Bad Reputation (CD - 1981)

Personnel: Joan Jett (vocals, guitar); Sean Tyla (acoustic 12-string guitar); Steve Jones (guitar, bass); Lea Hart, Ricky Byrd (guitar, background vocals); Buzz Chantner, Frank Infante, Louie Maxfield (guitar); Mick Eve, John Earle (saxophone); Kenny Laguna (piano, keyboards, organ, Clavinet, tambourine, background vocals); Jeff Bannister (piano); Jeff Peters, Gary Ryan (bass, background vocals); Richard D'Andrea, Mickey Groomes (bass); Paul Simmons (drums, background vocals); Joel Turrisi, Paul Cook, Clem Burke, Lee Crystal (drums); Commander Goonwaddle (tubular bells); Ritchie Cordell (background vocals, knee slaps, chest slaps); Martyn Watson, Rainbow, Johnny Gash (background vocals).

Producers: Kenny Laguna, Ritchie Cordell, Steve Jones, Paul Cook.

Engineers: Mark Dodson, Joe Latimer, Stuart Panes.

Recorded at Fidelity Recorders, Studio City, California; Chappell Studios and Rampart Studios, England between March 1979 and March 1980. Includes liner notes by Danny Solazzi.

Digitally remastered by Bob Ludwig (Masterdisk, New York, New York, March 1992).

After spending the '70s as part of the influential all-girl rock group the Runaways, singer/guitarist Joan Jett launched a solo career after the band's 1979 dissolution. Although her former band's music definitely had a punk edge, ("Cherry Bomb," anyone?), Jett's debut release, 1981's BAD REPUTATION, makes clear that she had finally embraced punk rock with open arms.

Featuring a revolving door of punk notables, including Blondie's Frank Infante and Clem Burke, ex-Sex Pistols Paul Cook and Steve Jones, and the Ramones' Marky and Dee Dee, BAD REPUTATION rocks more ferociously and consistently than any other Joan Jett recording. Standouts include a cover of Gary Glitter's "Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah!)," which would become a big hit when re-released in '82, and the attitude-heavy title track. minimize