When I was a kid, Joan Jett was the coolest chick on MTV. (And if MTV still showed videos, and Joan Jett’s were in the rotation, she would still be the coolest chick on there.) In fact, pre-Madonna, she was just about the only woman on MTV who wasn’t dancing in a cage or serving as arm (fender?) candy in a ZZ Top video. And she wasn’t a pop star, or an R & B crooner. She was a fucking rock star. She was the only woman on MTV who looked like she could kick ass. Her look in the “I Love Rock and Roll” video influenced me so much that I wore it pretty much all through high school and into college: thick eyeliner, leather jacket, black Converse All-Stars.
And attitude? She wasn’t some rock star girlfriend—she was the rock star. Gritty, a little angry, with awesome tough-girl sex appeal. In “I Love Rock and Roll,” she growls, “I could tell it wouldn’t be long ‘til he was with me, YEAH ME.” Damn right, if he knows what’s good for him! Her directness was a welcome antidote to the innuendo and coyness of most pop. And by the end of the song, she takes him home “so we can be alone.” She moves fast and, more importantly, unapologetically.
That same take-charge sexuality is evident in “Do You Wanna Touch?” I’m not as fond of the video, as 80s clichés abound.
However, when she says, “Begging on my knees/Baby won’t you please/Run your fingers through my hair,” it is clear she is not making a polite request. Instead, it’s a directive: “Get those fingers moving. Now. And don’t stop until I say so.” At the end of the song, when she says, “Touch me there. You know where,” we suspect where. And we wouldn’t dare say no.
Even “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” her most self-deprecating popular tune still doesn’t come off as a typical “s/he done me wrong” tune. Sure, there’s a cheating lover, but there’s that undercurrent of sex, which seems at least as important as the love. “Can’t break free from the things that you do. I wanna walk, but I run back to you.” The lyrics clearly indicate: you missed getting laid last night. Too bad for you. I just wish I didn’t care quite so much.
More recently, I fell in love with “ACDC.” The playful ode to a bisexual lover ticked me, again, with the sex appeal and the attitude: “She can’t make up her mind/Just how to fill her time… She’s got some other lover as well as me.” And that’s just the way “she” is, apparently. Polyamory goes mainstream, reinforced in the lighthearted video with Carmen Electra.
In fact, many of the songs on her recent CD Naked deal with gender and sexual identity. Catchy songs about heavy issues can help people engage more readily with such “radical” ideas. Here's the video for "Androgynous," with some famous help.
Although I don’t think Joan Jett is officially out, rumors about her sexuality have been rampant for years. Kudos to her for not hiding her identity while also not feeling compelled to comment on it to the public. But her sexuality, which at the very least is lesbian-identified, makes my admiration (and life-long half-assed emulation) of her make even more sense. It’s been a theme throughout my life. I gravitate toward women who are not typically beautiful or feminine. Many of them happen to be lesbians or bisexual women.
So what did I learn from Joan Jett? Well, it’s 20 years too late for me to form my answer to the Runaways. I can’t sing or play guitar, so my odds of attaining rock stardom are slim. So… I merely steal from her. Still like black leather, Converses, and too much eyeliner. The sexy short blonde hairdo she had a few years ago helped inspire me to cut off my hair. (See the hair in this live version of "I Love Rock and Roll.")
I suspect my long-standing goal to have a cute enough ass to warrant buying a pair of leather pants might have something to do with her. Sadly, I have had to come to terms with the fact that I have never looked, and will never look, as good in leather pants and a bikini top as she looks now, in her early 50s. But it's all good. Really, really good!
More importantly for me, growing up it was great to see one woman on MTV who looked like she was having fun on her own terms. She wasn’t someone’s girlfriend. She wasn’t just eye candy. She wasn’t an overblown pop diva. She was a bona fide rock star. A woman who was in control of (and reveled in) her own sexuality. She didn’t look or sound like the other female singers who cluttered the airwaves back in the day, but she was gorgeous and sexy, regardless. She didn’t have to put on a bullet bra and garter belt to garner attention. Her on-stage persona didn’t play to the virgin/whore dichotomy. Hell, she sang, "And I don't give a damn about my bad reputation."
And, as a girl (and now a woman) who has often failed to look, act, and feel typically feminine, it was nice to have such a rock n’role model.
Here's hoping that Kristen Stewart's portrayal of Jett in the upcoming Runaways biopic does Joan justice. Rumor has it that Joan is pleased. Judging by this trailer, Stewart looks the part. Hopefully Stewart's presence in the film will attract those girls who worship at the alter of Cullen, and a new generation can be introduced to an anti-Bella in Joan Jett.
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