Neon Angels on the Road to Ruin: The Rise, Fall, and Legacy of The Runaways
The year is 1975 and we are witnessing legendary rockstars like Springsteen and Bowie rise to the top alongside revolutionary bands like Pink Floyd and Queen. It’s just the dawn of a new band that will change the music industry forever.
The occasion is Alice Cooper’s birthday party, where producer Kim Fowley met 13-year-old lyricist Kari Krome, who later introduced her friend and guitarist Joan Jett to Fowley. Jett had always dreamed of being part of an all-girl rock band, and she had embarked on her journey to achieve it. A couple of weeks later, drummer Sandy West would become part of the equation. That was the genesis and the heart of The Runaways, as Jett puts it.
The Runaways were gaining certain local popularity, but they still needed a front woman. They needed a “Brigitte Bardot fronting the screaming, loud, obnoxious, rebellious girls who can take over the world.” They found their perfect match in 16-year-old Cherie Currie.
By December of ’75, guitarist Lita Ford and bassist Jackie Fox were a part of a band that threatened a sexist, male-dominated industry. This band ultimately made an undeniable mark in music history and paved the way for women in rock.
In June of 1976, The Runaways released their first album, The Runaways, a powerful hard rock album with hints of punk rock fueled by the girls’ astounding talent and courage. )The greatness of their music becomes even more impressive when you consider the fact that they were all between the ages of 16 and 17.) Since its release, the album has gained well-deserved acclaim and commend (though still not enough, in my opinion), with AllMusic praising it and rightfully comparing the band’s music to material by Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith.
Their song Cherry Bomb — which was quickly written by Jett and Fowley for Currie’s band audition — went on to become the band’s biggest success, ranking 52nd on VH1’s Greatest Hard Rock Songs list. It has been featured in multiple movies and TV shows such as Dazed and Confused, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fear Street Part Two: 1978, The Runaways and The Boys.
Their musical talent is indisputable, and it strikes its listeners the moment Currie’s voice, Jett’s and Ford’s guitars and West’s drums (Fox didn’t play the bass for the album, even though she’s credited) grace their ears.
After passing an exceptional cover of The Velvet Underground’s Rock and Roll, the album reaches its climax with its final song, Dead End Justice. We are presented a 7-minute-long rock powerhouse led by Currie’s potent voice. It tells the story of Cherie getting busted for having drugs and being sent to juvenile detention, hatching a plan to break out with Joan but failing as she injures her ankle and urges Joan to save herself. A fan favorite and part of the Stranger Things soundtrack, the song follows a steady tempo until we get to the post-chorus where Ford demonstrates her astonishing guitar skills, giving the listener a sense of excitement and anticipation. West’s time to shine comes right away as her wonderful drumming becomes the only companion to Currie’s and Jett’s vocals as they get more and more desperate, ultimately culminating in a scream. The song then alternates between singing and dialogues between Jett and Currie, planning their escape from imprisonment. Dead End Justice ends with a sensational one-minute-long guitar and drum solo and leaves you wishing it wasn’t just 7 minutes long.
With 10 tracks and a run time of 32 minutes, The Runaways created a compelling and forceful album debut that demonstrated the world, the statement they were aiming for: that girls can rock just as well as boys, if not, better.
The Runaways achieved moderate success in the United States, and despite supporting groups like Cheap Trick, The Ramones, or Van Halen, they never got the respect they deserved.
This was an environment dominated by misogyny and having a rapist as a manager who sold them as hard-rock jailbait and prevented them from getting the tiniest acclaim, at least in the United States. According to Jason Cherkis’ brilliant article, Fowley would go as far as listing each girl’s age next to her photo in their self-titled album, dictating what the girls wore and how they moved on stage. He even hired a choreographer to teach Currie how to whip a microphone around on a cord and sling it up between her legs from behind.
“The concept was Kim’s. He wanted us to be young, fuckable jailbait” declared Joan Jett in 1978. Considering what the press had to say about them, it’s evident it worked exactly how he wanted it to.
From the beginning, Fowley would throw blunt objects at the girls while they were rehearsing to “prepare” them for rough crowds. He would verbally abuse them, and force them to work grueling hours. "We just never had a break. Either we were touring, rehearsing, or in the studio, and we were making no money at all. They were making a lot of money off of us…We were doing sold-out concerts and getting $20!" Currie explained.
Fowley didn’t lie about the rough crowds. Jett stated that she had her head split open by a beer bottle, a rib cracked by getting a battery thrown at her and she’d get spit on in concerts just because she was a girl.
Tragically, these weren’t their worst problems.
The management would just hand out quaaludes and cocaine to the girls, and by the time Currie was 17, she was completely burned out on drugs and admitted that she continued to struggle with drug addiction long after she left the band. To make matters worse, she was raped by one of the band's managers and ended up getting pregnant, ultimately deciding to have an abortion at only sixteen. In an interview with OC Weekly, she mentions how horrific of an experience it was and how it still bothers her.
