50 Fun Facts About Joan Jett

Which British band first recorded I Love Rock 'n' Roll in 1975, before Joan Jett's hit?

Arrows had their own weekly ITV series, which is where Jett first heard the song while touring England with the Runaways in 1976.

Which Twilight star played Joan Jett in The Runaways, the 2010 film about her teenage band?

Kristen Stewart met Jett in early 2009 to prepare for the part, and Jett was an executive producer of the film.

Which short-lived 1999 high school series used Joan Jett's Bad Reputation as its opening theme?

Freaks and Geeks opened with the song, which also plays over the first scene of the 1999 teen film 10 Things I Hate About You.

Which NFL broadcast reworked Joan Jett's I Hate Myself for Loving You into its opening theme from 2006?

Sunday Night Football retitled it Waiting All Day for Sunday Night, with new words sung first by Pink, then Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood.

A 2019 UK Christmas number one by LadBaby reworked Joan Jett's signature hit as a tribute to which snack?

Sausage rolls starred in LadBaby's charity single, whose profits went to the Trussell Trust, and it gave him a second Christmas chart-topper in a row.

Which airline christened an Airbus A330 with a punning one-T spelling of Joan Jett's name in 2024?

Virgin Atlantic gave the name Joan Jet to an Airbus A330-900 registered G-VRIF, dropping one letter so the aircraft itself became the pun.

Joan Jett got her first guitar at 13 but quit lessons because the teacher kept pushing which music?

Folk songs were not what she had in mind, and a family move to the Los Angeles area soon put her within reach of the Sunset Strip glam rock scene she loved.

Which 1980s teen idol played Joan Jett's brother and bandmate in the 1987 rock drama Light of Day?

Michael J. Fox took the part as his first real attempt at a serious role, and the two play siblings in a Cleveland rock band called the Barbusters.

Which fighter used Joan Jett's Bad Reputation as her entrance music in both the UFC and WWE?

Ronda Rousey made the song her entrance music, and Jett played it live as she walked out at WrestleMania 35, the first WrestleMania with a women's main event.

Which band's surviving members did Joan Jett front at their 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction?

Nirvana had Jett sing Smells Like Teen Spirit in Kurt Cobain's place, and she joined them again later that night for a surprise club show in Brooklyn.

Which 1960s hitmaker co-wrote and first recorded Crimson and Clover, later a top ten cover for Joan Jett?

Tommy James took it to number one in the US with his band the Shondells in February 1969, and Jett's 1982 single climbed to number seven.

Which pop star covered I Love Rock 'n' Roll after singing it in a karaoke scene in her film Crossroads?

Britney Spears released her version as a single in 2002, then left it alone for 14 years until she revived it for her Las Vegas residency.

Which parody artist turned Joan Jett's I Love Rock 'n' Roll into a 1983 song about ice cream?

"Weird Al" Yankovic called it I Love Rocky Road, and the ice cream in the video was really mashed potatoes, because the real thing would melt under the stage lights.

Which Runaways song, co-written by Joan Jett, plays in the 2014 Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy?

Cherry Bomb, by Cherie Currie's account, was written in a hurry just so she had something to audition with, because the band could not play the song she had picked.

In which country were Joan Jett's Runaways a sensation, with sold-out 1977 shows and a gold live album?

Japan gave the band its own TV special during that 1977 visit, a level of fame the Runaways never reached at home in the United States.

Which famous doll line added a Joan Jett figure in 2009, made with her name and likeness?

Barbie maker Mattel released the doll on November 19, 2009, and Jett gave permission for her name and likeness to be used.

Which animal rights organization has Joan Jett, a vegetarian since the late 1980s, long supported?

PETA once teamed up with a Los Angeles pizza shop to sell a heart-shaped Blackheart pizza for Valentine's Day, named for her band.

Which former child star played Runaways singer Cherie Currie in the 2010 film about Joan Jett's first band?

Dakota Fanning had Currie's own words to work from, because the film is based on the singer's memoir, Neon Angel.

Which rock star declined to act in Light of Day but wrote the title song that Joan Jett performed?

Bruce Springsteen was sent the script under its working title, Born in the USA; he passed on the role but kept that title for a song of his own.

Which lightweight Gibson model has been Joan Jett's signature guitar on stage and record since 1977?

The Melody Maker replaced a heavy Les Paul that was hurting her shoulder as she jumped around on stage, and in 2008 Gibson began selling a Joan Jett signature version.

Which 1970s power-pop frontman sold Joan Jett the white guitar she played on her early hits?

Eric Carmen had played it on the Raspberries' hit Go All the Way, and Jett later took the guitar off the road for fear someone would steal or break it.

Which producer co-founded Blackheart Records with Joan Jett, reportedly using his daughter's college savings?

Kenny Laguna and Jett put her debut out themselves after 23 major labels rejected it, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with her band in 2015.

Members of which British punk band backed Joan Jett on her first recording of I Love Rock 'n' Roll in 1979?

Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook cut three songs with her in England, and that early take later surfaced on her 1993 compilation Flashback.

Which hard rock band's Dirty Deeds did Joan Jett cover for her 1990 album The Hit List?

AC/DC first released the song in 1976, and Jett's take was a single from her first album made up entirely of other artists' songs.

Which former Runaways member went solo and scored a top ten hit duetting with Ozzy Osbourne?

Lita Ford reached number eight in the US with Close My Eyes Forever in 1989, after signing with Sharon Osbourne's management company.

