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
Lie To Me
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can tell that somethin's changed
When you touch me I feel strange
There's a difference when we kiss
Who's this stranger on my lips
In this bed we're outta place
But the truth's too hard to face
In the mornin' we can do an inventory of our history
But for now I don't wanna know
Lie to me even if it's just for tonight
Make it feel like it used to be
Come on' lie to me you don't have to look in my eyes
When you lyin' next to me I'll try to believe when you lie to me
Don't let go of me just yet
Hold me close like we just met
Take it slow to ease the pain
Let it sink into my brain
In the end we just might find we somehow end up bein' the best of friends
But for now I don't wanna know
Come on' lie to me even it it's just for tonight
Make it feel like it used to be
Come on' lie to me you don't have to look in my eyes
When you're lyin' next to me I'll try to believe you when you lie to me
In the mornin' I'll set you free
But tonight be kind and baby
Lie to me even if it's just for tonight
Make if feel like it used to be
Come on' lie to me you don't have to look in my eyes
When you're lyin' next ot me I'll try to believe you when you lie to me
Lie to me even if it's just a disguise
Take me now before it gets to me
Come on' lie to me you don't have to look in my eyes
Lie to me even if it's just for one night
Lie to me you don't have to look in my eyes
The lyrics of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' song Lie to Me express the struggle of a couple who sense that something has changed in their relationship. They are lying in bed together and everything feels different. Their kisses don't feel familiar anymore, and the spark seems to have vanished. The singer tries to ignore the problem and longs to go back to the way things used to be, even if it means accepting lies, just for the night. She or he begs the partner to hold them, make them forget the pain, and lie to them, just like in the early days of their romance.
Their relationship has become out of place, and confronting the truth may be too hard. In the morning, they could face their problems and take inventory of everything that has gone wrong, but for now, they don't want to know. They try to hold on to each other and hope that they might still end up being the best of friends, but they realize that it might be too late.
Overall, the song expresses the bittersweet and complicated feelings of a couple who have hit a rough patch in their relationship. They try to hold on, to go back to the way things used to be, but they sense that it might all be a lie. Even though they don't want to know the truth, they realize that they can't keep living in denial forever.
Line by Line Meaning
I can tell that somethin's changed
I sense that something has changed between us
When you touch me I feel strange
Your touch feels unfamiliar
There's a difference when we kiss
Kissing doesn't feel the same as it used to
Who's this stranger on my lips
I don't recognize the person I'm kissing
In this bed we're outta place
We don't belong together in bed
But the truth's too hard to face
I can't handle the reality of our situation right now
In the mornin' we can do an inventory of our history
We can discuss our past relationship in the morning
But for now I don't wanna know
But for now, I don't want to confront the truth
Lie to me even if it's just for tonight
Please tell me something that is not true just for tonight
Make it feel like it used to be
Make me believe that things are still the same as they used to be
Come on' lie to me you don't have to look in my eyes
Please don't look me in the eyes when you lie to me
When you lyin' next to me I'll try to believe when you lie to me
I'll try to believe your lies when we are lying down together
Don't let go of me just yet
Please don't let me go yet
Hold me close like we just met
Hold me like we just met for the first time
Take it slow to ease the pain
Take it slow to reduce the discomfort
Let it sink into my brain
Let me take some time to process this
In the end we just might find we somehow end up bein' the best of friends
In the end, we may become good friends despite our current situation
But for now I don't wanna know
But for now, I'm not ready to face the reality
Come on' lie to me even it it's just for tonight
Please lie to me again, even if it's just for tonight
In the morning I'll set you free
I'll let you go in the morning
But tonight be kind and baby
But tonight, please be gentle with me
Lie to me even if it's just a disguise
Tell me something that isn't true, even if it's just a facade
Take me now before it gets to me
Let's not wait until it's too late
Lie to me you don't have to look in my eyes
You don't have to make eye contact when you lie to me
Lie to me even if it's just for one night
Please lie to me for just one more night
Lie to me you don't have to look in my eyes
You don't have to look me in the eyes when you lie to me
Contributed by Aaliyah O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.