I Love Rock 'n' Roll

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" is a rock song written in 1975 by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of Arrows, who recorded the first released version.[1]  The song was later made famous by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts in 1982.[2]



Contents
[hide]  *1 Arrows version  ==Arrows version[ edit] == The song was originally recorded and released by Arrows in 1975 on RAK Records, with lead vocals by Alan Merrill and produced by Mickie Most. In an interview with Songfacts, Merrill said he wrote it as "a knee-jerk response to The Rolling Stones' 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)'."[2] [3]  This version was first released as a B-side, but was soon re-recorded and flipped to A-side status on a subsequent pressing of the record. Although not a chart hit in its original version as a result of nonexistent promotion by the band's label, the song has come to worldwide prominence due to very successful cover versions. The song served the band Arrows very well in 1975 though. After they did their one and only TV appearance in 1975 with "I Love Rock N Roll" on the Muriel Youngproduced show "45," Ms. Young offered the Arrows their own weekly television series starting in March 1976. They got the weekly TV series based on their performance of "I Love Rock N Roll." The Arrows TV show was where Joan Jett became aware of the song while she was on tour with her band the Runaways in England in 1976 and she saw the group perform the song on their weekly broadcast show.
 * 2 Joan Jett version
 * 2.1 Music video
 * 2.2 Critical reception
 * 2.3 Chart performance
 * 2.3.1 Chart successions
 * 3 Britney Spears version
 * 3.1 Background, release and composition
 * 3.2 Reception
 * 3.2.1 Critical
 * 3.2.2 Commercial
 * 3.3 Music video
 * 3.4 Track listings
 * 3.5 Chart performance
 * 3.5.1 Certifications
 * 3.5.2 Release history
 * 4 Alex Gaudino and Jason Rooney version
 * 4.1 Track listing
 * 4.2 Chart performance
 * 4.3 Release history
 * 5 Other cover versions
 * 6 References
 * 7 External links

Alan Merrill has been playing the song recently live in England, Europe, Japan and most often in his home town New York City. ==Joan Jett version[ edit] == Joan Jett saw Arrows perform "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" on their weekly television series Arrows<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Outsight_Radio_Hours_interview_2-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[2]  when she was touring England with The Runaways in 1976. She first recorded the song in 1979 with two of the Sex Pistols: Steve Jones and Paul Cook. This first version was released on vinyl in 1979 on Vertigo records as a b-side to "You Don't Own Me" and this early version was not released on CD until 1993 and the issue of the album Flashback. In 1981, Jett re-recorded the song, this time with her band, The Blackhearts. This recording became a U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one single for seven weeks,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[5]  effectively launching Jett's solo career. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing two million units shipped to stores. This success propelled Jett's I Love Rock 'n Roll album to number two on the Billboard 200. Joan Jett's version was ranked #89 in the list 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of Rolling Stone.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[6] ===Music video<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">"I Love Rock 'n' Roll"'s gritty, black-and-white music video received heavy play from the just-launched MTV network. In it, Jett and The Blackhearts travel to a small, dingy bar and proceed to excite the drunken crowd by performing the song and yelling out its famous chorus. A snippet of Jett's 1981 hit "Bad Reputation" is featured at the beginning of the video. Jett followed up "I Love Rock 'n Roll" with another cover—her version of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover," which was a top-ten U.S. hit. The video was originally in color, but it was converted to black and white because Jett was ultimately displeased with the look of her red leather jumpsuit in color.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">In 1993 Joan Jett & The Blackhearts made another music video for the song as part of the Wayne's World 2 soundtrack. In the video appear several scenes from the movie with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey mixed with footage of Joan and her band in concert. It was again released as a single by Warner/Reprise with "Activity Grrrl" as the B-side. ===Critical reception<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">Jett's version has received many accolades, including:

