Leaderboard

I love Rush, and I also love Joan Jett. It seems to make sense that the Runaways would have a chip on their shoulder, it was probably something Kim Fowley sort of ingrained in them. Make a scene with a big headliner that doesn't have much crossover with their fanbase for the publicity. He's a real fucking piece of shit. As for Ayn Rand (speaking of pieces of shit), I never understood how anyone in the arts can love her, but she certainly has her followers. Peart is unassailable as a drummer though. As for Japanese rock girl groups, there is this niche subgenre of Japanese women doing great power metal (nobody does cool niche stuff like Japan). Not the manufactured sort of thing Baby Metal did/is doing, but actual musicians writing and making music. The connection to The Runaways is tenuous at best, since the micro-genre owes more to Iron Maiden, Iced Earth, and, most prominently, Japan's own Galneryus, but because of the previous discussion, I though I would post an example. Here is the great Mary's Blood:

Oh, Rush. I find it hard to respect or enjoy that band after I found out years ago that Peart (who wrote most of their lyrics) was a huge fan of Ayn Rand. They could certainly play their instruments well. I'll never understand what drives classically trained and/or musical prodigies to play shitty arena rock. Money and girls I guess. Do any of you know the Rheostatics? Arguably Canada's greatest rock band, certainly up there with the likes of The Tragically Hip and Sloan. One of the Rheos guitarists and songwriters, Martin Tielli, is known for playing a double necked guitar with a painting of our old flag on it. Their other guitarist/songwriter wrote a great book about the experience of touring back and forth across Canada called On A Cold Road, highly recommended if you can find it and are interested in Canadian music history from approximately 1985 to 2000. Also, just to close the circle on a couple other themes that keep coming up in this thread, one could argue that The Velvet Underground were a "manufactured" band, especially once Andy added Nico to the group. The 70s had its share of "supergroups" organized by studio musicians and producers - Steely Dan, the Eagles, Alan Parsons Project.

Fuck it, one last Shannon post where he raps with a Russian accent, mystifying Judy Greer:

While on the talk of things Japanese, I should point out two more facts. One obvious one I found out just looking them up now. First, yes clearly they didn't go to Japan to film this, but it always shocks me how a simple google search would solve some of their more clearly mistakes. First, a band as big as they were would have been in a luxury hotel which would be fully western. There is an off chance if the room was big enough they would have had a tatami room, but that's more of a specialized thing and wouldn't have a mattress just on the floor. You'd have futons which the staff would put out and put away. Also ramen, the soup is so important. You'd never get a bowl of just noodles, and if you did it would be either soba or udon and not in a ramen bowl. Unless Joan Jett went out and bought some instant ramen and made it herself that's not how it'd look. Come on, just google these things production designer. Second, it wasn't just any photographer they sent to take pictures of Cherie, it was Kishin Shinoyama. Kishin Shinoyama is a very famous photographer, mostly known for his erotic and nude photography. He also did a ton of album and cover work for a variety of artists. He even worked with John Lenon and Yoko Ono. He's a very famous and well respected photographer. There is no need to point this out in the movie, but it is worth mentioning that this wasn't just some fly by night cheesecake photoshoot.

I would probably call them (late) proto-punk. They have more in common with The Kinks, The Stooges, MC5, and the New York Dolls, than The Clash or The Germs. They would have been influential to punk bands, but I don’t know that they would have considered themselves punk. They would have probably just called themselves a rock band and left it at that. This is somewhat reinforced by the fact that according to IMDb, the band that was giving them shit about doing a sound check was Rush! There’s no way a Seventies punk band would have been caught dead opening for Rush.

That is a genius performance. I also like him in Premium Rush.

As a wise man once told me, bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks, lick on these nuts and here’s some myrrh

About halfway through it. Will finish it tonight and give more thoughts then. I will say I’m loving Michael Shannon’s performance—I pretty much always love his performances—but it did remind me of this: in other words, it was very Michael Shannon-y (another great underseen performance by him was on the HBO shor Room 104).

