I found her on the same radios and TVs that brought me all the other rock stars, but she hit a slightly different chord with me that carried me to where I am now. Like Suzi, she had all that edgy energy that I wanted for myself, and her influence also made it into my later (much later) onstage performances.įinally, my introduction to Pat Benatar was what set me on my path as a vocalist. With her red jumpsuit, high top Cons, and coal black eyeliner, Joan gave me a first peek into the frayed edges of the punk rock genre that would soon take over my pre-teen heart. Bandstand, in trying to keep up with the ‘80s, included music videos in their program, and in doing so they gave me my first look at Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
This is the point where I should explain that I was not watching MTV because my parents took FOREVER to get cable, so I was left to scrape by with the three basic networks. Then Dick Clark would appear on the screen and introduce American Bandstand, and I danced around my living room to the hits of the day and I imagined I was there with the teenagers on the flashy soundstage. I would roll out of bed with a yawn and a stretch, shuffle to the kitchen to pour my bowl of Fruity Pebbles, and plop on the couch to watch a couple of hours of cartoons. When I was 11 years old, every Saturday morning was the same. Joan was the next one to inspire me, and the first song I heard, or rather saw, was her signature hit, “I Love Rock n’ Roll”. Many (many) years later, I found my way into a rock band, and if you look at me closely, you will find some of her moves and sounds included in my repertoire. Of course the normal fan activities ensued, with her posters on my wall and my lip-syncing to her songs in the mirror. She shook her tousled brown hair around and sang with a gritty growl and a power that I wanted to recreate someday. Here stood a girl who looked like few others on my TV, but looked so much like me.
And once she started to sing and play, I had a new hero. The second she stepped onstage and put on her bass guitar (a bass guitar!) I was filled with hope and anticipation. As a kid sister myself, I could see the parallels of wanting to strike out and be my own person.
She may have been a “kid” sister, but she was all grown up with a sassy attitude to match her head-to-toe black leather costume befitting her name. She played the role of Leather Tuscadero, the kid sister of Fonzie’s frequent paramour and fellow daredevil, Pinky Tuscadero. As a devoted watcher of the classic sitcom Happy Days, I watched her walk into the fictional Arnold’s Diner and I was riveted. Suzi was the first one of these three to meet my eyes and ears. Within this web of art, I found three of my very own patron saints, the women who showed me that rock and roll wasn’t just for the boys: Suzi Quatro, Joan Jett, and Pat Benatar.
Joan jett pat benatar tv#
I surrounded myself with all things music, so every TV show I saw and every song I heard spun together in a pop culture tapestry that still rings through my memories to this day. I was encouraged to dream of who and what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I looked no further than my television and radio to find inspiration. The women’s rights movement, through activism and legislation like Title IX in 1972, opened up options that were unthinkable for a female only a few years prior. As a little girl growing up in the 1970s-era American Midwest, I felt like I had a bold new world of imagination at my feet.
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