Joan Jett Quotes & Sayings

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. Make your own victories. Make your own mistakes. — Joan Jett

Partly, I like a bad reputation. But I also want a reputation of being a good person. — Joan Jett

So it was out of necessity that Blackheart was born. I think it's great that now, 25 years later, we're not only putting out our own music, but are able to put out music by other bands. That's really exciting for us. — Joan Jett

I feel like it's my job to carry the torch. — Joan Jett

A lot of the songs I've recorded are songs I write. — Joan Jett

I hope one day people don't look at women like they're out of their minds when they want to pick up an instrument and play. And I think we're getting a lot closer to that. — Joan Jett

I'm really happy doing what I'm doing. I'm not looking to do anything else. I love what I do. I love music. I love playing. I love touring. — Joan Jett

I leave for the show at least an hour ahead, and I do some vocal warm-ups, and that's pretty much it. — Joan Jett

You can never say never. I'm not sure if I even want to. I just don't know. Some of it is just not able to be reached, you can't remember some of it and the people that could help you remember have passed away. It might have to remain a remain. — Joan Jett

I think what people see in me is one slice of who I am. It does permeate my life in the sense that I don't like to be told what to do, or how to be, or how I can do it. But I'm probably a lot tamer than people would expect. — Joan Jett

Radio has changed, there was a little bit of difference around the country and now that is gone and everything is uniform. That is not the only place it's happening in music, there's a lot of consolidation. — Joan Jett

I bought one of those Learn How to Play Guitar Chords By Yourself and it shows you the diagram where to put your hands and I took that in my room, sat with my singles and learned how to play guitar. — Joan Jett

You gotta not care about what people think in general about you. I'm not talking about bad stuff, if you're a nasty person, because I don't consider myself a mean person, I consider that I know what i want and I'm tough. But I'm very emotional and un-tough on a lot of levels, I cry very easily, I'm sensitive and I don't think that's a bad thing. — Joan Jett

I don't really care if you think I'm strange
I ain't gonna change! — Joan Jett

I want to be singing to everybody, and I want everybody to think that I'm singing to them. Guys, girls and everyone in between. — Joan Jett

We always play clubs. It's not something that I feel above. Those are my favorite shows because they're intimate, they're tight, their sweaty, they're hot. You're close to the people. Those are my favorites. — Joan Jett

I've been doing this stuff for so long it's the one aspect of my life that I've paid attention to and really sort of not paid attention to the rest of it. — Joan Jett

It's hard to have a dialogue when you're name-calling. — Joan Jett

To be so superfocused and honed in on one thing can be good because then you get what you're supposed to get done, done but you also miss out on other things. I could have spent more time with my family, and a million other little things. — Joan Jett

The Runaways' audience was 90 percent male. That was kind of depressing ... Why don't women-our own gender-come out and support us? — Joan Jett

Def Leppard is obviously a different band that we are, but the music work well tighter. And the audiences seem work well together too. We are opening, but we're having a good time. — Joan Jett

Well, I'll tell you, I don't know how aware teenagers are of me. I think it really depends on the teenager and how well-versed in music they are and what kind of music they like. — Joan Jett

For me the challenge isn't to be different but to be consistent. — Joan Jett

Women are still second-class citizens. — Joan Jett

When I met you you were oh so sweet, now you give me the bread and you take all the meat. — Joan Jett

Factory farming is one of the biggest contributors to the most serious environmental problems. The meat industry causes more greenhouse gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, planes and ships in the world. — Joan Jett

The follow your dreams thing is really important because so many people are railroaded into taking other paths by their family, their friends, people who should be supportive going, 'What are you talking about?' Even just seemingly regular career paths, but if it's not what people expect for you they kind of react funny. — Joan Jett

The internet did not exist when I started out, the fact that bands can build a website and get all their information out there is really helpful. If you really love to play, I would say to keep doing it, because it's what you love and what you have to do. — Joan Jett

Can't break free from the things that you do. I wanna walk, but I run back to you, that's why I hate myself for loving you. — Joan Jett

When you're onstage and the audience is smiling and singing and bopping along and you're all on the same level, it's the best feeling in the world. It may sound dumb and corny to say it, but it's like pure love. — Joan Jett

I remember thinking that Janis Joplin sang like Mae West talked. When I
first heard the primal scream in 'Piece Of My Heart,' I was hooked. 'Cheap
Thrills,' Janis 'Live' with Big Brother And The Holding Company, was one of
my all time faves. During the 'whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa's' in 'Combination Of
Two,' I couldn't help but go to the mirror and pretend I was a wild woman
like Janis, in a rock band. — Joan Jett

Things work in cycles. — Joan Jett

I love sports. I love animals. I love kids. I want to save the world. So how do I combine all those things? I don't know. — Joan Jett