According to Mikey Dolenz, the thought was they were all “showmen.” It didn’t go over well at all. It went right over The Monkees’ fans’ heads and Hendrix quit after only a few shows.

Ha no I just googled it. Geddy Lee was asked about it! "The Runaways had a ginormous chip on their shoulders. I remember that show. We had trouble with our gear so our soundcheck got delayed and The Runaways never got one. But we were always good to whoever was opening for us. We had no bias against them because they were girls - none of that bullshit. I know they said that we were laughing at them when they played, but quite frankly they were too shitty to listen to. And 40 years later they have a story to tell about it. Who knew?"

Yea that makes more sense. I've heard tell of many musicians fucking with, or just being dicks to the opening act because they don't want to be out shined. Denying an opening act a sound check so you sound better than them I'm sure was a very common occurrence. I could see this being the case but like you said I could see them being more snobbish much more the case.

From IMDB: “In the DVD commentary, Joan Jett states it was the Canadian rock band Rush that bullied The Runaways from having a sound check.” I’m sure it didn’t go down like it did in the movie, but maybe they were snobs or something. ETA: I noted in the scene the type of double necked guitar Geddy Lee sometimes plays. Not totally unusual, but not a whole lot of guitarists go the double necked route. Perhaps that was a nod to it being Rush. (It wasn’t the one that was peed on.)

I'm sad to say it is not that big of a lasting legacy. I think a lot of this is to do with Japan's weird music system. The bands you hear about here are huge but there are ones you never hear of, get no airplay but are still huge and have followings. I'm sure some people are familiar with "Japanese Idols" like AKB48, Morning Musume, etc. Basically an all female pop group that they sell the girls as much if not more than the music. While the members of AKB48 get charting hits and appear on a variety of variety shows and have photo books released of them, there is a whole subset of "underground idols" that have just as massive and dedicated fan base but you'll never see them on TV or hear their music unless you seek it out. However, this is not just for female pop groups but every genre of music. The birth of this trend was from the early 80s, so you didn't see a lot of female rockers in Japan. I'm sure there are some female rock groups that were inspired by them but none that leap to mind. I would half expect Shonen Knife was. There are still some female only rock/punk bands out there but they are in that underground status and unless you actively seek them out it's hard to find them or their influences. Much like other bands that were huge in Japan at that time it's only the ones that continues to perform that have any sort of lasting legacy with the exception being Queen. So while people will still get excited for KISS, Jeff Beck, Aerosmith, etc. sadly Cheap Trick, The Runaways, etc. are mostly a memory. Fun fact the poster or DVD cover for this movie is the image of their Japan appearance so maybe that look is "iconic" or they're selling it on sex appeal. I'm no Rush expert but I have a hard time imaging them being like "Ew, girls." Maybe it was their roadies or managers.

I watched a YouTube video and both Jett and Ford described their music as "Riff Rock" which is very much like AC/DC. I seem to remember watching a documentary about Rock years ago, and when they were talking about AC/DC, they said they were one of the few hard rock bands at the time that were embraced by English punks. The Runaways could be another example of this. As kinf of an aside, Jett also complimented Ford's ability to shred. She said she would have put her up against any of the big hard rock band guitar players. I also started watching that documentary you embedded, and Ford said the first songs she played with West was Deep Purple's "Highway Star." The first song the three of them played together was KISS's "Strutter." So, yeah, definitely not punk or punk influenced.

Wiki includes it in their list, so maybe they were, but in my view, The Runaways weren't really punk at all. They were far too good at their instruments and weren't trying to cause a ruckus or cause a commotion like the Sex Pistols or Ramones were. The last track on their first album was a 7-minute blues guitar thing, few to no punk band could or would do that! Honestly, they sound like AC/DC to me. I really don't see them in the same lane as punk that much. ("Cherry Bomb" perhaps.) I dunno, I'm not great with genres when it comes to music, except for the purest originators, it's usually hard to tell definitively.

