…But What About The Runaways??

Hey, I'm happy as can be for Joan Jett getting into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. I just don't get how they can overlook the band that helped make her who she is though. 

The RnR Hall have got a lot of fixing to do, we all know that. They basically have zero clue or respect of heavy metal's existence to the world of music. They rush people in way too early and they overlook artists like a son of a bitch! Where's Chicago, Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, Devo, Dick Dale, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Joy Divison, Kraftwerk, MC5, Willie Nelson, John Coltrane, The Cure, Yes, Big Star, King Crimson, Moody Blues, Afrika Bambaattaa, Motorhead, The Cars, Boston, Love, B52's, Herbie Hancock, X, Black Flag, Bad Brains, Bad Religion, New York Dolls, The Sonics, The Zombies, Blue Oyster Cult, Thin Lizzy, ELO, Link Wray, Chic, J Geils Band, Slade, Joe Cocker, Stevie Nicks, Tina Turner, Blood Sweat & Tears... just to name a few!

So with this situation here; I gotta think the Runaways should have been in there already, no? Like Ringo; he just got in there on his own. Well deserved. Kick ass solo career. Success, records we still know and love and as always influential. Before this past weekend's solo induction, he was immortalized in the Hall with the band he was in a long time ago. See what I mean? First things first! Doesn't that band kinda create you? Not in every situation, but most I gotta think.

The Runaways were so important to not only girls or girls in rock n roll music, but to young in general. They spoke for a new generation, not just a gender. They were an updated version of street rock. Sexuality, freedom, adventurous, living your own life. Being a teenager! Years prior it might have been about walking hand and hand by the light of the moon with the one you love. Glaring at someones eyes over a milkshake. Not in mid 70's Los Angeles. The Sunset Strip was being created and rock n roll was now a chip on your shoulder, mascara running down your face, turning up the volume and saying things not everyone deems appropriate for public consumption or broadcast.

Joan and the Runaways didn't exactly know what they were doing at first. They knew they wanted to do something full of attitude in the same type of jeans or leather pants guys were wearing. With some help from wack job producer/promoter Kim Fowley, the Runaways found a style and a way. It wasn't easy. No one signed off on this anywhere. They were talked down to and refused every chance possible. Radio, record labels, clubs, newspapers... they didn't believe in this band. Girls couldn't deliver that type of rock. Girls couldn't have the same attitude the boys in rock bands had. Girls couldn't be bad ass and hurt your eardrums with loudness.

They could and they did and no one was gonna tell them otherwise. A few of those girls in the Runaways would bite your head off man! They were hungry! They built much needed confidence in girls to not only be who they wanted to be but to pick up a guitar if they wanted to and wail on that damn thing. They built confidence in Joan Jett, the guitarist/singer. Confidence that she needed if she would ever do her own thing which we all know did happen.

The Runaways were as influential, groundbreaking and attention grabbing as they come. Without the Runaways, a lot might not have happened, including Joan Jett as we know her. So, why aren't they in the Hall?