Shortly after that, with Kenny's assistance, Joan formed the backing group "The Blackhearts" with three obscure New York area musicians: Gary Ryan on bass, Eric Ambel (replaced shortly thereafter by Rick Byrd) on guitar and Lee Crystal on drums. After almost a year of touring, Joan's first album with The Blackhearts, entitled I Love Rock'N'Roll came out in December of 1981. The album included a version of "Little Drummer Boy" on the pre-Christmas editions. The album's impact on the music scene was immediate with the LP reaching the Top Five, while the single "I Love Rock'n'Roll" hit the very top of the Billboard's Charts on March 20, 1982 and stayed #1 for 7 weeks. Joan Jett had come back from nowhere.
A string of Top 40 hits followed, as well as sellout tours with The Police, Queen, and Aerosmith, among others. Jett was the second American act of any kind to perform behind the Iron Curtain, the first one being Blood, Sweat & Tears in Romania in 1969. She was among the first English-speaking rock acts to appear in Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Forced label changes in the 80's led to a decline in popularity. Despite the follow-up albums "Album" and "Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth" being praised by her devout fans, neither got the attention or radio play the first two albums received.
After receiving her own MTV New Year's Eve special, Jett beat out a number of contenders to appear in the movie Light of Day with Michael J. Fox. It was about this time that Ryan and Crystal left the Blackhearts. They were soon replaced by the powerful rhythm section of Thommy Price and Kasim Sulton. Later that year, Jett released "Good Music", which featured appearances by The Beach Boys, The Sugarhill Gang and singer Darlene Love. The album only spawned two minor singles which received little airplay. This label decided the band had to either take in outside help or they would lose their contract.
And so they did. Her next release, Up Your Alley, went multi-platinum and was followed by "The Hit List", which was an international hit. Popular songwriter/producer Desmond Child was brought in, resulting in the release of album "Up Your Alley". This album brought the band a resurgence in popularity, with top 10 singles "I Hate Myself for Loving You" and "Little Liar".
This return to the spotlight would be short-lived, however. Follow-up album "The Hit List", an all-cover songs release, spawned only a minor hit with Jett's version of AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds".
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts became the first rock band to perform a series of shows at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway, breaking the record at the time for the fastest ticket sell-out ever.
1991 and 1994 had two more releases, "Notorious" and "Pure & Simple". But radio had started looking to grunge by this time, and neither album got the attention they deserved.
In the 1990s, Jett and Laguna released "Flashback", a compilation of her career so far on their own Blackheart Records. Her next release, "Notorious" (which featured The Replacements' Paul Westerberg) was the last with Sony/CBS as Jett switched to Warner Brothers.
In 1994, the Blackhearts released the well received Pure and Simple, which featured tracks written with Kat Bjelland (Babes in Toyland), Donita Sparks (L7) and Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill).
While a slew of hits packages, some with an occasional new or previously unreleased track were released following this, it would be 10 years before a new studio album would appear.
This would be 2004's "Naked", and thus far has been a Japan-only release. The album sees Jett returning to a more raw and experimental sound, closer to that of her first 4 releases than the polished material that began with "Good Music".
Failing to get "Naked" released in other markets, Jett released on a more international level "Sinner" in June 2006, on Blackheart Records, her own label.. This album featured many remixed tracks from "Naked", and a complete rewrite of "Stuck in the Middle" to new version "Riddles". Lead-off single and video was a cover of "A.C.D.C." by Sweet.
To support the album, the band appeared on the 2006 Warped Tour, and embarked on a Fall 2006 tour with Eagles of Death Metal.
After a long break from recording, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts released a 6-song EP of new material, "Mindsets," in June 2023.
Wynnewood
008 Be Straight
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I don't want to listen when life's so cruel
We're not sorry for the things that we do
And my advice to you OW
I never listen to things they say
'Cause what you hear gets in the way
I'm not gonna be on your side
If I find that you lied OW!
