Often when the subject of influences is brought up, giants are named. The Beatles, the Brandos... But it was refreshing to be reminded of a different type of influence. The type where people can have a notable impact on the thing that they love without becoming a megastar and constantly gracing front pages.
It was this bit in Rolling Stone on Joan Jett that stood out:
Jett is more reserved, less certain, talking about her influence and legacy. "I have a tough time seeing it. I'd feel conceited: 'Hey, that's my footprint.' "
Dave Grohl can sum it up for her. He remembers standing with her and Foo Fighters guitarist Pat Smear at a European festival, watching Iggy Pop and the Stooges. "In that moment," Grohl says, "I understood this lineage" — Iggy's influence on Jett and the Runaways; her support of the L.A. punk scene that produced Smear's first group, the Germs, and Stooges bassist Mike Watt; and their effect, in turn, on Grohl's other band Nirvana. "None of that would have happened without Joan as a rung on the ladder."
"You gotta put the Runaways at the same level as the Ramones and the Sex Pistols," Smear maintains. "They were doing in L.A. what those guys were doing in New York and London: getting kids to join bands.