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"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" is a rock song written in 1975 by Alan Merrill of the Arrows, who recorded the first released version.[1] The song was later made famous by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts in 1982.[2] Merrill still plays the song live, most often in his hometown of New York City.[3]
The Arrows original version
The song was originally recorded and released by the Arrows in 1975 on Rak Records, with Merrill on lead vocals and guitar and Mickie Most producing. Merrill and Jake Hooker wrote the music and lyrics. In an interview with Songfacts, Merrill said he wrote the song as "a knee-jerk response to the Rolling Stones' 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)'."[2][4]
This version was first released as a B-side, but was soon re-recorded and flipped to A-side status on a subsequent pressing of the record. The Arrows performed the song in 1975 on the Muriel Young-produced show 45, after which Young offered the Arrows a weekly UK television series, Arrows, which was broadcast on ITV starting in March 1976.[5]
The black-and-white music video for "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" received heavy play by the fledgling MTV network. It featured Jett and the Blackhearts traveling to a small, dingy bar and then exciting the drunken crowd by performing the song and yelling out its chorus. A snippet of Jett's 1981 hit "Bad Reputation" can be heard at the beginning of the video. The video was originally in color, but it was converted to black and white because Jett hated the look of her red leather jumpsuit in color.[10]
In 1993 Joan Jett & the Blackhearts made another music video for the song as part of the Wayne's World 2 soundtrack. The video consisted of scenes from the movie, with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, mixed with footage of Jett and her band in a faux concert filmed at Irving Plaza in NYC. At one point during the filming, one person was introduced to the crowd as having been in the original video as he set up to stage dive for that take. The song was again released as a single by Warner/Reprise with "Activity Grrrl" as the B-side.[11]
Popularity
Jett's version has received many rankings, including:
No. 85 in Q magazine's March 2005 "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever!" list.[12]
"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" was the fourth European single by pop singer Britney Spears from the album Britney, released on 27 May 2002. The song was used in her 2002 movie Crossroads, in which Spears' character Lucy performs it in a karaoke bar. Spears said of the song, "They asked me to sing karaoke in the movie Crossroads and I've actually sung I Love Rock 'n' Roll in a lot of clubs that I've been to."[42] Spears has publicly stated that the original song is one of her favorites. She listened to the original Arrows Mickie Most-produced version just before she recorded the song, according to Jive A&R representative Steve Lunt. The scratches performed on this version were performed by Corey Chase at Hit Factory Miami. When promoting the single's release, Spears mistakenly attributed the hit version of the song to Pat Benatar instead of Joan Jett.[43]
Reception
Critical
Spears' cover was met with mostly favorable reviews. NME's Ted Kessler wrote that Britney "still works best when making a good pop cheese and dance sandwich: there's the ace Rodney Jerkins-produced version of Joan Jett's 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll', which does exactly what is says on the tin."[44]Rolling Stone's Barry Walters wrote that "producer Rodney Jerkins' hip-hop blaspheming of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" doesn't go as far as it should (is a Limp Bizkit remix in its future?), but it certainly beats what her earlier studio architects did to those Sonny and Cher ("The Beat Goes On" on ...Baby One More Time) and Stones ("(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" on Oops!... I Did It Again) songs."[45] Another positive reception came from PopMatters's editor Nikki Tranter, who enjoyed that the song is "different from the average run-of-the-mill pop offering," and praised that "she does strange justice to the tune, vamping up her vocals and turning out something, that while silly and camp, is actually a fun listen."[46] In contrast, David Browne wrote for Entertainment Weekly that "her remake is neither imaginative (it simply xeroxes Joan Jett's arrangement) nor all that believable."[47]
Commercial
"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" charted moderately upon release, reaching the top twenty in most regions. The song was moderately successful in the UK, where it peaked at #13 (which, at the time, was Spears' lowest peak for a single released there, until "Radar" only managed to reach #46 in 2009, and then "I Wanna Go", which peaked at #111). The single sold a total of 65,000 copies.[48] It was also certified Gold in Australia.
Directed by Chris Applebaum, the music video for "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" shows Spears with her own band, a stack of speakers and flashing lights. The video begins in black and white and switches to and from color throughout. It was shot at The Inn, a bar in Long Beach, New York. The video was ranked at #2 on the 100 Best Videos of 2002 list during MTV Latin America's countdown. A "Director's Cut" version of the video was later leaked, containing previously unseen scenes.
Live performances
The song was performed live during Spears' Dream Within a Dream Tour (2001–02). In 2016, it was added to the revamped set list of her Las Vegas residency show, Britney: Piece of Me (2016–17), marking the first time Spears performed the song in 14 years. During the performance, Britney Spears rode a mechanical electric guitar, which simulated a mechanical bull, as it rotated on stage. The same prop electric guitar had been used during her Femme Fatale Tour (2011) for a segment in which she covered the song "Burning Up" by Madonna. At the 2016 Billboard Music Awards, the song was performed as part of a medley.
^"I Love Rock and Roll". Songfacts.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^Talevski, Nick (2006). Rock Obituaries - Knocking On Heaven's Door. Omnibus Press. p. 100. ISBN978-1-8460-9091-2. Cordell joined Kenny Laguna, his former session player and then manager of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, to co-produce the group's chart-topping hard-rock anthem 'I Love Rock 'N Roll'.
^Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 322.
^Lwin, Nanda. Top 40 Hits: the essential chart guide (2000).
^Hung Medien. "I love rock'n'roll in French Chart". Archived from the original on 20 September 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) You have to use the index at the top of the page and search "Joan Jett & the Blackhearts"
^Barry Walters (22 November 2001). "Britney review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 12 February 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^Steffen Hung. "Swiss Year-End Charts 2002". Swisscharts.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)