8th Street in Allentown the Castle Inn, Phillipsburg, N.J., and, in 1982, at the Allentown Fairgrounds. Jett and her band of Blackhearts (Gary Ryan, Ricky Byrd and Lee Crystal) are not strangers to the Lehigh Valley, having performed at the former Nikko's along S. If a girl is qualified enough to play violin or cello in a symphony, she can mostcertainly play guitar in a rock 'n' roll band." Sex or gender has nothing to do with ability or talent. Even though a lot of minds have been changed, many still believe a girl can't play guitar as good as a guy.
While people won't say it to your face, they still think it. "I don't think it's changed that much either. "We weren't doing anything more than a male rock 'n' roll band, but it bothered people and I spent a lot of time defending that. "The Runaways were a group of typical teen-age girls from the suburbs who proved to people girls did swear, smoke and know about sex," Jett explained. Personally, I consider it a great compliment when the audience comes up after a show and says you sound just like you do on your records."Īlthough female rock bands have enjoyed great popularity and growing respect since the turbulent advent of the ground-breaking Runaways, Jett believes many people still hold a conviction that women can't play rock 'n' roll. You have all these different things to embellish your songs and a lot of people fall into that. "There are mounds and mounds of technology you can use and many bands succumb to that in a studio.
"People sometimes get mad at me for being too basic," explained Jett, who is currently in the midst of a tour that will carry well into 1986. There are occasional throwbacks to her Runaway past like the overt "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" and, on her latest Blackheart/MCA Records LP, a remake of "Cherry Bomb," but there are also sprinklings of introspection like the unusually soft "Hold Me." While Jett herself has matured, her music is still a basic tribute to the raw energy and power of rock 'n' roll. Now I realize there's a place and a time for everything." I learned for myself and I learned the hard way. I don't party until I can't stand up anymore because it's notgood for me. "I've just gotten my priorities in the right order. "Not at all," she said adamantly in a telephone interview this week. While she admits to changing, Jett insists she isn't mellowing. And "Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth" was supposedly inspired by her listeners, all of whose fan mail she reads and considers. She was openly touched by a performance at the 1984 Olympics which resulted in gold-medal swimmer Rowdy Gaines asking for her autograph. Instead of sounding like one more hazy, space cadet on the telephone, her voice carries soft, throaty intelligence. Hot tea has replaced alcohol as a pre-concert warm-up.
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