Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker” (due out in March), and a photo journey book of Joan's life, by Todd Oldham, which is being released by AMMO Books this spring.

For more information please visit JoanJett.com.

TRACK LISTING:

DISC 1-

• 1. Cherry Bomb
• 2. You Drive Me Wild
• 3. School Days
• 4. Love Is Pain
• 5. Bad Reputation
• 6. You Don’t Know What You’ve Got
• 7. I Want You
• 8. I Love Rock N’ Roll
• 9. (I’m Gonna) Run Away
• 10. Crimson And Clover

DISC 2-

1. Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)
2. The French Song
3. Everyday People
4. Fake Friends
5. Light Of Day
6. I Hate Myself For Loving You
7. Backlash
8. Activity Grrrl
9. Love Is All Around
10. Androgynous
11. A.C.D.C.