Rock Legends: Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Joan Jett is unique in the rock world. She formed one of the first successful all-girl rock bands The Runaways. She was one of the first true female music video stars that broke into the mainstream during MTV’s early years. She looked good, she rocked hard and she never apologized.

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In fact, she still looks good, well into her 50s. She’s lean, she’s mean and she can still bang a guitar with the best of the boys. She can still turn heads and hearts with her signature sound of pop, punk and garage rock riffs that began way back in 1975, yet still kicks today in 2012. That’s nearly 40 years of rocking and she’s giving no signs of quitting.

Joan Jett’s big breakthrough hit was the song “I Love Rock n’ Roll,” which was actually a cover by an unknown band from the 70s called The Arrows. Joan turned it into a honest-to-goodness hit on AOR radio and MTV. The program directors at the video music channel loved her for her songwriting skills, her snarl and her cross-over good looks that represented the best of punk, rock and biker culture. She was such a smash, MTV gave her a New Year’s Eve concert special that garnered a huge view share for the then-small video music channel, even for a network special.

These days, Joan still plays live with her updated version of The Blackhearts in front of big crowds during big events. Our video is a recent appearance she made at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Florida this last week. It’s a fan video, so the audio quality is lower than studio-grade, but it still gives you an idea of the power and punch of her formidable rock quartet.The song is called “Victim of Circumstance.”

Enjoy, truckers!