In which state was Joan Jett born in 1958, before family moves to Maryland and then California?

Pennsylvania is where she was born Joan Marie Larkin, in the Philadelphia suburb of Wynnewood; she chose Jett later because it sounded more like a rock star.

Joan Jett played Betsy Neal in the 2014 Lifetime thriller Big Driver, adapted from which author's novella?

Stephen King published the story in his 2010 collection Full Dark, No Stars, and the television film put Jett on screen alongside its star, Maria Bello.

Which Baltimore Orioles great personally asked Joan Jett to sing the national anthem before a record-tying game?

Cal Ripken Jr. wanted her there the night he tied Lou Gehrig's streak of consecutive games, and Jett, a devoted Orioles fan, also sang at the final game at Memorial Stadium.

Joan Jett produced (GI), the 1979 debut and only studio album by which Los Angeles punk band?

The Germs asked Jett to produce because she had been a friend and heroine to many of them since her days in the Runaways.

Which E Street Band member recruited Joan Jett to host a show on his Underground Garage radio channel?

Steven Van Zandt signed her up in 2005 for Joan Jett's Radio Revolution, a four-hour show that went out every Saturday and Sunday on Sirius.

Which drummer co-founded the Runaways with a 16-year-old Joan Jett in Los Angeles in 1975?

Sandy West was handed Jett's phone number at a teen dance club by the man who became their manager, and the two met shortly afterwards.

Which record producer assembled and managed the Runaways, billing them as an all-girl answer to Grand Funk?

Kim Fowley signed the teenage band to his own production company in September 1975 and co-wrote their best-known song with Joan Jett.

Micki Steele, the Runaways' first singer and bassist, later found fame in which 1980s all-female band?

The Bangles gave her hits such as Manic Monday and Eternal Flame under the name Michael Steele; she had left the Runaways within months of joining.

Which 1970s rock star was the idol Joan Jett patterned her Runaways stage persona on?

Suzi Quatro was Jett's model, while singer Cherie Currie patterned herself on David Bowie and bassist Jackie Fox took her cues from Gene Simmons of Kiss.

Which music movement, born in the early 1990s Pacific Northwest, hailed Joan Jett as a role model?

Riot grrrl musicians named her as an inspiration so often that the press dubbed Jett the original one, though her own career began some fifteen years earlier.

Which Olympia punk band's single Rebel Girl was produced by Joan Jett, who also wrote a song about them?

Bikini Kill returned the favor when singer Kathleen Hanna co-wrote several songs on Jett's 1994 album Pure and Simple.

By Joan Jett's account, which Latin American strongman invited her to spend the night at his Presidential Palace?

Manuel Noriega made the request after a riot broke out during her visit to Panama, where she was among the first English-speaking rock acts to appear.

Joan Jett co-wrote House of Fire, a single from which rock veteran's 1989 album Trash?

Alice Cooper issued House of Fire as a single with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry as its featured guest.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' Long Live the Night appears on the soundtrack of which Tom Cruise film?

Days of Thunder put the band on a 1990 soundtrack beside Cher, David Coverdale and a Guns N' Roses cover of Knockin' on Heaven's Door.

Which group's 1968 unity anthem Everyday People did Joan Jett cover on her 1983 record Album?

Sly and the Family Stone recorded it as a plea for peace between races and social groups; Jett's version was one of only three covers on Album and reached number 37.

Joan Jett's cover of The Mary Tyler Moore Show theme was used to promote which NCAA event?

The Women's Final Four campaign sent Love Is All Around onto radio playlists, where it became a heavily requested song even though it had no album behind it.

In which cult musical did Joan Jett play Columbia on Broadway in 2000?

The Rocky Horror Show revival played the Circle in the Square Theatre from late 2000 to January 2002, and Ana Gasteyer later took over Jett's role.

Joan Jett voiced a music producer named Sunshine Justice in which animated series?

Steven Universe used her in The Big Show, a 2018 episode in which Sadie's band is put in touch with Sunshine Justice for a performance in Empire City.

In which long-running action series did Joan Jett guest star in 2000 as an ex-CIA agent turned assassin?

Walker, Texas Ranger had her character hired to kill both Walker and Alex, in the same year that Jett was appearing in a Broadway musical.

Which pop star's 2020 rock album Plastic Hearts features Joan Jett as guest vocalist on Bad Karma?

Miley Cyrus also brought in Billy Idol and Stevie Nicks as guests on the album, five years after she gave the speech inducting Jett into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Which WNBA team, one of the league's eight original franchises, counts Joan Jett as an avid fan?

New York Liberty games suit a musician who has lived in New York State since the late 1970s, though in baseball her loyalty stays with the Baltimore Orioles.

Which 1980s newspaper comic strip spoofed Joan Jett as Tess Turbo, leader of the Blackheads?

Bloom County's send-up delighted Jett, who bought the original artwork and hung it in her office.

Which professional hitmaker co-wrote I Hate Myself for Loving You with Joan Jett?

Desmond Child also co-wrote Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer, and his song with Jett earned her a first Grammy nomination.

Which British guitar great played the solo on Joan Jett's 1988 hit I Hate Myself for Loving You?

Mick Taylor, formerly of the Rolling Stones, supplied the solo on the single, which became Jett's third top ten hit in the United States.

Paul Westerberg, Joan Jett's duet partner on Let's Do It, was the frontman of which Minneapolis band?

The Replacements' singer also featured on her 1991 album Notorious, and their duet turned up in the song credits of the 1995 film Tank Girl.