When I take you home, be straight
Anyone can do what they want to do
If you want to please, be straight (be straight)
Everybody needs a should to cry on
And I got one that you can rely on
If you want to know my opinion
It don't matter what you've been in, yeah
When you talk to me, be straight
When I take you home, be straight
Anyone can do what they want to do
If you want to please, be straight (be straight)
If you want to please, be straight
If you want to please, be straight, be straight
The song "Be Straight" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts is a call for honesty in relationships. Jett advocates for authenticity and transparency, rejecting the societal pressure to conform to traditional norms and expectations. She challenges the idea that there are rules to be lived by and encourages people to do what they want to do. Her message is clear: be honest, be real, and be yourself.
The lyrics also touch on the theme of trust. Jett urges her audience to be straight with her because she values honesty and integrity. She emphasizes the importance of being truthful, particularly when it comes to important relationships. In this sense, the song suggests that trust is an essential component of any healthy relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
I don't believe you should live by the rules
I think people should not follow rules blindly.
I don't want to listen when life's so cruel
Life is tough, and I do not want to hear people complaining about it.
We're not sorry for the things that we do
We don't regret doing what we do.
And my advice to you OW
And what I want to say to you is...
I never listen to things they say
I don't pay heed to what others say.
'Cause what you hear gets in the way
Because what you hear can often act as an obstacle to your thoughts and ideas.
I'm not gonna be on your side
I won't support you in your lies.
If I find that you lied OW!
If I discover that you are lying, it's going to be terrible.
When you talk to me, be straight
Be honest when you talk to me.
When I take you home, be straight
Be genuine when we are together.
Anyone can do what they want to do
People can do whatever they think is best for them.
If you want to please, be straight (be straight)
If you want to make me happy, be authentic.
Everybody needs a should to cry on
Everyone needs someone to lean on during tough times.
And I got one that you can rely on
And I am that person who will support you no matter what.
If you want to know my opinion
If you want to hear what I think...
It don't matter what you've been in, yeah
It doesn't matter what you have done in the past - I will give my honest opinion.
If you want to please, be straight (be straight)
If you want to make me happy, be authentic.
If you want to please, be straight
If you want to make me happy, be genuine.
If you want to please, be straight, be straight
If you want to make me happy, be truly honest.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: GREG KIHN, JOAN JETT, KENNETH BENJAMIN LAGUNA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Genesis Sutton
AAAAAAA she's so cool. as a 15 year old female guitarist myself its incredible to see that she was on stage preforming when she was my age. I wanna start my own rock band so badly too.
crescent audios
@Genesis Sutton That’s cool! I’ll definitely be talking to the people in my class about that then! Good luck finding other band members btw!!
Genesis Sutton
@crescent audios well, I might just be lucky. so basically I wanted to talk to this one girl in my class because she seemed mysterious and gave off main character vibes eventually I discovered we like the same sort of music and I mentioned forming a band and she said she could sing and she can!!! she's really good to. Then in that same class literally the next day we were talking with another girl and she brought up the fact that she could play guitar so we asked if she would join a band and she said ya. New update just yesterday I found another member I had been meaning to talk to her because she had patches of a bunch of grunge bands on her bag and looked really cool so I did and she also plays guitar. The only problem now is that we're just a bunch of guitarists.
crescent audios
@Genesis Sutton awesome!! how were you able to meet other musicians? I have ideas but i’d like to know as well.
Genesis Sutton
OKAY UPDATE I👏FOUND👏BAND👏MEMBERS👏 two others, one who plays guitar (and is a lot better than me) and one who sings but is also willing to learn other instruments. Its not much of a band yet but we all think we can jam when we get the chance.
Stella Bowson
same i’m 16 and we just started performing on stage😩😩
Tanja Mars
i'm literally in love and obsessed with her
Izzy
Sameee!!! ♥️
Stella Bowson
omg same😩😩
ren !
you and i bothh