70’s Pick of the Week
“Cherry Bomb” by the Runaways (1977)
Long, long before the Donnas, and the so-called Riot Grrl movement of the ‘90’s came the trailblazing, unwittingly feminist band, the Runaways.
When teenagers Sandy West and Joan Jett met, they wanted to form a rock band - not a very popular idea at a very male-dominated time in rock history. The great thing about them is that they wrote, played their own instruments and performed world-wide. The problem was that their audience, also teenagers, could not get into the bars they played in. While they were a great success in Europe and especially Japan, they never really gained anything more than a cult following in North America.
The legendary, bizarre producer Kim Fowley had given drummer Sandy West, Joan Jett’s phone number and told them to get together to see if they could do anything. The group originally started as trio with Micki Steele (later of the Bangles), who toured clubs in Los Angeles. Steele eventually got fired and was replaced. Soon after, Lita Ford (lead guitar) and Jackie Fox (bass) were hired to round out the group.
