The Runaways (album)
Encyclopedia
The Runaways is the debut album by the American all-female rock
band The Runaways
, released in 1976.
Website Allmusic has praised the record (especially band members Cherie Currie
, Joan Jett
and Lita Ford
), comparing the band's music to material by Led Zeppelin
, Aerosmith
and Guns N' Roses
.
According to multiple sources including Cherie Currie (in her memoir Neon Angel), the liner notes of the Raven Records release of The Runaways, and Fox herself, Blondie
bassist Nigel Harrison
played bass on the first album, due to manager Kim Fowley
refusing to let Fox play on the record.
The documentary film Edgeplay: A film about The Runaways
states that the album's first track "Cherry Bomb
" was written ad hoc during the audition of lead singer Cherie Currie
and is indeed referring to her. Currie was told to prepare a Suzi Quatro
song for the audition; she picked "Fever", a song the band did not like to play. Instead they came up with a song idea which made fun of her first name. In 2009 "Cherry Bomb
" was named the 52nd best hard rock song of all time by VH1
. A cover of the song "Cherry Bomb
" is featured in the music video game
Rock Band as a downloadable single track.
"You Drive Me Wild" is featured in the 2010 film about the band
. Also, Dakota Fanning
covers "Cherry Bomb" as well as "Dead End Justice" with Kristen Stewart
as they portray Cherie Currie
and Joan Jett
respectively.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band The Runaways
The Runaways
The Runaways were an American all-girl rock band that recorded and performed in the second half of the 1970s. The band released four studio albums and one live set during its run. Among its best known songs: "Cherry Bomb", "Queens of Noise", "Neon Angels On the Road to Ruin", "California Paradise"...
, released in 1976.
Website Allmusic has praised the record (especially band members Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie is an American singer, actress and chainsaw artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.-Life and career:...
, Joan Jett
Joan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
and Lita Ford
Lita Ford
Lita Ford is a British-born, American rock musician and singer who was the lead guitarist for The Runaways and achieved popularity for her solo career between the 1980s and late 2000s.-Early life:...
), comparing the band's music to material by Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...
and Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
.
According to multiple sources including Cherie Currie (in her memoir Neon Angel), the liner notes of the Raven Records release of The Runaways, and Fox herself, Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
bassist Nigel Harrison
Nigel Harrison
Nigel Harrison is an English musician, and best known as the bass player of the rock band Blondie....
played bass on the first album, due to manager Kim Fowley
Kim Fowley
Kim Vincent Fowley is an American record producer, impresario, songwriter, musician, film maker, and radio actor. He is best known for his role behind a string of novelty and cult rock pop singles in the 1960s, and for managing The Runaways in the 1970s...
refusing to let Fox play on the record.
The documentary film Edgeplay: A film about The Runaways
Edgeplay: A film about The Runaways
Edgeplay: A film about The Runaways is a 2005 documentary that was produced and directed by former Runaways bassist Victory Tischler-Blue. Edgeplay chronicles the history of the all-teenage-girl rock band The Runaways, whose members included future rock stars Lita Ford and Joan Jett.Kim Fowley, the...
states that the album's first track "Cherry Bomb
Cherry Bomb (song)
"Cherry Bomb" is a 1976 punk-influenced hard rock song by the all-girl band The Runaways off of their self-titled debut album. It is widely regarded by many as the band's signature song. "Cherry Bomb" was also ranked 52nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs...
" was written ad hoc during the audition of lead singer Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie is an American singer, actress and chainsaw artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.-Life and career:...
and is indeed referring to her. Currie was told to prepare a Suzi Quatro
Suzi Quatro
Susan Kay "Suzi" Quatro is an American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor.She scored a string of hit singles in the 1970s that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, and had a recurring role on the popular American sitcom Happy Days.-Music:Quatro began her...
song for the audition; she picked "Fever", a song the band did not like to play. Instead they came up with a song idea which made fun of her first name. In 2009 "Cherry Bomb
Cherry Bomb (song)
"Cherry Bomb" is a 1976 punk-influenced hard rock song by the all-girl band The Runaways off of their self-titled debut album. It is widely regarded by many as the band's signature song. "Cherry Bomb" was also ranked 52nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs...
