The Year Is… 1981!
- This was originally recorded by a British group called The Arrows in 1975, and it was written by their lead singer Alan Merrill and guitarist Jake Hooker. Joan Jett saw this song performed by them on a U-K tv show, and prompted her to cover it 6 years later. In what is arguably, one of the most successful covers of all time!
- In the US, this was #1 for seven weeks in 1982! Oddly enough, Joan Jett was considered to be the least of the former Runaway band members any labels were interested in, and she would go on to be the most famous of them.
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- This seems like a perfect fit for a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance, but when Jett was inducted in 2015, she didn’t play the song. Although it is by far her biggest hit, Jett has downplayed it throughout her career, typically performing it in the middle of sets while using “Bad Reputation” and ” I Hate Myself For Loving You” as bookends.
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