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

You Want In I Want Out
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Can't stop the fun from raging
Oh 'cause we're in too deep
Can't take a whip and tame it
Oh is the price too steep

I want to make you happy
Won't give myself away
Want me to fake it baby

It's just a game we play

You want in, I want out
That's what love is all about
Full of hope and full of doubt
You want in and baby I want out
You want in and I want out

I've got a heart in danger
Oh 'cause I'm stuck on you
I wish we could start again as strangers
Oh don't know what to do
Don't want to start no trouble
Don't want to go away
Wait too long and the pain is double
They were the ones that paid

You want in, I want out
That's what love is all about
Full of hope and full of doubt
You want in and baby I want out
You want in and I want out

Why do you do it to me
I want to make you happy
Won't give myself away
Want me to fake it baby
It's just a game we play

You want in, I want out
That's what love is all about
Full of hope and full of doubt

You want in and baby I want out
You want in and I want out

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Joan Jett's "You Want In I Want Out" tell the story of a complicated relationship where one person wants to be in the relationship while the other wants out. The opening lines express a sentiment of unstoppable and wild fun that is happening between the two partners, despite the underlying tension in the relationship. Joan Jett sings of not wanting to be tamed by her partner, and questioning whether the price of being in the relationship is too high.

The chorus of the song is where the title phrase is repeated multiple times, as Jett's character sings about how the relationship is full of hope and doubt. She wants out but the other person wants in, creating a conflicting dynamic that can be seen throughout the entirety of the song. The two partners are stuck in a cycle of wanting different things, with Jett's character wishing she could start over and the other person wanting to stay. There's an expression of feeling trapped throughout the song, as well as the sense that the relationship is causing more pain than happiness.

Overall, "You Want In I Want Out" is a song about the complexities of relationships and the push and pull dynamics that often are present within them. It's also a story about the power dynamics that can happen in relationships and the feeling of wanting to leave but not having the ability to do so, or being trapped in cycles of hurt.

Line by Line Meaning

Can't stop the fun from raging
The excitement and enjoyment is too strong to suppress

Oh 'cause we're in too deep
The situation has gone beyond control

Can't take a whip and tame it
Trying to control the unstoppable

Oh is the price too steep
Is the cost of control too high

I want to make you happy
I desire to bring you joy

Won't give myself away
I won't sacrifice my own happiness

Want me to fake it baby
Do you require me to pretend?

It's just a game we play
The dance between us is just a game

You want in, I want out
You desire involvement, but I wish to leave

That's what love is all about
This push-and-pull is a quintessential aspect of love

Full of hope and full of doubt
It is filled with anticipation and uncertainty