Live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse. This mythical phrase that was first uttered by John Derek in the film Knock on Any Door could well be applied to the brilliant musical career of The Runaways. The legendary group of hard rock and punk It was only active for four years (from 1975 to 1979) but in this short period of time they made history.
Beginnings
The drummer Sandy West and the guitarist Joan Jett They teamed up with the producer Kim Fowley to create a girl group. This is how they met the bassist Micki Steele and began a tour of the California club circuit.
Commercial product?
Evil tongues claimed that The Runaways was a commercial product created by Kim Fowley, who thought that four girls dressed in leather and lingerie playing rock and roll would be a success.
The whole band
Micki Steele He left the group and would later be part of the successful The Bangles. She was replaced by the 19-year-old vocalist Paul Goldwin and the bassist Peggy Foster. After Goldwyn left, Cherie Currie He joined them as a singer and Lita Fordat only 15 years old, as a guitarist. After some tests, Jackie Foxwho had initially applied for the guitarist position, joined on bass and the line-up was completed.
His great success
His best-known success was Cherry Bombwhich has been covered by many bands, including Miley Cyrus and Joan Jett’s next band, The Blackhearts. The song was included on The Runaways’ debut album.
The queens of punk
His second album, Queens of Noise led them to embark on a world tour. The band, which had already built a high reputation in the punk scene American West Coast, was closely related to formations such as Blondie, The Ramones and The Dead Boysmainly through legendary CBGBthe popular New York punk temple.
A crazy tour
In 1977 the group reached Japanwhere they were overwhelmed by a horde of fans similar to what happened to the Beatles in 1964 on their first trip to the US. They released a live album, called Live in Japanwhich quickly reached gold.
New abandonments
While they were in Japan, the bassist Jackie Fox He left the group and Jett temporarily took over the bass until the incorporation of Vicki Bluewho was 17 years old. Then it was Cherie Currie who left the group and Jett remained as lead vocalist.
Goodbye to Kim Fowley
The group recorded their fourth album, Waitin’ for the Nightand started a new tour with a friend band, The Ramones. This was the last world record to Kim Fowley who was accused by some components of verbal and sexual abuse.
A new beginning
The bassist Vicki Blue She left the group due to illness and was replaced by Laurie McAllister. It was with this formation that they published their last album, And Now…The Runawaysthis time with the producer John Alcock.
The end
Was disagreements between the members of the group with respect to the music style that they wanted to have in the band, especially between Jett and Ford. Joan wanted to make a change towards glam rockwhile Lita, supported by Sandy West, wanted to continue with the hard rock/heavy metal. Finally, neither agreed with the other and, in 1979, The Runaways split up.
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