Nobody knows what anticipation is anymore. Everything is so immediate. — Joan Jett

I like the way black looks. I think I look better in darker clothes. And maybe the fact that I wear black so much makes me more aware of putting people at ease. The black is sort of the bad-guy guise, so I work overtime to make people comfortable. — Joan Jett

Record stores are the backbone of the recorded music culture. It's where we go to network, browse around, and find new songs to love. The stores whose staff live for music have spread the word about exciting new things faster and with more essence than either radio or the press. Any artist that doesn't support the wonderful ma and pa record stores across America is contributing to our own extinction. — Joan Jett

People like to tear you down. People are always going to take shots. You've just got to go for it. — Joan Jett

Success isn't one straight line - it's a ladder, and there's always another rung above you to reach out for. Like anything else, there are ups and downs. — Joan Jett

I consider that success for anything, whether it's being a musician or a writer. As long as you can support yourself, you're successful. People need to change their idea of what success is. — Joan Jett

There's nothing wrong with being single and not getting married and being, you know, just an old single lady. Who cares? — Joan Jett

A girl playing rock and roll, it's saying I own my sexuality and I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do. And I think people just find that threatening. — Joan Jett

You know, I have a really tough time finding new bands. — Joan Jett

I think what I'm going to do is get more balance in my life to still be able to go out and play the hard rock 'n' roll and do what I like to do in music. — Joan Jett

I had a blast doing the Warped Tour, but it's good to be home, for sure. — Joan Jett

I don't know if I miss it per se, but I do miss the fact that there just doesn't seem to be any rock 'n' roll out there anyplace. Everything does seem kind of tame. It's even hard in Manhattan to go out and find a good band to go see. — Joan Jett

Cutting meat out of your diet is the best thing you can do for animals and your own health. — Joan Jett

My job is intense. It's very physical. — Joan Jett

Something happens, you can't even put your finger on it, and then you don't quite feel the same way anymore. All of a sudden, there's fights or something and you are going "who is this person?" I've seen this happen to other people and it has happened to me. — Joan Jett

I think it's what the times are demanding. If you're talking about the popular artists, they collaborate with a lot of different people and it seems to be in vogue now. It probably is indicative of the times. — Joan Jett

Being the first is kind of dirty, and it's great — Joan Jett

I don't wait till stage to use my sexuality. My zipper's down right now. I mean, I use it all the time. — Joan Jett

Why there aren't people out there willing to have fun playing rock 'n' roll. I just don't get it. — Joan Jett

I think the one-on-one gigs connecting with the fans - is the most important thing. That will help build your fan base. They'll talk about you, and word spreads. Those things are just as important as knowing how to play an E chord. — Joan Jett

Just be yourself and everything will fall in line, the way it's supposed to be. If you're yourself, that's the best thing you can do, because you can never go "damn if I'd only been myself." Live an authentic life and you don't have to worry about your reputation. — Joan Jett

A lot of the touring stuff has become a drag. Traveling itself is a drag. Anyone who's been to an airport knows that. — Joan Jett

Anyone who wants to know who I am can just read my lyrics - I've always written about who I am. — Joan Jett

In pop music, you say, 'You can do what you want to me.' Rock 'n' roll says, 'I'm gonna do what I want to you.' — Joan Jett

That was exactly why people didn't want to give us any kind of life, because we were threatening their status quo, and they just didn't want to have room for girls playing rock 'n' roll. It bothered them. First, people just tried to get around it by saying, "Oh, wow, isn't that cute? Girls playing rock 'n' roll!," and when we said, "Yeah, right, this isn't a phase; it's what we want to do with our lives," it became, "Oh! You must be a bunch of sluts. You dykes, you whores." That's what it became. Then it became a name-calling contest. — Joan Jett

I sure saw a lot of kids that I'm sure didn't know a lot about us, or we were definitely new to them. The kids who came up to me afterward, we'd talk about music, sign a lot of autographs. So I'm sure we made a lot of new fans. — Joan Jett

When I came back to it, we amicably separated from Warner Bros. I just picked up where I left off, trying to write the rest of this record. It took awhile to get out. — Joan Jett

Happiness doesn't necessarily lie in material things. You just have to put yourself in a position to be happy. If you can do what you love for a living, that's a good start. — Joan Jett

Rock and roll by its nature is sexual. So girls playing rock and roll is saying to the world, "We own our sexuality." I think that pop music is sort of about "you can do what you want to me" kind of energy, while rock and roll is "I'm going to do what I want to you" kind of energy. — Joan Jett

Well before I was in a band, I wanted to be everything from a vet, an astronaut, an archeologist was a big one. It could be very wide-ranging because I had a lot of different interests including music so I'm very happy where I wound up. — Joan Jett

