1980 Hard Rock Classic, Initially Rejected by 23 Record Labels, Became a Timeless Anthem of Rebellion
Considering the fact that Joan Jett is one of the most iconic rock stars of all time, it's hard to imagine there was ever a time when she couldn't get a record deal. But after the Runaways broke up in 1979, the music business decided Jett was old news...and she was only 21 years old at the time.
Of course, Jett's musical career was actually just beginning, and all the challenges she faced only made her more motivated. In fact, her fury over the way male music execs treated her helped to inspire one of her biggest hits: "Bad Reputation."
"It's about Joan having been kind of a wild woman in the Runaways, and us trying to make a record deal, going around having people say, ‘No, she's too crazy, like the punks and Nazis,'" songwriter Kenny Laguna, who co-wrote the song with Jett, told Songfacts.
"Joan had this bad reputation, no label would sign her - that's why we own the records," he continued. "I was trying to give her the advice of an old man, but she was a teenager at the time, and she says, ‘Look, I don't care about my bad reputation.' I said, ‘Whoa, there's the song.'"
Laguna was right: As everybody knows, "Bad Reputation" went on to become one of Jett's most beloved songs, with a music video that chronicled Jett's string of rejections from a whopping 23 record labels. Rolling Stone ranked the song #249 on a list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time," noting, "Jett still has her bad reputation, and she still doesn't give a damn."
"Everyone feels maybe they've got a bad reputation in one area of their life or another, or maybe [have been] unfairly accused - or just a misconception of who you are, and people throw that label at you," Jett told RS in a 2022 interview.
"I always wore it as a badge of honor, because what people were saying to me was I had a bad reputation because I played an electric guitar and I had black hair and a leather jacket, and maybe I swore," she continued. "So I turned around the meaning of it, and I'm proud of my bad reputation, if that's what it is - making people uncomfortable because you're not used to seeing women do this or that."
Jett went on to point out that women who aren't in the music business have to deal with the same "hard glass ceiling."
"It's every walk of life," she said. "When I speak to women and girls pursuing their dreams...it's still there. But we have good PR, so we feel like we've come farther than we really have."
Decades later, "Bad Reputation" is more than just a hit song - it's become a huge part of pop culture. In addition to appearing in movies like Shrek and 10 Things I Hate About You, "Bad Reputation" was the theme song for Freaks and Geeks. And it's still relevant to pioneering women everywhere...just ask Taylor Swift, who used "Bad Reputation" as the entrance music for her 2018 tour.
Related: 1977 Classic Voted 'Greatest Song Sung by Female Rockers'
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This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 11:20 PM.