Bad Reputation (Joan Jett album)

Bad Reputation
Studio album by Joan Jett
Released January 23, 1981
Recorded March 1979-March 1980
Genre Punk rock, Hard rock, New Wave
Label Boardwalk (37065)
Producer Kenny Laguna,
Ritchie Cordell;
Steve Jones and Paul Cook on "You Don't Own Me" & "Don't Abuse Me"
Joan Jett chronology
Bad Reputation
(1980)		 I Love Rock 'n' Roll
(1981)
Alternative cover
Sleeve for the original Joan Jett album

Bad Reputation is the debut solo album by Joan Jett, originally self-released in 1980 as Joan Jett after her previous band The Runaways disbanded, then re-issued on Boardwalk Records in 1981 as Bad Reputation.

Contents

Background

After independently recording the album with producer Kenny Laguna, Jett took the record to a number of major record labels, all of which were uninterested in releasing the project. Rather than continue to hunt for a willing label, Laguna and Jett decided to fund the pressing of the album themselves. The original, self-released, version of the album was simply titled Joan Jett and was sold directly to concert-goers and record stores out of Laguna's trunk. [1]

The album sold relatively well, prompting its re-release a year later as Bad Reputation on Boardwalk Records, with identical tracklisting. Jett said that the new title referred to the bad reputation that she had as a former member of the Runaways. [2]

Recorded before Jett formed The Blackhearts, it includes performances by a large number of well known musicians, including The Sex Pistols' Paul Cook and Steve Jones, Blondie's Clem Burke and Frank Infante, The Ramones' Dee Dee Ramone and Marky Ramone and The Tyla Gang's Sean Tyla, Micky Groome and Paul Simmons.

When the album's European rights were secured through Ariola Records, "Hanky Panky" replaced "Wooly Bully" as the final song on Side 2. When the record was issued through Boardwalk in the US under the title "Bad Reputation", the label stuck with "Wooly Bully" as the final track, making the "Hanky Panky" import version a real collector's item. However, the song was included as a bonus track on the 1999 CD re-issue.

Rolling Stone Magazine named the album #36 on their '50 Coolest Albums of all Time' List in 2005[3].

In 1999, the album was again re-issued, this time on CD with several bonus tracks and a remastered version of the original album.

The title track "Bad Reputation" was covered by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne and appears as a video montage on her The Best Damn Tour – Live in Toronto DVD, and was later recorded and included as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of her 2011 album Goodbye Lullaby.

Track listing

  1. "Bad Reputation" (Jett, Ritchie Cordell, Kenny Laguna, Marty Joe Kupersmith)
  2. "Make Believe" (Joey Levine, Bo Gentry)
  3. "You Don't Know What You've Got" (Jett, Ritchie Cordell, Kenny Laguna)
  4. "You Don't Own Me" (John Madara, Dave White Tricker)
  5. "Too Bad On Your Birthday" (Charlie Karp, Arthur Resnick)
  6. "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" (Gary Glitter, Mike Leander) *
  7. "Let Me Go" (Jett, Ritchie Cordell, Kenny Laguna)
  8. "Doing All Right With The Boys" (Gary Glitter, Mike Leander)
  9. "Shout" (O'Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley, Rudolph Isley)
  10. "Jezebel" (Jett, Kenny Laguna)
  11. "Don't Abuse Me" (Jett)
  12. "Wooly Bully" (Domingo Samudio) **

* "Do You Wanna Touch Me" listed on the cover as "Touch Me"

** "Wooly Bully" was misspelled on the album cover as "Wully Bully"

Bonus tracks

  1. "Call Me Lightning" (Pete Townshend)
  2. "Hanky Panky" (Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry)
  3. "What Can I Do For You?" (Kenny Laguna)
  4. "You Don't Own Me"
  5. "Bad Reputation" (Live)
  6. "Summertime Blues" (1992 Bonus)

Singles

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [4]
Rolling Stone [5]

Personnel

Chart performance

Chart (1980) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200 51[7]
Australian Albums Chart 45

References

  1. ^ Siwek, Daniel. "Joan Jett". Music Connection Magazine. http://joanjettbadrep.com/cgi-bin/fullStory.cgi?archive=200610&story=20061001-05musicconnection.htm. Retrieved April 7, 2011. 
  2. ^ "She Loves Rock And Roll". Philadelphia Inquirer. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB2960152F2462F&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved April 7, 2011. ""That's where the title of the album came from - from the bad reputation I had at that point, for no reason other than my association with the Runaways"." 
  3. ^ Rolling Stone - 50 all-time Coolest albume
  4. ^ a b Huey, Steve. Bad Reputation - Review at Allmusic. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  5. ^ a b Carson, Tom (April 30, 1981). "Bad Reputation". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/bad-reputation-19810430. Retrieved April 7, 2011. 
  6. ^ "Credits for Bad Reputation". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r10399/credits. Retrieved 1 August 2010. 
  7. ^ Bad Reputation - Charts at Allmusic. Retrieved July 26, 2011.

External links

Joan Jett / Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Studio albums
Compilation albums
EPs
Singles
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