Originally published in Crawdaddy! Magazine on December 10th, 2008

Joan Jett knows what it’s like to be a struggling musician.

She knows what it’s like to sacrifice everything in pursuit of a dream—to go after something with guts and determination.

Joan Jett knows what it’s like to play all the dead-end dive bars and busted-out roadhouses, to live on a steady diet of ramen noodles and tap water, to sell CDs out of the trunk of her car. She knows what it’s like to have doors shut in her face, to be told she’s not pretty enough, or gritty enough, that she’ll never succeed because she doesn’t fit the mold of some preexisting pop format.

Joan Jett knows what it’s like to be a chick with real talent in an industry that prefers pop tarts and pedicures. She knows what it’s like to be denied access because of her gender. Joan Jett knows all the struggles that come along with clawing your way to the top. She knows the risks and the rewards, and she knows that in most cases the rewards are a long shot—one that fewer and fewer artists are willing to take.

“A lot of people just want to be famous,” Jett says. “They want to get on TV and believe they’ll be famous within a month or so, and that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about getting in a van and playing all the shitty-smelling clubs—not just once, but over and over and over again. That’s how you build an audience. It doesn’t take forever. And it happens to be a lot of fun in the middle of some hard work. It’s also what being in a band is all about. But I’ve found throughout my life, from my earliest times in bands, that not everybody’s on the same page when it comes to that. Sometimes people just want to take the easier way, and that’s not the way it is.”

Jett’s signature label, Blackheart Records, currently boasts a roster ripe with Jett-friendly acts like Girl in a Coma and the Dollyrots. But it wasn’t always that way. The story of Blackheart Records goes back almost 30 years, to a time when disco was dead and Reagan was all the rage, a time when the Ramones had broken out of the Bowery and the Runaways had just called it quits, a time when Joan Jett found herself broke and alone, desperate to score a major-label deal. She was 21 years old.

“After the Runaways broke up, I knew I wanted to continue playing,” Jett recalls. “But I didn’t want to form another all-girl band, ‘cause I didn’t want to deal with all the issues and people’s head trips, discussing the fact that we were all females.”

It was about this time that Jett’s manager enlisted veteran producer (and ex-Shondell) Kenny Laguna to help her finish work on a film soundtrack the Runaways had previously signed off on. Laguna believed in Jett’s talent. And he had connections. So once work on the film project was complete, he agreed to stay on and help Jett land a record deal.

“We got close a couple of times,” Laguna recalls. “I was good friends with the manager of AC/DC at the time and best friends with the manager of the Who, Bill Curbishley. Both those guys had connections at Atlantic, so we thought we’d go there. They brought us in and we said, ‘You don’t even have to pay us up front. Just pay us once a month based on what you sell.’ It was unheard of not to ask for an advance in those days. And still, the reaction was like, ‘Joan doesn’t have enough class to be on Atlantic.’”

Atlantic wasn’t the only major label to reject Jett’s music. In the months that followed, 22 others would do the same. The reality: No one was willing to take a chance on a female rocker, especially one with a look and sound as androgynous as Jett’s.

“We were struggling,” Laguna remembers. “In fact, the Who actually fronted us the money to make Bad Reputation, which was called Joan Jett at the time. So we ended up making a deal with Ariola Records over in Europe. Keep in mind that Clive Davis could’ve had Jett’s record on Arista for free, and we wanted him to take it. But he passed. He said he needed a song surge, and all we had was a tape with four hits on it.

“Eventually, we found out our Ariola record was the number one import in the United States. So there was definitely an audience there. We just didn’t know who the audience was. I mean, KROQ was playing the record in LA and WBCN was playing it in Boston, and one of the songs was actually the number one record of the year on KNAC in California. It kept popping up in these little pockets all over. So we went to this importer near the airport called Import-ant Records. And I said, ‘Listen. What if I print these records up myself? You guys could save a lot of money. You know where to sell them.’

“After that we just started giving those guys the record. At the time, we didn’t know shit. We didn’t know about paying royalties or anything like that. So we’re selling them this record for $2.50 when really we should’ve been selling it for like $5 or $6. But we were getting quick payments—1,000 records one week, 1,000 records three weeks later. If you look at those originally-pressed records, they all say ‘Import’ on them, ’cause all I was doing was filling the import demand. That money was like our tour support.”

Those original prints represent the first records ever released on the Blackheart label, and they also (inadvertently) made Joan Jett the first female artist to start her own label. While neither accomplishment was by design, both provided Jett the funds necessary to head out on the road in support of her music.

