By Brad Gallagher:
A recent Facebook post sent my mind on a journey back to the 1970’s. I have always considered myself a product of the 70’s since I was 8 years old going on 9 when we rang in the new year on January 1, 1970. I grew up in that decade. Many of my fondest childhood memories took place during those years. I remember learning to ice skate and play hockey during those years. I learned to ski in 1975, and I learned to drive in 1977. I went through junior high and high school during those years, and somewhere along the way I grew up. Well, a little bit anyway. And I closed out the 70’s with my high school graduation in 1979. They were great years.
Outside of my own life the 70’s saw some major events such as Watergate, and the end of the Vietnam war. The Apollo 13 near disaster, and the Philadelphia Flyers winning back to back Stanley Cup championships in 1974 and 1975 (my favorite hockey team by the way). And of course some of the greatest TV sitcoms aired on national television during those years. One of these sitcoms was a show called “Happy Days”. For those of you who are too young to remember, it was a show about the day to day experiences of an average middle class American family in the 1950’s, and it featured a boy named Richie Cunningham and his mom and dad, and his little sister Joanie.
The show told the story of Richie and all the ups and downs he experienced as a high school kid trying to figure out who he was and where he was going with his life. With the help of his family and his best friends Ralph, Potsie, and Arthur Fonzarelli (better known as “Fonzie”) he navigated the tumultuous journey from boyhood to manhood. So, what does this have to do with classic rock you might ask? Well…
As The Story Goes:
In a 1977 two-part episode of Happy Days entitled “Fonzie, Rock Entrepreneur”, a young female rock artist was featured on the show. You see, at that time (on the show anyway) Fonzie had a girlfriend named Pinky Tuscadero who had a little sister named Leather who was in a rock band. The name of the band was “Leather and The Suedes”. Leather Tuscadero had recently been released from jail and was trying to get her life straightened out, so she and her band decided to audition for Arnold at his Diner. She wore all leather and had perfect rock and roll hair along with a voice that rivaled many of the top male rock stars of the time. That day Richie’s little sister, Joanie, was at the diner watching the audition, and was so amazed when she saw Leather and the Suedes perform that she was inspired to want to be in a rock band too. As the episode developed, she somehow talked Leather into letting her be in the band, and on the second episode she appeared as a back-up singer.
Of course that was just a sitcom, right? That’s not real life.
Well,,, the actress who played Leather Tuscadero was a young lady named Suzi Quatro. Some of you are asking, Who? Suzi Quatro was one of, if not “The” pioneer of female hard rock and roll artists. Up until Suzi, rock and roll had been a world for male artists, but she pushed the envelope, as it were, and made a name for herself in the rock industry. Imagine, a female singer who could also play guitar just as well as her male counterparts in the industry, if not better than some of them. It had never been done before. Up until then only men played guitar in rock bands. Only men were rock stars. But she was exceptional and over the years some people have even referred to her as the “Queen Of Rock And Roll”.
Long before female artists such as the Wilson sisters of Heart, or the Bangles, or Poison Ivy, Suzi Quatro made a name for herself as a rock star. In the early 60’s she and her sister Patti started a band named “The Pleasure Seekers”, and that was where she was discovered by the president of Elektra records who took her to England where he helped her start her solo career. She became very successful all over Europe and that success eventually crossed the ocean to America where a young 15 year old girl named Joan Marie Larkin saw her live in concert in the early 70’s.
Now just like Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days, seeing Suzi (leather) in concert inspired the young Miss Larkin to “runaway”, as it were, and pursue a career in rock and roll. And what a career it has been. But she was not just another rock star, she was a rock star in the same rite as Quatro, complete with the leather outfits and a similar hair style, and even a similar sound, and of course her “BA” attitude. You might not know the name Joan Larkin, but I would bet you know her by her professional name, “Joan Jett”.
The Happy Days episodes that featured Leather Tuscadero aired about 4 years after Jett saw Quatro in concert and by that time she was a member of the all girl group, “The Runaways”, and they had become quite a success. I can only imagine the dejavu Jett must have felt while watching that Happy Days episode on TV and seeing Joanie Cunningham experience the same inspiration from Quatro that she had. Or….. was the Happy Days episode actually written about Joan Jett’s own personal experience 4 years earlier? I wonder.
After The Runaways, Jett went on to form her own band “Joan Jett and The Blackhearts” and during her career she has recorded 12 albums and releases 44 singles. Ten of her singles have been on the Billboard Top 100 Chart, with “I Love Rock and Roll” peaking at #1 in 1982, “Crimson And Clover” peaking at #2, also in 1982, (both of which were covers, by the way) and “I Hate Myself For Loving You” peaking at #8 in 1988. Not bad for a girl from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, right? I wonder if she is a Flyers fan also. Well, I may never know.
So there you have it. The back story of Joan Jett and the Queen of rock and roll who inspired her. Come back and see me real soon right here on As The Story Goes.
Suzi Quatro as Leather Tuscadero on Happy Days and Joan Jett in concert:
Joan Jett official “I Love Rock And Roll” video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMsazR6Tnf8
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AS THE STORY GOES 