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
Push and Stomp
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I do a little dance I call the push & stomp
I said hey, I do the push & stomp
Saw you on the street ya looked a little down
Come along with me I'll turn you right around
I say hey let's do the push & stomp
Ya just a shake shake shake,
Till your knees are weak
To the drummers beat
Yea push yourself till you're ready to drop
But ya do it again you can never stop
I taught ya
Everybody needs somethin' when they're blue
Ready to unload I'm Comin' back for you
I said hey come one and push & stomp
You just a shake shake shake
Till your knees are weak
Come on move your hips
To the Crystal beat
Push yourself till you're ready to drop
But ya do it again you can never stop baby
Don't let it worry you if ya look a little strange
You'll feel so good inside
Forget yourself for a change oww
When I'm feeling low need to let it out
I do a little dance I called the push & stomp
I said hey let's do the push & stomp
Ya just a shake shake shake
Till your knees are weak
Come on move your hips
To the jungle beat
Yea you push yourself 'till you're ready to drop
But you do it again you can never stop
You just shake shake shake
Till your knees are weak
Come on and move your hips to the drummer's beat
I said hey I do the push & stomp
I said hey let's do the push & stomp
I said hey come on and push & stomp
In the song "Push and Stomp" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, the lyrics describe a dance called the "push and stomp" that the singer turns to when feeling low and needing to let it out. She invites a person she saw on the street who looked down to join her in doing the dance and shake off their worries. The lyrics encourage moving your hips and pushing yourself until you're ready to drop, but then doing it again because you can never stop. The dance is a way to forget yourself for a change and feel good inside.
Through this song, Joan Jett is advocating for a physical release of emotion through dance. The push and stomp dance is not just about dancing, but also letting go of negative feelings, and feeling empowered through movement. We all need something to feel good about when we're feeling low, and for Jett, it's the push and stomp dance.
Overall, "Push and Stomp" is an uplifting song that encourages getting up and moving as a way to cope with negative emotions. It promotes the idea that sometimes we just need to let loose and dance our worries away.
Line by Line Meaning
When I'm feelin' low need to let it out
Sometimes when I'm feeling down, I need a way to express myself
I do a little dance I call the push & stomp
So I dance a particular move that I like to call the push and stomp
I said hey, I do the push & stomp
I'm proud of my dance and like to tell people about it
Saw you on the street ya looked a little down
One day I saw you looking sad on the street
Come along with me I'll turn you right around
So I offered to spend time with you and help you feel better
I say hey let's do the push & stomp
And I suggested we do the push and stomp dance together
Ya just a shake shake shake,
The dance involves a lot of shaking and movement
Till your knees are weak
We dance until we're tired
Come on move your hips
We move our hips to the music
To the drummers beat
The dance is in time with the drums of the music
Yea push yourself till you're ready to drop
We push ourselves to our limits until we're exhausted
But ya do it again you can never stop
But then we do it again because it's so much fun
I taught ya
I'm the one who showed you how to do the dance
Everybody needs somethin' when they're blue
Everyone has something they need when they're feeling sad
Ready to unload I'm Comin' back for you
I'm ready to help you when you need me
I said hey come one and push & stomp
So let's dance together again
You just a shake shake shake
We just keep shaking and moving
To the Crystal beat
The music has a crystal-like quality to it
But ya do it again you can never stop baby
We just can't resist doing the dance again
Don't let it worry you if ya look a little strange
Don't worry if you feel like you look silly doing the dance
You'll feel so good inside
Because it's such a fun and liberating dance, you'll feel good inside
Forget yourself for a change oww
It's a chance to let loose and forget about your problems for a little while
Yea you push yourself 'till you're ready to drop
Again, we keep dancing until we're exhausted
But you do it again you can never stop
And again, even though we're exhausted, we can't help but keep dancing
Come on and move your hips to the drummer's beat
So let's keep moving our hips to the music
I said hey I do the push & stomp
And I love doing this dance!
I said hey let's do the push & stomp
So let's do it together again!
I said hey come on and push & stomp
Come on, let's dance and have fun!
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: JOAN JETT, KENNETH BENJAMIN LAGUNA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind