Rebel Girls Rock: 25 Tales of Women in Music

Rebel Girls Rock: 25 Tales of Women in Music — page 3
Dear Rebels INTRODUCTION I must have been 10 or 11 when I started noticing rock and roll being played on the radio Pop stars of the time like Donny Osmond weren't doing it anymore for my young ears I was transfixed on rhythm guitar centered songs like All Right Now by Free or Bang a Gong by T. Rex I wanted to make those sounds For Christmas a year or two later I asked for an electric guitar I thought there was no way my parents would buy it for me But they did Can you imagine This was the early 70s and little girls were not jamming on electric guitars You might see a woman with an acoustic guitar sing folk music That wasn't what I wanted I wanted to form an all girl band and make rock and roll I wanted to play guitar loud and express everything I was thinking and feeling through the music I wasn't going to hold back just because people thought girls shouldn't play guitar So when I was a teenager I formed a band with drummer Sandy West We figured if we wanted to form an all girl rock band there had to be other girls who wanted the same thing We set out to find them and formed The Runaways Some people weren't supportive but we loved playing and were not going to let anyone tell us what we could and could not do After the band broke up I was heartbroken but I formed a new band and we were Joan Jett and the Blackhearts I couldn't get a record deal and received more than 20 rejection letters I started selling records at my shows from the trunk of my producer's Cadillac and my indie label Blackheart was born Blackheart is one of the longest running indie labels and one of the first female artist owned labels Over the years things have changed but there are still people out there who believe girls shouldn't do everything that boys can do