In 1981, Joan Jett Turned This Overlooked Arrows Track Into A Nearly Perfect Song

U.K.-based glam-pop band Arrows only ever had a couple of minor hits in their home country in the mid-1970s, neither of which was "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." However, the song would become one of the biggest hits of the 1980s, after American rock star Joan Jett recorded an explosive cover and turned it into a classic. Although Arrows members Alan Merrill and Jake Hook were extremely proud of the rock-history-defining song — about a person getting effusive over rock music while also trying to romance a presumed teenager — their producer, Mickie Most, was underwhelmed. Arrows wound up recording "I Love Rock 'n Roll" for use as a B-side, and performed it on their British TV variety show, "Arrows."

It was that televised rendition that Jett caught when her group, the Runaways, a classic rock band that launched a bunch of solo careers, ventured to England for some concert dates. Jett secured the proper permissions to cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," but the idea died because the other Runaways didn't like the song as much as she did. But when her band split, Jett was free to pursue the song on her own, and she made it a historic hit.

It took Joan Jett a couple of tries to transform an obscure and lackluster '70s glam rock tune into what almost everyone can agree is a nearly perfect '80s song. In her early days as a solo artist, Jett teamed up with two members of the punk band the Sex Pistols and cut a version of "I Love Rock 'n Roll." Mirroring Arrows' experience with the tune, Jett's take was relegated to a B-side, appearing on the reverse of a cover of the early '60s pop hit "You Don't Own Me" released to the Netherlands and Scandinavian markets in 1979.

Then Jett formed a new band called the Blackhearts. When putting that group's first full-length LP together in 1981, Jett gave "I Love Rock 'n Roll" another shot. The musician and her collaborators made the song less glam-rock centered, and more buoyant and tighter with a sinister edge. To a propulsive and tightly wound new wave foundation, Jett and the Blackhearts added squealing yet restrained metal-esque guitars, as well as prominent drums and hand claps.

The new recipe worked. Six weeks after entering Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart in early 1982, "I Love Rock 'n Roll" occupied the No. 1 spot, a place where it stayed for a total of seven weeks, becoming one of the most dominant hits of 1982. Both "I Love Rock 'n Roll" the single and the album of the same name that spawned it sold a million copies.