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But The Runaways persevered, and though they flamed out almost as suddenly as they appeared, Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Cherie Currie, Sandy West and a revolving cast of bass players inspired girls across the globe to throw off their oppressors and take up arms, or in this case, guitars.
“Here in this country we shape our own destinies.” — Barack Obama.
“Cherry Bomb” might just be the anthem that defines The Runaways.
The all-girl rock ’n’ rollers that stood up to a male-dominated music scene in the mid-1970s are hotter than ever, thanks to a new movie about the band, “The Runaways,” and an avalanche of book and CD releases.
But if you want to understand the essence of The Runaways, give “Cherry Bomb” a listen. Though the song was written about the band’s blonde bombshell lead singer, Cherie Currie, it could just as easily tell Jett’s own story.
“For me, the song says the same thing, initially with Cherie singing and now me, but the context is now different,” suggests Jett from her home in New York. “In The Runaways, it was written about Cherie, but it was really written about all of us. It was about a type of girl and that name was Cherie. And she was the ‘Cherry Bomb,’ and she is the ‘Cherry Bomb.’ But it’s just as easy for me to step into the song, because you’re singing about a type of girl. And it was written for Cherie and very easy for me to step into it, because I was the one who wrote it.”
More than that, “Cherry Bomb” embodies everything that made The Runaways such a sensation, especially among fans of their own gender.
“I do think it’s an anthemic song,” says Jett. “I think it’s got the hooks. It’s what rock ’n’ roll is. It’s the f**kin’ height of rebellion. It’s saying and shoving it right up parents’ asses. And boy’s asses. I really think it’s a female-empowering song. And I felt it then. Even though it was about a specific thing, and even though people tried to diminish it and say, ‘Well, you know, the corset. It’s just sex.’ You’re missing the point. We’re owning our sex. We aren’t the toy. I just feel it’s a powerful song and I feel powerful singing it. I feel strong singing it. You like that people connect to it. And can find a meaning in it even now.”
The Runaways on the silverscreen
Out in U.S. theatrical release and worldwide distribution this spring, “The Runaways” movie has tongues wagging.
The film stars Kristen Stewart of “Twilight” fame as guitarist Jett and Dakota Fanning as lead singer Cherie Currie. Actor Michael Shannon, an Oscar nominee for “Revolutionary Road,” portrays Svengali Kim Fowley in this endeavor, while guitarist Lita Ford is played by Scout Taylor-Compton, Stella Maeve has a turn as band co-founder /drummer Sandy West and Alia Shawkat is Robin, a fictional composite character of all the girls who played bass in the group.
It was Fowley who helped bring this musical creation to life, assembling it with Jett and West during 1975 and ’76.
As for the film, it’s not necessarily a band documentary or a biopic, as the movie producers could not secure life story rights for guitarist Lita Ford or bassist Jackie Fox. The original Runaways’ drummer and co-founder, Sandy West, died in 2006 from lung and brain cancer. In addition, The Runaways’ first bass player, Micki Steele, later to be in The Bangles, is also fictionalized.
The Runaways’ theatrical run began March 19 by independent distributor Apparition and earlier premiered in late January at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Flash forward to 2010, and Jett describes “The Runaways” movies experience as “surreal.”
“I was on set, so it wasn’t a shock,” volunteers Jett in a hotel suite inside The Lux Hotel in West Los Angeles. “Seeing Kristen on set was not a shock, ’cause I had been seeing her like that and hanging out as me. You know what I mean? The surreal aspect is more seeing it as The Runaways. It’s a movie and a parallel story line. It doesn’t have every detail, and there’s a lot left out and a lot in there — meaning every day was so full. There could have been 50 other incidents that could have been in there. But yeah, it definitely gives you a sense of what it was like being in The Runaways. The essence is there for sure.”
About the often harsh depiction of Fowley on screen, Joan maintains, “Well remember, it’s a movie and there was more humanity and warmth and camaraderie that existed during this time, I think, that maybe didn’t come across. You have a lot of great experiences and it’s a family. And you follow any family around you are going to see elation and disharmony. That’s just the way it is.”
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