===Chart performance<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ====Chart successions<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==== ==Britney Spears version<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Background, release and composition<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" is the fourth European single released by pop singer Britney Spears from the album Britney on May 27, 2002. The song was used in her 2002 movie Crossroads. Spears's character, Lucy, performs it in a karaoke bar. Spears said of the song, "They asked me to sing karaoke in the movie Crossroads and I've actually sung I Love Rock 'n' Roll in a lot of clubs that I've been to."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[24]  Spears has publicly admitted the original song to be one of her favorites. Spears listened to the original Arrows Mickie Most-produced version just before she recorded the song, according to JiveA&R representative Steve Lunt. The scratches performed on this song were performed by Corey Chase, at Hit Factory Miami. When promoting the single's release she mistakenly attributed the hit version of the song to Pat Benatar instead of Jett.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[25] ===Reception<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ====Critical<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==== <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">The song was later met with criticism by Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio, who ranked it at #37 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever in 2010 and said that Spears was "[d]oing her best to single-handedly set the women-in-rock movement back 20 years."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[26]  David Browne wrote for Entertainment Weekly that "her remake is neither imaginative (it simply xeroxes Joan Jett's arrangement) nor all that believable."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-27" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[27]
 * Ranking #85 on Q magazine March 2005 list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks
 * Ranking #484 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"
 * Ranking #56 in Billboard's Greatest Songs of all time.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[7]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">However, the song received favorable reviews. NME's Ted Kessler wrote that Britney "still works best when making a good pop cheese and dance sandwich: there's the ace Rodney Jerkins-produced version of Joan Jett's (sic) 'I Love Rock'n'Roll', which does exactly what is says on the tin."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-28" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[28] Rolling Stone's Barry Walters wrote that "producer Rodney Jerkins' hip-hop blaspheming of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" doesn't go as far as it should (is a Limp Bizkit remix in its future?), but it certainly beats what her earlier studio architects did to those Sonny and Cher (The Beat Goes On on...Baby One More Time) and Stones ((I Can't Get No) Satisfaction on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oops!..._I_Did_It_Again Oops!... I Did It Again]) songs."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RSreview_29-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[29]  Another positive reception came fromPopMatters's editor Nikki Tranter,who enjoyed that the song is "different from the average run-of-the-mill pop offering, and praised that "she does strange justice to the tune vamping up her vocals and turning out something, that while silly and camp, is actually a fun listen."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-30" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[30] ====Commercial<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">]  ==== <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" failed to make the top ten in most countries. However, the track was not a complete commercial failure as it made the top forty placement in most regions. The song was moderately successful in the UK, where it peaked at number thirteen (which, at the time, was her lowest peak for a single released there, until "Radar" only managed to reach number forty-six in 2009). The single sold a total of 65,000 copies.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-31" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[31]  The single also attained Gold certification in Australia despite missing the top ten. ===Music video<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">Directed by Chris Applebaum, the music video for "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" features Spears in a tight-fitting leather getup in a dark black room. Straightforward, it features Spears jamming in a large red room, complete with her own band, a stack of speakers, and flashing lights. She crawls along on the floor, and plays air guitar before smashing the speakers with a real guitar. Spears also dances on a rotating motorcycle and gets covered with confetti. The video made its way to the No. 2 spot at the 100 Best Videos of 2002 at MTV Latin America's countdown, only behind Avril Lavigne's "Complicated". The Director's Cut version of the video was later leaked; it included previously unseen scenes from the video. The Bar where it was shot is called The Inn, in Long Beach, New York. ===Track listings<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===Chart performance<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ====Certifications<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==== ====Release history<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==== ==Alex Gaudino and Jason Rooney version<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">The Alex Gaudino & Jason Rooney cover version was released in 2008. ===Track listing<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===Chart performance<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===Release history<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ==Other cover versions<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" is an often-covered song, and has been notably recorded by such artists as:
 * Credits and personnel
 * Lead vocals – Alex Gaudino
 * Music – Alan Merrill, Jake Hooker
 * Lyrics – Alan Merrill, Jake Hooker
 * Scratches – Corey Chase
 * Label: 541/NEWS


 * Alvin Stardust recorded the song as the title track of his greatest hits album in 2010.
 * L'Arc~En~Ciel released the song as a single internationally in 2011 and it was featured in a Pepsi commercial in Japan.
 * Showaddywaddy recorded the song as the title track of their greatest hits album in 2006.
 * Hello released the song in 1996 on their Glam Rockers album.
 * Hayseed Dixie
 * In 1990, Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song in The Chipmunks Go to the Movies episode "Bigger" (a spoof of the 1988 film Big).
 * Lee Da Hae released the song as a single in 2007, with versions in both English and Korean.
 * In 1982, Adrian Erlandsson played the song in full with his band as the first song he learned.
 * Boy band Five sampled the song for "Everybody Get Up".
 * Reverend Run sampled the song for his song "Mind on the Road" on his solo album Distortion.
 * Dragon Ash (as "I Love Hip Hop")
 * "Weird Al" Yankovic (parody, as "I Love Rocky Road")
 * Australian all girl hard rock band Nitocris released the song in 1998.
 * Griva (as "I law Myroslaw")
 * The song was covered by Kizooks on their album Super Huge Very Big Hits in 2004.
 * The Dresden Dolls
 * The song was released as a single by Forever Young on Universal records in 2003.
 * In 1995, a German version was recorded by Guildo Horn und Die Orthopädischen Strümpfe as "Ich find Schlager toll".
 * Miley Cyrus sang this song in 2005 for an audition tape for her TV show Hannah Montana. She performed it on her 2009 Wonder World Tour and 2011 Gypsy Heart Tour. The song is included on her 2010 double album Can't Be Tamed.
 * Allison Mack and Erica Durance sang this song in an episode of Smallville.