+ scroll down for Crimson and Clover and Bits and Pieces by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Single:
I Love Rock ‘n Roll entered the Australian singles chart* on 12 April 1982 and peaked at #1. It was #8 on the Top 100 of 1982.
Album:
The song is on I Love Rock ‘n Roll which entered the Australian albums chart* on 10 May 1982 and peaked at #10.
Songwriters:
Alan Merrill, Jake Hooker
Producers:
Kenny Laguna, Ritchie Cordell
Record label of Australian release:
Liberation
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
Joan Jett’s 1979 version with Paul Cook and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols:
BONUS SONGS BELOW – from the same album, covers of Crimson and Clover and Bits and Pieces
Songfacts:
I Love Rock ‘n Roll was originally recorded by a British group called The Arrows in 1975, and it was written by their lead singer Alan Merrill and guitarist Jake Hooker. Merrill told Songfacts that it was “a knee-jerk response to the Rolling Stones’ It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)“.
In the original version of I Love Rock And Roll, the lyrics are about a guy picking up a young girl and taking her home, which was fairly typical rock and roll subject matter. When Jett covered it however, it became a song about a girl who notices a guy next to a jukebox and brings him home to have sex.
Joan Jett was touring England in 1976 as a member of an all teenage girl group called The Runaways when she saw The Arrows perform I Love Rock ‘n Roll on television. She recorded a version in 1979 with Paul Cook and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols, then the hit version in 1981 with her new band, The Blackhearts.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/joan-jett/i-love-rock-and-roll
Lyrics:
I saw him dancing there by the record machine
I knew he must have been about seventeen
The beat was going strong
Playing my favorite song
And I could tell it wouldn’t be long till he was with me, yeah me
Click for full lyrics
Find more songs to enjoy: Bang a Gong song finder
BONUS
Two other tracks from the 1982 album I Love Rock ‘n Roll
Crimson and Clover entered the Australian singles chart* on 5 July 1982 and peaked at #6. It was #64 on the Top 100 of 1982.
Bits and Pieces
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