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Joan Jett 13 Things You Don’t know About Joan Jett 1)Joan Jett left high school in the 11th grade to go on world tours with the Runaways. She studied while on the road and got a GED diploma. She continues the process of self-education to this day, and actually reads and disects advanced philosophy books at a rate of around one a week. 2) She is the first major
FEMALE artist to own her own record label. Blackheart Records was
formed only because no major or indie label was willing to take a
chance on Joan Jett, who had already recorded and presented "I
Love Rock n' Roll", "Bad 3) Joan was the first major
artist from an English speaking country (USA, England, Australia)
to perform in Panama. She visited Roberto Duran in the hospital with
his whole family, and actually physically turned the big wheels to
open the Panama Canal, a rare honor for anyone. While there, Joan
did a live Panamanian TV talk show and thousands of Panamanians gathered
outside the TV studio. When she tried to exit, a major riot ensued.
Then president Noriega called out the national guard to get Joan back
to safety. Later, he sent the presidential airplane to pick up Joan
and take her to 4) Joan was the first artist to buy S&M studs and leather and use it for rock and roll stage clothes. This look has become the standard for rock and roll, punk and heavy metal fashion. She gave Sid Vicious the "ring" belt she bought at the PLEASURE CHEST in Hollywood, which he wore all the time. years later, Slash, from Guns and Roses, cited that belt in his Rolling Stone interview, as the inspiration for the belt he wore. 5) Joan Jett was the first American of any kind to perform behind the Iron Curtain in satellite countries, when she went to the DDR (East Germany) in 1982. Americans were not allowed to go there so there was no mechanism for getting visas, but since she was involved with the Who Organization in England, and England had the diplomatic protocol, Trinifold, the Who's London office, had access to British foreign office protocol and got Joan visas to leave from England. Joan was paid in antiques, caviar, and Russian vodka, none of which were useful to her.
7) She is active in politics and was Howard Dean's first celebrity supporter she stood on stage with him while he gave his notorious "I have a scream "speech in Iowa, then flew next to him in the jet to New Hampshire, while Joe Tripp, the campaign manager, leaned over Joan to discuss what's next! 8) Joan has been a big supporter of American troops throughout her career. Aside from a few war correspondents, she is the non combatant who has been in more active war zones than anyone else, including senators, congressmen, etc. She was the first to entertain the troops in the Kosovo war, and the first non combatant to sleep in the war zone in the Afghanistan war (Operation Enduring Freedom). she not only was the first to go to Afghanistan, when she went deep "downrange" with no equipment other than a guitar and a battery amp with no band or crew, but she was the second entertainer when she returned a few months later with her band. She has spent much time on various hospitals for combat casualties and is considered one of the very best by the Armed Forces Entertainment and USO. She is the only antiwar activist to be featured on Oliver North war stories, because, although she has a different political persuasion than most military people, she has been right there when called to support the troops, even when she does not agree with the policy. Her many activities with the troops are largely unnoticed, since she has not permitted any publicity to be done around these events. 9) She sang the National Anthem for her friend, Cal Ripken, when he tied and broke Lou Gehrig's "unbreakable" consecutive games played record on ??...??, 1995. Joan sat with baseball legends Willie Mays, Joe DeMaggio and Frank Robinson, not to mention President Clinton and VP Al Gore, the first when any sitting President and Vice President appeared together at a public event like that. 10) She was the wake up call on fight day for former heavy weight champ Mike Tyson from the sixth fight in his career on until Mike changed management. They met doing the cover of IN FASHION magazine for charity, although Joan, an avid sports fan, had seen Mike fight before that. The first fight that Joan did not call Mike to wake him on fight day was with buster Douglas and it was Mike's first loss!!! 11) On one trip to entertain
the troops in Turkey and the Middle East, Joan was traveling with
the Secretary of the Air Force. Joan had requested a trip to Jerusalem
while she was playing on the USS Bataan in the harbor of Haifa. When
the Israeli colonel guarding Joan was distracted by her band members,
Joan wandered over to the Wailing Wall. Not aquainted with the culture,
and looking rather androgynous while covered up with jackets on a
cold December day, Joan accepted a yarmulka from one of the guards
and pranced over to the men's side of the wailing wall to make a prayer.
This intrusion of the sacred rules was a major no no. Just as Joan
noticed a bunch of women at another part of the wall, Joan's Israeli
colonel appeared. He was freaking 12) Jjoan has been sited as a major inspiration to many extremely influential people, from Courtney Love, to Carman Elektra, to Cynthia Steffe, to Todd Oldham, to MXPX, to the Donnas, to the Distillers, to Hawthorne Heights, ad infinitum. 13) Legendary designer Todd Oldham named 2 of his 2006 Lazy Boy furniture designs after Joan Jett. Some of the sets are called Joan, another is called Jett. Cynthia Steffe, a clothing magnate, devoted her 2000 line to clothes inspired by Joan. |
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