I blame MTV. Well, let me back up. The likely reason I hadn’t really heard of the Runaways before about 10 years ago was because I grew up watching MTV. One of my first memories of the music channel was watching Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’s vibrant, black-and-white video for “I Love Rock ‘n Roll.” As Joan Jett released more videos and subsequent albums, MTV showed much of her evolving work. In the mid-80s, Lita Ford had a decent run from a few songs from Lita, including an unforgettable duet with the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Ozbourne. Joan Jett and Lita Ford played in a band together in the mid-70s called the Runaways, and their debut album is one I regret not hearing sooner. 

Produced by Kim Fowley and released on June 1, 1976, The Runaways enjoyed modest success on the Billboard album charts. The album purportedly went gold in Australia, and the lead single, “Cherry Bomb” went to #1 in Japan. Perhaps the most notable use of actual Runaways music was its prominent featuring in Guardians of the Galaxy, a Marvel movie that took in more than $700 million world wide. The Runaways are also the subject of a biopic called, of all things, The Runaways, starting Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, and Michael Shannon.

The Runaways works not only because of the collective youth and feminine energy that runs through the record, but also because the band is the sum of rock icon simulacra. Cherie Currie channeled David Bowie for her stage persona. Joan Jett emulated Suzi Quatro. Lita Ford mashed up Ritchie Blackmore and Jeff Beck. Sandy West and Jackie Fox emulated Roger Taylor and Gene Simmons, respectively. While this energy was apparent in their stage show, The Runawayscaptures this amalgamation quite well on tape. Currie’s androgyny in the opening lines of “Cherry Bomb” echoes mid-70s Bowie.

Joan Jett does the lion’s share of the writing on The Runaways, with Currie contributing significantly and producer Kim Fowley second to Jett. Even if you took away the archetypes at play in the Runaways, you’d still have a handful of well crafted rock songs. “American Nights” and “You Drive Me Wild” sound like precursors to Jett’s solo career—they tend to stick in my head for a few days after just one listen. The album closes with an odd musical skit set to Jett and Currie escaping from Juvenile Hall. “Juvie,” as it was called in the 80s, was a real threat for five teenage women in a rock band called, of all things, “the Runaways.” 

In 1977, after a falling out with Jett, Currie left the Runaways. After a few line-up changes and management shifts, the Runaways broke up in 1979. Joan Jett went on to be a rock icon. Lita Ford had a successful commercial run in the mid-80s as a metal artist.