" was named the 52nd best hard rock song of all time by VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
. A cover of the song "Cherry Bomb
Cherry Bomb (song)
"Cherry Bomb" is a 1976 punk-influenced hard rock song by the all-girl band The Runaways off of their self-titled debut album. It is widely regarded by many as the band's signature song. "Cherry Bomb" was also ranked 52nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs...
" is featured in the music video game
Music video game
A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
Rock Band as a downloadable single track.
"You Drive Me Wild" is featured in the 2010 film about the band
The Runaways (film)
The Runaways is a 2010 American biographical film about the 1970s all-girl rock band of the same name. The film was written and directed by Floria Sigismondi, who based the screenplay on the book Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway by the band's original lead vocalist Cherie Currie...
. Also, Dakota Fanning
Dakota Fanning
Hannah Dakota Fanning , better known as Dakota Fanning, is an American actress. Fanning's breakthrough performance was in I Am Sam in 2001. As a child actress, she appeared in high-profile films such as Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, and Charlotte's Web...
covers "Cherry Bomb" as well as "Dead End Justice" with Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Jaymes Stewart is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has also starred in films including Panic Room , Zathura , In the Land of Women , The Messengers , Adventureland and The Runaways .- Early life :Stewart was born and raised in Los...
as they portray Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie is an American singer, actress and chainsaw artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.-Life and career:...
and Joan Jett
Joan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
respectively.
Track listing
- "Cherry BombCherry Bomb (song)"Cherry Bomb" is a 1976 punk-influenced hard rock song by the all-girl band The Runaways off of their self-titled debut album. It is widely regarded by many as the band's signature song. "Cherry Bomb" was also ranked 52nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs...
" (Joan JettJoan JettJoan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
, Kim FowleyKim FowleyKim Vincent Fowley is an American record producer, impresario, songwriter, musician, film maker, and radio actor. He is best known for his role behind a string of novelty and cult rock pop singles in the 1960s, and for managing The Runaways in the 1970s...
) - 2:18 - "You Drive Me Wild" (J. Jett) - 3:22
- "Is It Day or Night?" (K. Fowley) - 2:45
- "Thunder" (Mark Anthony, Kari Krome) - 2:31
- "Rock & Roll" (Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
) - 3:17 - "Lovers" (J. Jett, K. Fowley) - 2:09
- "American Nights" (M. Anthony, K. Fowley) - 3:15
- "Blackmail" (J. Jett, K. Fowley) - 2:41
- "Secrets" (Cherie CurrieCherie CurrieCherie Currie is an American singer, actress and chainsaw artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.-Life and career:...
, K. Fowley, K. Krome, Sandy WestSandy WestSandy West was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and drummer. She was hailed by fans and critics alike to be a groundbreaking musician, as a drummer. She was one of the founding members of The Runaways, the very first teenage, all-girl hard rock band in the 1970s.-Early life:Sandy was...
) - 2:43 - "Dead End Justice" (S. Anderson, C. Currie, K. Fowley, J. Jett) - 7:01
Band members
- Cherie CurrieCherie CurrieCherie Currie is an American singer, actress and chainsaw artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.-Life and career:...
- lead vocals - Joan JettJoan JettJoan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
- rhythm guitar, vocals - Lita FordLita FordLita Ford is a British-born, American rock musician and singer who was the lead guitarist for The Runaways and achieved popularity for her solo career between the 1980s and late 2000s.-Early life:...
- lead guitar, backing vocals - Jackie FoxJackie FoxJacqueline Louise Fuchs is an entertainment attorney in Los Angeles, CA. Under her former stage name of Jackie Fox, she was best known as bassist for the teenage, American all-girl rock band, The Runaways...
- bass, backing vocals - Sandy WestSandy WestSandy West was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and drummer. She was hailed by fans and critics alike to be a groundbreaking musician, as a drummer. She was one of the founding members of The Runaways, the very first teenage, all-girl hard rock band in the 1970s.-Early life:Sandy was...
- drums, backing vocals