To grow old, or not to grow old, that is the rockstar’s perennial question; whether it is nobler to accept with grace the advancing years and maturity of middle-age, or whether to deny the passage of time in favour of the classic constructs of the rock’n’roll lifestyle: sex, drugs and hedonism.
It’s a dilemma you can’t help but feel lies just beneath Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ new record, Unvarnished. Joan Jett is a genuine rock’n’roll legend: proto girl punk in The Runaways, leather-clad rock chick out the front of the Blackhearts, mentor and inspiration to the riot grrrl generation (including producing some of Bikini Kill’s early records).
So while Unvarnished is replete with dirty, chunky LA rock riffs – check out Any Weather (two versions of which are included on the record, the second of which trounces the first), the stomping TMI and the Runaways-esque Bad As We Can Be – there’s also the strong indication that Jett recognises there’s a lot more to her life than days of rock’n’roll lore and yore. Witness Hard to Grow Up as a case in point: a lament that takes in the reality of ageing, and the family and friends lost along the way.
Or there’s Fragile, an ode to a departed parent, and a reflection on Jett’s own life. On Reality Mentality, Jett is the hardened rock’n’roller criticising the cheap and tawdry world of instamatic reality television stardom; I Know What I Know suggests that no matter how old you get, you’re still beholden to the vagaries of emotional conflict. And you get the distinct impression the subject of the heavy rock ballad Everybody Needs A Hero is someone a hell of a lot more important than the dodgy LA shysters who embraced Jett back in the day. Joan Jett isn’t just older – she’s smarter, and she still rocks.
BY PATRICK EMERY
Best Track: TMI
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: THE RUNAWAYS, BIKINI KILL, (early) THE GO-GO’S, LITA FORD.
In A Word: Joan
