A popular YouTube clip shows her failing to correct an interviewer who assumes she did. Merrill was frustrated that Jett (who declined to be interviewed for this story) seemed to foster a perception that she wrote the song. Since then she has played a large part in my life and I in hers, whether she admits it or not.” I always fancied her, and we developed a loose friendship. “I told her she was an honorary Arrow because she looked like one of us. We discussed the strong possibility that it would become a hit,” “I Love Rock ‘N’ Rollwas climbing the charts and Joan gave me a hug. Their paths crossed again on tour in Florida. He was a member of Rick Derringer’s band when Jett’s second version of the song (the Jones/Cook take wasn’t released till 1993) took off. In a spooky twist of fate, Jett’s first attempt to record the song using a band that featured former Sex Pistols members Steve Jones and Paul Cook took place in the same London studio as Merrill worked with producer James Guthrie ( Pink Floyd) on an album for his next project, Runner. She told me about sending a roadie out to buy the single when she was touring the UK with The Runaways.” “I was playing with Meat Loaf in around 1978 and lived on the same street as her office. With The Arrows’ recordings having completely dried up, the group folded acrimoniously in 1977, despite Bill Wyman trying in vain to secure them a deal with Atlantic Records.Īlan Merrill met Joan Jett several times. “All we needed was a Top Of The Pops, but we didn’t get one BBC radio airplay and no television whatsoever.”īut for Joan Jett’s intervention, that would have been that. A legal dispute between their management and RAK only worsened publicity matters. “Mickey was winding down his career as a producer, and the single was woefully underpromoted,” explained Merrill, feeling that it deserved top-three status at the very least. The ploy brought The Arrows their TV show when Granada’s Muriel Young heard it but, amazingly, the song still didn’t take off. Six weeks after it flopped, the producer’s wife Christina proposed re-cutting the song at Abbey Road studios and flipping it over. In February 1975, Most used I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll as a B-side to Broken Down Heart, a song by an outside writer of Smokie/Racey fame called Roger Ferris. (Image credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images) The Arrows in 1973: L-R: drummer Paul Varley, guitarist Jake Hooker and singer/bassist Alan Merrill. Or text HOME to 741-741 to speak with a trained crisis counselor at the free Crisis Text Line. How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-80. RELATED: Mick Jagger Didn’t Like the Songs on This Rolling Stones Album When It Was Released “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” was a massive hit - and it has an interesting connection to The Rolling Stones. 2 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 59 weeks in total. The track’s parent album, I Love Rock ‘n Roll, reached No. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks and stayed on the chart for 20 weeks altogether. “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” was a much bigger hit. 1 for one of its 20 weeks on the Billboard 200. The Rolling Stones included “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)” on the album It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 10 weeks. In the United States, “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)” was a modest hit for The Rolling Stones. RELATED: Joan Jett’s 1st Band Refused to Record ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll’ for 1 Reason How The Rolling Stones’ ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)’ and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ ‘I Love Rock ‘n Roll’ performed commercially “That was my interpretation as a young man: ‘OK, I love rock ‘n’ roll.'” Merrill discussed his interpretation of “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It.)” “I almost felt like ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll’ was an apology to those jet-set princes and princesses that he was hanging around with - the aristocracy, you know,” he said. I’d met Mick Jagger socially a few times, and I knew he was hanging around with Prince Rupert Lowenstein and people like that - jet setters.” “I remember watching it on Top of the Pops. “That was a knee-jerk response to The Rolling Stones’ “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll ,'” he recalled. Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones singing songs | Evening Standard/Getty Images Alan Merrill wrote a ‘knee-jerk response’ to 1 Rolling Stones songĪlan Merrill was a member of The Arrows, the band that originally recorded “I Love Rock ‘n Roll.” During a 2009 interview with Songfacts, Merrill discussed the origin of the track. One of the writers of “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” saw The Rolling Stones performing a song on television. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” is one of the most popular classic rock songs of the 1980s.
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