Classic Rock
Joan Jett reveals the meaning of “Bad Reputation”
Joan Jett (Ex-Runaways) revealed that meaning of “Bad Reputation”, one of her biggest hits in an interview with SiriusXM. The musician said that the song is autobiographical and explained the video and lyrics.
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Joan Jett said about the meaning of “Bad Reputation”:
“It rang my bell in a lot of ways. But I didn’t know that it was gonna necessarily have that sort of impact or if people would relate as much as they do to the song. But I knew, and this is part of the therapy. When I was laying my life out to Kenny [Laguna]. I mean, really if you listen to the lyrics, it’s autobiographical.
“It’s really what happened, right down to the video, how we follow what happened, and the way I was treated. See, the way I look at it is ‘Bad Reputation,’ it’s not like I’m out shooting people or being bad. It’s not a hurtful bad reputation, it’s not ‘bad’ in the sense that people think of the word ‘bad.’
She continued:
“I’m kind of being sarcastic; my reputation; if it’s ‘bad,’ it’s for being strong, and my parents told me when I was five that I could be whatever I wanted as a girl, I could be anything. I believed them. I guess that is kind of the ‘bad,’ being able to say, ‘I’m gonna do what I want and you can’t tell me ‘no” – especially if I’m not hurting people.
“I’m out here playing guitar, and you’re giving me grief for it, but you know, it’s much bigger than guitar. Like I said, when I was a kid, it was all about that, but now I realize it’s much more about other things.
“I think a lot of people feel – I don’t know what the word would be, it’s a lot of different things, like, they’re misunderstood, and people, they’re pissed about it, and they like having a song that they kind of really get into and cheer, and I liked the design of the song. To me, it’s a very unique song in and of itself, the background vocals, the, ‘Oh, no, no, me, me,’ it’s just different, and it’s fun, and it’s fast.”
Watch Joan Jett’s complete interview:
