For our latest Audacy Check In, we've got one of the most iconic stars in the musical universe -- the incomparable Joan Jett -- joining host Remy Maxwell today in the midst of her preparations to embark on a massive stadium tour alongside a few of her hard-rocking pals as Rock & Roll is finally returning to the main stage now that cities and arenas are opening back up.
LISTEN NOW: Joan Jett talks with Remy Maxwell
After getting her start in the mid-'70s with the Runaways, Jett fronted her band the Blackhearts with the help of long-time friend and collaborator Kenny Laguna in the early '80s and never looked back. This summer, the Queen of Rock & Roll and Hall of Famer is hitting the road along with Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, and Poison, with a huge list of North American cities on their itinerary beginning in June and running into September. Grab your tickets HERE.
“I’m excited for the stadium tour, I think it’ll be a lot of fun,” Jett says, although after all of the postponements she has some reservations. “I’m amazed that we were able to still pull it off after three times… lucky. We’re not there yet, so…”
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When it comes to the bands that she will (hopefully) be sharing the stage with for the foreseeable future, Joan acknowledges that there are obvious differences between her style and her tourmates’ but it all comes together perfectly for a good time. “It’s similar. Not the same but it’s Rock & Roll,” she says, “and I think Rock & Roll goes with Rock & Roll. I’ve played with Def Leppard several times in my career… in the ‘80s and more recently as well, so I’ve got some experience with them. I think we played with Poison back in the ‘80s. Mötley Crüe I have not played with yet.”
Fans will remember Joan’s involvement in Nirvana’s Rock Hall induction in 2014, singing with surviving members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and guitarist Pat Smear for a rendition of the 1991 hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit," but their history goes much deeper. Aside from being a perfect fill in for the performance, Jett had worked with Smear many years prior, producing his Los Angeles band the Germs’ only studio album, GI, back in 1979.
“We were friends,” Jett explains. “I was friends with [singer] Darby [Crash] too but I think I was much closer to Pat. Their songs were great, but you just couldn’t tell. When they played live, they were so sloppy that you couldn’t hear anything. It was, at the same time funny, what people would expect of the Germs. But as somebody who knew their songs maybe a little bit better than some other people, I knew that people were missing a lot of it because the songs weren’t in any form that you could understand.”
“Just at a pure fan level,” Joan continues, “I wanted to hear them on vinyl like most fans would. Hear all the guitars, to hear the words, to hear the parts – maybe there was even some harmony or doubling of vocals in there. It was fun to not take it too far, but just take it to where they should be.”
Joan admits she’s unsure if Pat was the connection that brought her into the fold years later for the unforgettable Nirvana performance, but remembers “it was so heavy to me to be asked to do that, but as a fan and as a performer how can you say ‘no’? It’s either gonna be a spectacular crash, or if I get through it, it’ll be amazing.” As evidenced above, “It was incredible,” Joan says. “It was really probably as close as you can get to Nirvana playing again.. and they were having a blast. I kept looking at them to see their reactions and it was really special.”
Joan actually credits that performance as a big reason why she was inducted into the Rock Hall the following year herself. “Yeah, I do,” she says with a sly smirk. “I think they got nailed in spectacular fashion, live, with everyone to see and I think they probably had no choice. But a lot of those people are my friends as well, and I’m grateful to be in. I love it, I’m in with a lot of my friends. It took a long while, but that was never the point of getting into a band... but I’m happy to be there and happy to be with people I’m in there with. It’s really a special occasion. And I just did my voting!”
Watch our full Audacy Check In with Audacy's Remy Maxwell and Joan Jett above -- and stay tuned for even more conversations with your favorite artists right here at Audacy.com/Live.
While you're in the mood, check out some of Audacy's all-new Rock stations like Women That Rock, Guitars and Glitter, 80s Guitar, Rock N’ Road, Freedom Rock, The Canyon, Arena Rock, Wake Up and Rock, and The Roots of Rock for those who crave the early days.
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