Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Joan Jett, a pre-punk stalwart from the Runaways, got key members of the Ramones, Blondie and the Sex Pistols to join her on her 1981 solo debut. Jett's signature style is all here -- a mix of glam-era glitter drum and guitar riff stomp, N.Y.C. retro garage rock and driving punk. The title track and her cover of Gary Glitter's "Do You Wanna Touch Me" got more FM radio play than expected; making her record company put some real support behind her next release. Two decades later, "Bad Reputation" was used as the theme song to the TV cult classic Freaks & Geeks. This remastered edition is loaded with bonus cuts.

Of the Runaways, Joan Jett was the true rocker, instinctively realizing rock & roll's
opportunities for pleasure, violence and triumph. But her identity was obscured by singer
Cherie Currie's starlet moves, producer-manager Kim Fowley's sleaze-sisters hype and
group chops that never overcame their limited heavy-metal sources. Bad Reputation hits
closer to home. Doing Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me," for instance, is a great... More >

Fans of Slayed?, Fanny, "Rock and Roll Part Two," and Arthur Kane before he hurt his thumb should give thanks that nostalgia has finally come this far, and then check for lines around the eyes. Producers Kenny Laguna and Ritchie Cordell make the old glitter formula of readymade riffs 'n' blare sound suitable for albums, and they get plenty of help from reformed Runaway Jett, who has writing credit on four of these twelve tunes and comes on tuffer than any gurl in history. (Grade - A-)