Joan Jett’s Gross Story About Opening for The Scorpions
Joan Jett has toured with a ton of amazing artists and bands over the years, including Heart, Robert Plant and the Police. But one tour that didn't go well was one with the Scorpions. In an interview that will debut on SiriusXM tomorrow (October 18), she tells host Lori Majewski about a particularly awful show in Spain.
"There was another band on the bill," she recalls. "Rosa Negro was the name of the act. So we had two nights in this city in Spain. Rosa Negro was on first, they were a Spanish band, and then we played and then the Scorpions played.”
Jett continues: “The next day, it’s supposed to be the same thing and there was a car show in town and the Scorpions wanted to see the car show, but in order to do that they had to blow out one of the bands. So, they blew out Rosa Negro, who had a girl lead singer and they blamed me, saying I didn’t want another girl on the bill. So that night, I was bombarded with spit, loogies... cause this was a local band. You had guys drunk, working up loogies… spitting on me… and there are pictures of me drenched in spit and stuff hanging off of my guitar. They wanted me to leave, and I would not leave, because I didn’t do anything [wrong], I didn’t understand it. Now I get it. Still... 'Don’t take it out on me, take it out on The Scorpions.'” Jett adds, “I didn’t know any of this until years later, so all I can do is tell the story. Look it’s karma… the rock and roll gods speak volumes. Look where I am and look at where The Scorpions are!”
In the same interview, Jett also discussed her friendship with Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde. “We met in the Runaways days…it was great to be able to talk to another woman who was a musician. You know you don’t necessarily talk about anything different that you would talk to anyone else about… but there’s sort of a knowingness, where we both know what we’re talking about.” Jett adds, “She was very supportive… and the fact that she was having success proved to me that women can have success in America playing a guitar and front a band. She inspired me to keep going and said ‘Don’t get lost in this world of feeling sorry for yourself. It’s all fine and well… but pick yourself up and keep going.’”
You can hear the entire Joan Jett interview on Thursday, Oct. 18 on SiriusXM’s Volume channel 106 at 1 PM ET.
Joan Jett’s new documentary, Bad Reputation, is in theaters now and streaming via iTunes and Amazon Prime.
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