Daytripper

I'm trying to find out where this originated, but I just received this from a friend of mine via e-mail. Thought it was very funny. Typical of RS not to publish it:

>> An Open Letter to Rolling Stone
>> by Joan Jett
>>
>> 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 *****ing Spears, and you're
>> turning your whole publication into a joke...and an
>> offensive joke at that.

cdollaz

I'm not sure that is from Joan Jett. If it is, she does a little too much self promotion.

CharlesC

I was thinking the same thing cdollaz. Sounds more like a rant I'd read right hear in Music Talk.

GoVegan

It's a good letter, but it wasn't written by Joan Jett.

JoanJett.com

It struck me as odd that she'd be talking about herself in the third person, so I checked her site. I think someone had forwarded the letter to them and they posted it on the official site.

I can't say that I'm surprised that RS wouldn't publish that letter. Not only is the letter extremely scathing, it's also completely accurate.

The Antipodean

No way Joan Jett actually wrote that letter. Never believe anything you read on the Internet.

devilpants

Nevertheless, IT'S ALL TRUE!

Jason

I didn't think it was from her when she started talking about herself in the third person, but everything in that article rings true. Rolling Stone is little more than a marketing tool for Clear Channel and Sony.

devilpants

Did she really perform in Afghanistan? How big could her following possibly be there?

Thunderball

Read, Comprehend, Post.

She played for the troops

raithen

Rolling Stone is in the business of selling magazines and if they think plastering the cover with "over-exposed, pop princesses" will increase sales, they'll do it without thinking.

Sad, but true.

I can't say I've ever respected the magazine or the "opinions" and "critics" within - but with this issue, they've sunk to a brand new low...

-matt

Daytripper

Yes, it is completely accurate. And bravo whoever did write it. I too thought it was odd that Joan would be referring to herself in the third person. Which is why I asked the girl who sent it to me where she got it. I thought maybe it was someone in Joan's band (at the very least). But again, well written. And my sentiments exactly.

Giantrobo

Joan Jett's a chick?

Saxofonix

zactly !!

Giantrobo

Rolling Stone as been a non issue since '79 in my book.

Toad

What do you mean?

dolphinboy

The Distillers do ROCK. Check them out if you haven't already.

nodeerforamonth

I agree with this letter! "rock" is no longer a musical term. It's a fashion term. And it shouldn't be!

Britney Spears is "rock"? Come on!

The Donnas are ROCK! And yet there was no mention of them in that Rolling Stone. They got an amazing new album out and Rolling Stone wouldn't even do an article on them! They should've been on the freakin' cover!

grunter

I think anyone with an ounce of taste agrees with the sentiments in the letter.

It's just funny that almost EVERYONE I know feels this way, yet we're somehow powerless to put an end to the schlock that keeps getting marketed to us.

Groucho

Snopes picked this up yesterday: http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/joanjett.htm

joltaddict

So do The Donnas. 40 Boys In 40 Nights is the best Ramones song not written or performed by the Ramones.

LiquidSky

I love Joan and hope she releases some new material soon. The last "new" song I heard is called "Fetish" and it kicks butt!

I love The Donnas. Their new CD is pure rock and roll.

bralph

By reading your two statements together, are you then saying that Joan Jett did write the letter?