An Open Letter To Rolling Stone (Joan Jett is PISSED and I don't blame her!)

JoanJett.com ^ | Joan Jett

[I_Love_My_Husband]

An Open Letter to Rolling Stone

This letter was written to rolling stone after their "women in "rock" issue was published, but was not printed by their editors. Please forward it to all the rocking people you know!!!!!

I tried to find some cleverly worded way to express my disgust with your "Women in Rock" issue, but what i have to say is really quite simple: You guys are completely retarded.

By RS standards, Rock is no longer a style of music but a trendy costume to be whipped up by expensive stylists and slapped onto the latest pop tart barbie doll. Give a girl some tight pants and a spiky bracelet and POOF! She ROCKS!

Your poor choice of cover girls and featured artists brings to mind the Sports Illustrated swimsuit editions. There is nothing necessarily wrong with the breast-baring models inside..but we all understand that they have NOTHING TO DO WITH SPORTS--Which just might be offensive to women who are interested in sports or who might even be (gasp) real athletes.

Yes, Britney has a talented stylist and yes, somebody gave Shakira a Guns & Roses t-shirt to wear..but they ARE NOT NOW NOR WILL THEY EVER BE ROCK.

Maybe it's naive of me to expect any glimmer of rock'n'roll credibility OR respect for women from a magazine whose cover shot is regularly a naked underweight actress. The thing is , I AM a woman musician with a rock band, and as we all are I am STARVED for any little crumb of recognition that real women rockers might be thrown. So like a sucker I find myself short another five bucks ..and pissed enough to write my first letter to an editor. Avril Lavigne gets some studded accessories from Hot Topic so now she's "upholding the brazen tradition of teenage outrage"???!! Are you SERIOUS? And could someone please explain to me why people keep insisting on referring to PINK as rock? Wasn't she doing the white girl hip hop thing a minute ago? Yeah, she performed on the Aerosmith tribute show --big deal..she was on the Janet Jackson tribute show just before that--Whatever's trendy. WHO CARES. She's a Spice Girl reject...but I digress.

Jewel and Mandy friggin' Moore have full page features as Rock Icons...Meanwhile Joan Jett gets one line. ONE LINE. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, who have never stopped touring, recently did 10 days in the Middle East playing for the troops stationed in Afghanistan. In AFGHANISTAN, Joan would come onstage wearing a birkha, which she ripped off and stomped on before blazing through the purest and nastiest rock show ANYWHERE. But even in the RS WOMEN IN ROCK issue, a story like that gets ONE SENTENCE on the bottom of the last page of Random Notes.

Britney's Rock credentials? Well, she butchers the song "I Love Rock'n'Roll" on her latest record, and when asked about it the genius replies "Well, I've always loved Pat Benatar." And SHE is your Rock issue cover girl?? You should be REALLY embarrassed.

Sleater Kinney was the only rock group listed on the cover..and they got only half a page. Ashanti, the r&b back up singer who can't seem to do anything without "featuring Jah Rule," has two pages.

What about the Donnas? The Yeah Yeah Yeahs? The Distillers? A mag like RS has the power to shine important light on groups like these--instead they are afterthoughts, and that valuable spotlight is wasted on the same overexposed pop princesses WHO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH ROCK.

In your own letter from the editor you have the hypocritical balls to say "rock radio won't touch female artists, while the pop factory keeps churning out soundalike clones, and ambitious musicians with something to say find themselves left out in the cold."

The pages that follow those words are a blatant display that Rolling Stone magazine is happily working for the factory now too.

If the issue had been called "Women in Music"..or maybe "Some Cute Girls with Top 10 Records out Right Now"..I would have no beef with it. Corny as it may sound, ROCK is something which is still meaningful and even sacred to some of us. Use the word "rock" in bold letters next to a picture of Britney Fucking Spears, and you're turning your whole publication into a joke...and an offensive joke at that.

[Search4Truth]

This is the company that Joan Jet keeps.

Source: Thousands Rally For Women's Rights

Excerpt:

"Chief speakers included NOW's President Patricia Ireland; the Rev. Jesse Jackson; United States Representative Chuck Schumer (D-NY); survivors of anti-abortion violence; Salt from the rap group Salt `n Pepa; and Cagney and Lacey stars Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless. The day's entertainment included popular performers Luscious Jackson, Joan Jet and the Blackhearts, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Disappear Fear."

[red-dawg]

Can't be. REALLY??

[I_Love_My_Husband]

She looks fantastic, her body is in great shape. I miss her black hair, but she likes it blonde and...well good for her!

[spycatcher]

[I_Love_My_Husband]

She's also done the USO tour in 1999, before it was *cool*...so she's pretty cool in my book!

[agitator]

The music business as controlled by corporate music entities is not about music, it's about selling. There isn't a single slot on music radio that wasn't already paid for by promoters acting as middlemen so stations can say they don't take payola. The only reason Britney Whatzername gets the exposure that she does is because she is viewed as a marketable property worthy of spending promotional dollars on and Rolling Joke magazine is using those pre-paid promotional dollars to sell their rag.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Good point.

Exactly the reason I love Britpop. It's not as bad over in the UK.

[knak]

cussing and mascara

not to mention coreographed (sp?)crotch grabbing and constant sexual inuendo

[sneakypete]

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, who have never stopped touring, recently did 10 days in the Middle East playing for the troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Go get 'em,Joan! The sound you are hearing is applause!

[sneakypete]

Joan Jet is a pal of NOW's President Patricia Ireland.

Pardon me for intruding,but so what?

[Search4Truth]

Joan Jet is a Liberal, Feminist, Democrat, Pro-Abortion bitch. But dont let that interfere with your entertainment.

[Bella_Bru]

There isn't a single slot on music radio that wasn't already paid for by promoters acting as middlemen so stations can say they don't take payola.

You got that right. Tom Petty's latest song, The Last DJ was written for KLOS's (here in L.A) Jim Ladd. He does his own show and plays what he wants. Not what the corporate heads who do not know jack about music say to. KLOS specializes in classic rock, the harder stuff, not the fluffy junk. But Ladd won't play the standards. He digs pretty deep and finds some great b-sides and a bunch of other weird,but good, stuff.

[Dudesdad]

Thank you Joan. You are absolutely right.
Rolling Stone is just a rag about being "trendy" and doesn't know Rock-and-Roll from a Snow-Cone.

[Bella_Bru]

I won't, thanks!

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Ummm, I notice you quote John Stuart Mill on your home page.

A Socialist/Humanist.

But I won't hold that against you. Anyways, you're kind of outnumbered on this thread. Have a nice day anyways! :)

[Bella_Bru]

Oh, you didn't get your copy of, "What certain FReepers say you should boycott, Edition 73,456, with 4000 new additions"?

[Skooz]

Ahhhhhhh... The way FM used to be before the corporate goons such as Clear Channel took over and made every FM station in America sound the same.

[For the Unborn]

Very cool letter indeed. Very cool verbiage (pissed) too. What school did you just graduate from?

[red-dawg]

Joan would come onstage wearing a birkha, which she ripped off and stomped on before blazing through the purest and nastiest rock show ANYWHERE.

Does anybody think Ms. Jett might be in the Feminist's camp?

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Thank goodness for the internet. I never listen to radio, it's so awful! And the songs on so-called alternative stations are pure crap.