After Kim Fowley died in 2015, Jackie Fox (whose real last name is Fuchs) stated that Fowley raped her during her time with the band when she was 16 years old. Fuchs was given quaaludes, rendering her unable to move or speak, to the point of slipping in and out of consciousness. There were multiple witnesses in the room — including bandmates Jett and Currie, who deny being aware of it — and though no one did anything to help her, she doesn’t hold a grudge. In Fuchs’ words: “One of the things I've tried to do with every bystander is let them know it's not their fault,” she says. “I also have to not blame myself for what happened to them. We are all victims of what Kim did."
The Runaways is not only a tale of injustice and calamity, but one of resilience and courage as well. Queens of Noise, composed of 10 songs and a runtime of 37 minutes, was released in January of 1977, only seven months after their debut. Nevertheless, there’s a significant improvement, with a greater variety and a bigger emphasis on all the girls’ talents. Their sophomore is a hard rock album that embraces its glam rock and heavy metal influences eminently and efficiently, becoming The Runaways’ best-selling and most acclaimed album.
The album's iTunes reviews deemed Heart Beat and Midnight Music as power ballads that are "unacknowledged precursors to the hair metal sound that would come to dominate Los Angeles in the ‘80s;" one of the multiple ways they influenced the music industry.
The centerpiece is, to me, Neon Angels on the Road to Ruin, driven by a great riff from Ford subsequently leading to an up-tempo song with Currie’s outstanding vocals — often considered her finest performance — alongside Jett’s backup vocals. Their power, confidence, energy, and talent are at their best in their Japan performance, which one can only wish to have been there.
By this time, Currie had had her abortion and would soon leave the band following Fuchs’ departure, making Queen of Noise the last album the original Runaways made together.
Tensions within the group were arising. Jett and Currie not only became lead singers in this album, but they also had a bit of a romantic relationship with emotions that, according to Ford, were not equally shared. Ford also left the band briefly after finding out about this relationship and discovering West was a lesbian. During their Japan tour in June of 1977, Fowley arranged a photoshoot for 17-year-old Currie where she had to pose in her corset in an inappropriate manner, which Jett referred to as “soft-porn shots.” This provoked a hostile attitude towards Currie from the rest of the band, so she decided to distance herself from them.
Even though they were mostly mistreated in their home country, The Runaways were a sensation overseas, especially in places like England and Japan where Jett says they were treated like The Beatles. They believed Japanese women felt the power of The Runaways. Meanwhile, Fuchs mentions that after the Japan tour, fans sent her letters saying how inspired they were. “I think I want to be a Rock musician like you,” one girl wrote. “I will find my own way.” However, it was after this tour that Fuchs and Currie left.
Back in the United States, the remaining members fired Kim Fowley while Jett took the role of front woman, and Vicki Blue replaced Fuchs. Their third album, Waitin’ for the Night, would be released later that same year, only four months after finishing their Japan tour and the departure of two members.
Jett could feel the album going in a very heavy metal direction, prompted by West’s and Ford’s camaraderie with producer John Alcock, who was observed to attempt to phase Jett out of the proceedings for their final album, And Now… The Runaways. Hence, Ford and West sang lead on a couple of songs. This situation made Jett feel like she was about to get fired from the band she helped create. These creative differences would signal the end of The Runaways.
The band played their last concert on New Year's Eve 1978 at the Cow Palace and officially broke up in April 1979.
Despite not having the soul and strength of their previous work, Waitin’ for the Night and And Now… The Runaways, are pretty solid albums, with remarkable songs like Little Sister and I’m A Million. In short, The Runaways’ discography is a perfect one, undeterred by a hard path of ridicule, indifference, and abuse.
Not only music but fashion and LGBT icons as well, The Runaways’ legacy can be seen everywhere: from bands like The Go-Go’s, Fugazi, The Germs, —who were so in awe of them that they hired Jett to produce their LP—, to musicians like Courtney Love and Billie Joe Armstrong —who affirm wanting to be the male version of Joan Jett—, to the Riot Grrrl movement, to modern-day musicians like Miley Cyrus. There was even a 2010 biographical drama that came out which was directed by Floria Sigismondi and starring Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, and Michael Shannon. The mark and impact they’ve made in music and pop culture is undeniable and will remain forever.
Their music was, as Blondie’s Debbie Harry puts it, “about who they were and their generation. It was heartfelt and mentally correct.” It has been mentioned to be exceptionally good and in high quality, with five teenage girls who were insanely talented and bold for putting their hearts and souls into everything they did. In the words of Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, “if you listen to The Runaways, those are bad-ass rock songs, and they kick the shit out of almost everything else that was out at that time,” which one may or may not agree with, but as far as I’m concerned, he is 100% correct.
The Runaways weren’t the first all-women rock band, having bands like Fanny and The Pleasure Seekers as their predecessors, but they were the ones that transcended through time by breaking down barricades and stereotypes of what a woman should be. They changed the course of music history with their raw talent, bravery, and resilience that still serves as an inspiration not only for women but all kinds of people all over the world.