“The essence to me was always about the live thing,” Jett admits. “I always thought of myself as someone who would make a record so that I could go out and tour. And one of the things that’s important for me to know about the bands we work with on the [Blackheart] label is that they’re willing to get out there and work hard as well. Things change… albums become CDs and now things are moving to the internet… people may even be able to watch entire concerts on their computers. But it’s not the same thing as being in the room.

“There’s something to be said for creating a live experience that can’t be missed. And bands that go out and play and create their own audience and cultivate it and know how to create a sense of excitement; that’s something that’s important to me, and—I think—to rock ‘n’ roll altogether. That’s the true essence of it—that performance in the moment that you’re all experiencing, the musician on the stage and the fan in the audience, maybe that moment of eye contact and a smile. That’s something you remember for the rest of your life. And I guess that’s something I try to recreate from all the great experiences that I’ve had at live shows growing up, and why I always wanted to go out and play.”

Throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, Jett would have her pick of major labels—Chrysalis, Sony, and Warner Brothers among them. While a lot of things changed for Jett during those years, two things remained the same: Laguna stayed on as her perennial producer and business partner, and the Blackheart record label remained intact.

“I think we would’ve gotten picked up eventually because of our persistence and the fact that we had some very powerful friends,” Laguna concedes. “But I also think we would’ve died on the vine if we did it that way. I mean, you know how it is when people tell you the label didn’t work the record? Well, that’s the way it would’ve been. [Major labels] never work the records. They’re only working one record at a time, really. Everything else that makes it, it’s because the record starts acting up by itself. That’s the way a lot of those major label companies work, and that’s why they’re going out of business. So Joan would’ve ended up making a record for one of these big-name companies and they would’ve had a big meeting and decided, like, Will to Power’s better than Joan Jett or whatever, and they would’ve owned the record and that would’ve been it. And we loved those early records. They were like our children. The fact that we owned them meant we had to keep on hustling and trying.”

During the mid-to-late 90s, Blackheart expanded its roster, signing an eclectic mix of artists from several different genres, who basically found themselves in the same situation Jett had years before: Desperately in need of a contract, but (for one reason or another) unable to land a deal.

“For a while there, our motto was to sign talented people or nice people who couldn’t get a record deal,” Laguna recalls. “We’d sign almost anybody. We ended up having three Top 10 rap records on Billboard with Professor Griff (from Public Enemy), DJ S & S, and Big Daddy Kane. And you’ve gotta imagine that some of these guys would come in for the first time and they’d look at me and say, ‘Oh my God. You’re Blackheart?’”

Laguna’s daughter Carianne joined the label in 2003, first as the Head of Marketing before making the eventual leap to Vice President and General Manager. With Carianne’s help, they were able to reposition the label as a signpost for acts that were dedicated to the same musical ideals and principles that Jett was.

“When Carianne came in she brought a team in with her,” Laguna says. “And the idea was to shape the label around what Joan Jett’s legacy really is. There are bands out there with the same spirit of what Blackheart Records is supposed to be all about—bands that are interested in civil rights and women’s rights, as well as things in society that are immoral and unfair. We see a lot of these bands out there that gravitate toward Joan Jett, and that’s an advantage for us.”

While Laguna and Jett are both optimistic about the prospect of expanding Blackheart’s roster in the months and years ahead, they’re also mindful never to lose sight of what motivated them to start the label in the first place.

“If we could continue to expand and maintain the same work ethic, then sure, I could see us doing that,” Laguna says. “But we never want to put a band on the label and lie to them. ’Cause we’ve been on both sides of the fence and we’ve seen people get burned. I’ve seen labels lie to bands and then the bands are out on tour bustin’ their balls, and meanwhile, they don’t have a chance. We never want to put a band in that position, and I know we never will. But would we like to be able to throw big money into a lot of these talented bands we run into? Sure. We’d love to do that.”

“If we’re smart about it and move slowly and stay focused, then we’ll be able to do that,” Jett adds. “We’ll be able to get a lot of bands out on the road and give them the support they need while they’re out there. But you don’t want to sign a band and then not be able to support them. So as we grow, we just need to be careful to stay in our element.”

For now, Jett’s targeting a late winter/early spring release date for a greatest hits collection that will also include some new tracks. In addition, Laguna hints that a major motion picture about the Runaways, based on the book Neon Angel written by (ex-Runaway) Cherie Currie, is currently in pre-production.

As for Blackheart Records, the mission and direction of the label are clearer than they’ve ever been before, and the power structure is such that up-and-coming young acts have a very real shot at success.

Laguna brings 40 years of experience working on both sides of the music business. Carianne brings a fresh ear for talent and a keen sense of how to market bands in the digital age. And Joan Jett… well, Joan Jett provides the most crucial element of all: She knows what it’s like to be a struggling musician.

And, more importantly, she understands what it takes to one day make the transition into a thriving career.