To be fair, I think the Sex Pistols deserve a lot of derision because they were manufactured. It's widely known Sid Viscous replaced someone who could play an instrument purely because he looked the part. But I'm not knocking The Runaways. This started as me saying they didn't have any commercial hits in the US and weren't big (except in Japan) outside of their bubble. But I think that's a criticism you could put toward every punk band. There's that quote about The Velvet Underground (maybe from Lester Bangs) that goes something like "Velvet Underground only sold 1000 albums when they were together by every one of those people started a band." I don't think that quote is entirely applicable to The Runaways but I'm not super into punk music and very much less into American punk music. So, maybe I'm wrong. Based on my own experience, I've heard way more talk about The Slits, X-Ray Spex, The Raincoats, Wendy O. Williams, Siouxsie and the Banshees as female punk (and post punk) inspiration than The Runaways. But I think all those groups formed after The Runaways but were active concurrently. So, maybe they influenced a bunch of other women lead groups. I honestly don't know.

This seems like an excellent week to mention that Penelope Spheeris' documentary about this period, "The Decline of Western Civilization", was on TCM recently and at least here in Canada is still available on demand. My memory of these years is hazy and I was too young to be a proper punk (I was 12 in 1980) but The Runaways definitely had an impact, especially on their female peers and other bands trying to make the same scene and trying to be more than a novelty act. You can't underestimate the impact that punk compilations and even mix tapes had on the fans and musicians who circulated them. You can draw a straight line from bands like The Runaways to bands like Hole or Bikini Kill. I do remember that when Joan Jett went solo and had big boring hits like "I Love Rock n' Roll", there was a lot of sellout-grumbling. Lita Ford was clearly happier pushing hair metal. I did see this biopic when it came out at a fancy theatre in Toronto and I mainly remember being impressed with K-Stew and realizing "oh, she's actually a very good actor."

Yea, though "Cherry Bomb" was a pretty big hit in Japan. I'm not sure the movie made that as clear as it could have. They became influential later, probably when Jett became more famous (and even Ford and the others). Now they're recognized as an influential female band, I think. Maybe less in the punk realm though and more towards rock or even metal (i.e. Ford). Actually maybe 'influential' is the wrong word, not sure they changed much really, but they were a pioneering group. I was stunned by this number as I was listening to their music the other day. On Spotify, "Cherry Bomb" has over 88 million plays. Their second highest song is at 2 million (my favorite of theirs "You Drive Me Wild"). So yea they're definitely a one-hit wonder type of group.

I legit didn't even recognize Alia Shawkat in this. Now that you mention it I don't think she does have a single speaking line. Maybe when they're in the pool she does some shouting but that's about it.

Yea I think "Cherry Bomb" was pretty massive, but there's a few other hits. I'm not familiar with their music, beyond their first album. Which I think is amazing. The guitar playing by Jett and Ford is pretty impressive. From what I learned about the group, it seems that in some ways the most interesting story could have been Currie's twin sister. She apparently was left out of the band because Fowley didn't want twins in it. She did end up making some music on her own (and even as a duo with Cherie). There's a lot of other drama and controversy between band members and Fowley that didn't get portrayed too. I was watching some live clips of the band after I watched the movie and the movie did nail the band in a lot of the details. That sexy lingerie costume Cherie got and Jett was like 'that's too much'... that was real!

Overall, I thought the movie was fine. I kind of want to get more Runaways records, especially the ones after Currie left. I didn’t realize that they released two more albums with Jett fronting the group. Not that this is portrayed in the movie, of course. That’s pure Wikipedia right there Most of all, I was impressed with KStew’s physicality. She really captured Jett’s body language.

I think it depends on what you call “hits.” They have other well-known(ish) songs, but I’d say “Cherry Bomb” was their big one.

I have to assume this is just an excuse for Breen to call someone a bitch and not get punched over it, because he uses it A LOT in the film. Also I'm still trying to figure out why they didn't just make the girl at the end, who thinks he's his brother but shaven now, is not the same actress that has been playing Cale's girlfriend for the entire film. My friends and I were also a bit drunk watching this so we called his real estate office because we didn't know what we'd do if we called his cell number and he picked up, so I really hope the show tries to get him on the phone if they do another one of his movies.

I'm already jerkin' it!