I'm not a list person. — Joan Jett

I don't know if I get recognized necessarily, though I do get looked at a lot - but I don't know if it's because of who I am, or if people just think I look weird. — Joan Jett

We were really grown up for our age and it was an incredible special band. — Joan Jett

I'm concentrating on staying healthy, having peace, being happy, remembering what is important, taking in nature and animals, spending time reading, trying to understand the universe, where science and the spiritual meet. — Joan Jett

If you're secure in yourself, and even if you're not secure in yourself, you don't need to bully. — Joan Jett

I think there's nothing better than seeing a three-chord straight up rock 'n' roll band in your face with sweaty music and three minute good songs. — Joan Jett

I'm a good person. — Joan Jett

I wanted to be an actor, an astrologer, an astronaut; a lot of different things were going through my mind. But I also wanted to play guitar. I mentioned to my parents that I wanted an electric guitar for Christmas. They got me one! I sat there all Christmas morning making a lot of loud horrible noise. — Joan Jett

Other people will call me a rebel, but I just feel like I'm living my life and doing what I want to do. Sometimes people call that rebellion, especially when you're a woman. — Joan Jett

A lot of people would say "well that's not a bad reputation. you sound like a pussy" and I would say yea. but I am passionate about music and being taken seriously about my music, so if you're going to mess with that, we have a problem. — Joan Jett

People don't want to see women doing things they don't think women should do. — Joan Jett

I plan to stay in music. I plan to keep making records. — Joan Jett

Girls see these defined roles they're supposed to follow in life, but when I was a young child, my parents told me I could be anything. — Joan Jett

Pop music is not a threatening style of music. — Joan Jett

I love rock and roll, so put another dime in the juke box, baby. — Joan Jett

Life is strong and fragile. It's a paradox ... It's both things, like quantum physics: It's a particle and a wave at the same time. It all exists all together. — Joan Jett

Beyond just writing about falling in love and out of love and wanting to do certain things and going out and partying and all the things that I grew up writing about, I want to write about deeper things. — Joan Jett

I'll be working until I die. — Joan Jett

I don't look good in beige. — Joan Jett

My guitar is not a thing. It is an extension of myself. It is who I am. — Joan Jett

Disharmony is natural in any band. — Joan Jett

I figured out it was a social thing, what women were allowed to do. At a very young age, I decided I was not going to follow women's rules. — Joan Jett

I've always got something to say. — Joan Jett

Before I settled on music, I wanted to be an archaeologist, an astronaut, all sorts of really diverse things. — Joan Jett

It's very tough to give advice because it's tough out there for everybody but for a girl it's even tougher, because I don't think the glass ceiling has changed at all in the past 30 years. Otherwise the radio would be covered with girl bands, or girls in bands, so I don't think much has changed on that level. But I think that bands can still have a lot of success trying to go another route. — Joan Jett

Blackheart Records being 25 years old represents staying power and the fact that we weren't able to get a record out through conventional means, so we had to create this record company to put out our records if we wanted to be a band that had records to give out to their fans. — Joan Jett

It's easier to sit there and say you don't like feminists because they don't have a sense of humor. — Joan Jett

Egotistical people are not pretty. We all know that, I'm sure everybody knows an egotistical person someplace. — Joan Jett

You follow any family around, you're going to see elation, you're going to see disharmony. — Joan Jett

I don't pay attention. I don't read stuff or message boards because you definitely get affected. You can read a hundred great comments, amazing comments, and have one bad one and that is all you can focus on and it wrecks your day. It says something about negativity and how it draws us somehow. — Joan Jett

The media says that equality for women has arrived, but if you look around, you still don't see girls playing guitars and having success with it. — Joan Jett

When you're singing songs about love and sex, you want everyone to think you're singing to them. Whether you're a boy, a girl, a woman, a man - whatever you're into, I can be that. — Joan Jett

Shaving my head was a millennium ritual, to not let it pass as just another New Year's Eve. A lot has happened to me in the last couple of years, personally and spiritually. I wanted to mark it for myself. — Joan Jett

I grew up in a world that told girls they couldn't play rock and roll. — Joan Jett

I'm having fun opening up. Sort of struggling to get the audience into it. It's good. It makes you fight. Not fight like antagonistic. But fight for what you believe. — Joan Jett

Even though everybody's lives are different, in general we're all human beings, and we go through the same things: disappointments, the pleasures of life, life and death. That's always been a really big part of the show to me, making sure the audience feels connected, and that carries through to the album. — Joan Jett

You want to have butterflies in your stomach, because if you don't, if you walk out onstage complacent, that's not a good thing. — Joan Jett