A quite telling interview Joan Jett did in 1978

 

X-8:	Oh you got a new bass player.
Joan:	Yeah, her name's Lorie McAlister and she 's 21. She's played bass for a long time and she's really good. We've rehearsed with her for about ... this was our fifth day today. We got three days left, then Tuesday we go to San Francisco for two days and Palo Alto for a gig, then Santa Cruz then back here to the Whisky, UCI and then the Golden Bear.
Al:	Where's Vicki Blue?
Joan:	She's sick. I'm serious, I swear to God. I don't want to tell you what but she's sick which made her unable to go on tour. She got too flipped out, I mean not mentally sick, physically....
Al:	No hard feelings?
Joan:	Oh no. I still call her and talk to her all the time. I'm supposed to go to New Orleans with her in February or something.
Al:	Why'd you do that Slade song on the album?
Joan:	Because I liked it. I suggested it and just everyone liked it. I like it because that's the kind of stuff I grew up with, glitter stuff and Rodney's. It's a great title.
X-8:	No more connection with Kim Fowley?
Joan:	Oh no, not at all.
X-8:	We shouldn't go into that, he might kill us. Tell us about your audience?
Joan:	Any audience to tell the truth, we haven't even played in front of an audience in six months since Europe, except for some dumb celebrity thing we did in Century City. Have you ever heard of Harold Robins? Well his wife threw this big homecoming thing for him and we played. It was a previewing of Annie and they wanted a band to play and Toby, our manager, got us the gig. Steve Jones was in town and we were doing a song he wrote "Black Leather."
Joan:	So the last song of the set he got up and jammed with us. You name it, Za Za Gabor, they were all there, Jacqueline Bisset - all these huge fuckers were there and they were plugging their ears and by the end of the set, they were all walking out. It was really great, really fun. There was a review of the party in the LA Times but it only talked about us.
Stan:	Suzanne Sommers was there wasn't she?
Joan:	Yeah, we got our picture taken with her. What a jerk that bitch is!
Stan:	Hey, leave her alone!
Joan:	She's a jerk!
Stan:	I'd like to see her.
Joan:	Oh fuck you, horny bastard!
Stan:	Well, I like girls.
Joan:	Not this one, not if you get to meet her.
X-8:	Does she have a good ass?
Joan:	How could you tell?
Stan:	I just saw her in Playboy and it had her tits in it!
Joan:	She's so movie starish, phony smile...
X-8:	I hear your audience is getting lesbian?
Joan:	I don't know. It's hard for me to see out there sometimes plus sometimes I'm not really thinking about it. But I saw alot of guys out there. Yeah, I heard something about that. "Runaways dyke audience." And some people going "Hey Sandy, what a fox!" But I don't think that's the majority of our audience, though I don't care if they're anybody. I don't give a shit if they're transexual or bisexual, gay. I don't care, just so long as they like it and enjoy it.
X-8:	What's your own personal closet habits?
Joan:	What?
X-8:	Your private pleasures?
Joan:	Well, if they're private, they're gonna stay that way... I buy every dirty magazine in the world. I like to read them. I do. You know how wives go "Why are you reading that?" Well, honey the articles are good." Well, it's true, alot of the magazines have really good articles. I always buy Hustler cause they're tasteless. Oui....
X-8:	You check out the girls?
Joan:	Well what the hell are you supposed to do, close your eyes?
X-8:	What bands do you like now?
Joan:	Besides the old Sex Pistols, Siouxsie & the Banshees, that's my new favorite. The album's really really fuckin' good, the best I've heard in years besides the Pistols album.
Al:	What do the other Runaways like?
Joan:	I like more punk than the rest of them. I mean see, I'm really narrow minded about music. I like one kind, ya know? I like Rock and roll, Chuck Berry but I don't have any of his records.... Lita likes Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and the older stuff, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin. The new bass player is a Zeppelin freak, but Lita loves the Sex Pistols and the Clash. I love the Clash too.