Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are an American rock band led by artist Joan … Read Full Bio ↴Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are an American rock band led by artist Joan Jett. After The Runaways split in 1979, Jett pursued a solo career to explore the same aggressive punk style and met Kenny Laguna. Jett soon released her self-titled debut.

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

Indian Giver
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

(B. Gentry/R. Cordell/B. Bloom)

I can still remember
It wasn't long ago
Things you used to tell me
You said I had to know
Told me that you loved me
And that you always would

Then I said I loved you
You said that that was good
Then you made a promise, said you'd never want me to go
Oh no

Indian giver Indian giver
You took your love away from me
Indian giver Indian giver
Took back the love you gave to me

Baby I was feeling
The way I want to feel
You had me believing
The love we had was real
Things we did together
You said they'd never end
Now until forever Oh yeah that was what you said
Then when I was down I knew you'd always be there
Oh yeah

Indian giver Indian giver
You took your love away from me
Indian giver Indian giver
Took back the love you gave to me

Indian giver Indian giver
You took your love away from me
Indian giver Indian giver
Took back the love you gave to me

Indian giver Indian giver
You took your love away from me

Indian giver Indian giver
Took back the love you gave to me

Overall Meaning

The song "Indian Giver" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts tells the story of a broken promise in a romantic relationship; a promise of eternal love that was ultimately not kept. The singer reflects on the time when their partner professed love and commitment, yet went back on their word, taking away the affection they once gave. The term "Indian giver" is a derogatory term that originated from the belief that Native Americans would give and then take back their gifts. In this case, it's used metaphorically to depict the partner's actions of taking back the love given.

The lyrics depict the feelings of betrayal and abandonment that come with a loved one breaking a promise. The singer reminisces about how they believed their partner's words of forever love and loyalty, only to be left heartbroken and alone. The phrase "Things we did together, you said they'd never end, now until forever, oh yeah that was what you said" shows the level of commitment they thought they had. However, the final verses make it clear that this commitment was not kept, leading to the singer's hurt feelings.

Line by Line Meaning

I can still remember
I have vivid memories of the past

It wasn't long ago
The memories are recent

Things you used to tell me
You had shared things with me in the past

You said I had to know
You believed it was important for me to understand

Told me that you loved me
You expressed affection for me

And that you always would
You promised to continue loving me in the future

Then I said I loved you
I reciprocated those feelings

You said that that was good
You were pleased to hear that I loved you

Then you made a promise, said you'd never want me to go
You made a commitment to me, pledging to always want me in your life

Indian giver Indian giver
An exclamation, characterizing the one who has taken back their gift as unreliable or stingy

You took your love away from me
You ended the love that we had shared together