''The Runaways'' is the debut studio album by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

the Runaways The Runaways were an all-female American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. The band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. Among their best-known songs are "Cherry Bomb", " Hollywood", "Queens of N ...

. It was released on June 1, 1976, by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

has praised the album (especially band members

Cherie Currie Cherie Ann Currie (born November 30, 1959) is an American singer, musician, actress and artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a rock band from Los Angeles, in the mid-to-late 1970s. After The Runaways, she became a solo artist. ...

Joan Jett Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin, September 22, 1958) is an American singer, guitarist, record producer, and actress. Jett is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and for earlier founding and per ...

and

Lita Ford Lita Rossana Ford (born 19 September 1958) is an English-born American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the lead guitarist for the all-female rock band the Runaways in the late 1970s, before embarking on a successful glam metal solo ...

), comparing the band's music to material by

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

and

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

. According to multiple sources, including Cherie Currie (in her memoir ''Neon Angel''), the liner notes of the 2003

Cherry Red Records Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as well ...

reissue of ''The Runaways'', and

Jackie Fox Jacqueline Louise Fuchs (born December 20, 1959) is an American attorney and former musician. Under her stage name Jackie Fox, she played bass guitar for the pioneering all-girl teenage rock band The Runaways. She is the sister of screenwrit ...

herself, bassist

Nigel Harrison Nigel Harrison (born 24 April 1951) is an English musician. Harrison spent several years as the bassist of the American rock band Blondie during the 1970s and 1980s. Life & career Harrison grew up in Princes Risborough, a small town in the C ...

played bass on the album, due to manager

Kim Fowley Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was the American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...

refusing to let Fox play on the record. The documentary film '' Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways'' states that the album's first track "

Cherry Bomb A cherry bomb (also known as a globe salute or kraft salute) is an approximately spherical exploding firework, roughly resembling a cherry in size and shape (with the fuse resembling the cherry's stem). Cherry bombs range in size from in diamet ...

" was written ad hoc during the audition of lead singer Cherie Currie and the title is a play on the pronunciation of Currie's first name. Currie was told to prepare a

Suzi Quatro Susan Kay Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, and actress. In the 1970s, she scored a string of hit singles that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, reaching No. 1 in th ...

song for the audition; she picked "

Fever Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a body temperature, temperature above the human body temperature, normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, set point. There is not a single ...

", a song the band did not know how to play. Instead, Jett and Fowley came up with the song and had Currie sing it for her audition. In January 2009, "Cherry Bomb" was ranked 52nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs list. A cover of "Cherry Bomb" is featured in the

music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

'' as a downloadable single track. The song also featured in the films '' Dazed and Confused'', '' RV'', '' Cherrybomb'', ''

The Runaways The Runaways were an all-female American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. The band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. Among their best-known songs are "Cherry Bomb", " Hollywood", "Queens of N ...

'', and ''

Guardians of the Galaxy The Guardians of the Galaxy is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It may more specifically refer to: Comic book teams * Guardians of the Galaxy (1969 team), the original 31st-century team fr ...

'', and is played in the opening scene of

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American comedian, actress, LGBT social activist, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and se ...

's stand-up comedy DVD " I'm the One That I Want". "You Drive Me Wild" is featured in the 2010 film about the band. Actress

Dakota Fanning Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994) is an American actress. She rose to prominence at the age of seven for her performance as Lucy Dawson in the drama film ''I Am Sam'' (2001), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomina ...

covers "Cherry Bomb" as well as "Dead End Justice" with

Kristen Stewart Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2012, she has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a César Award, in addition to nominations for an Acad ...

, as they portray

and

, respectively.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''The Runaways''. The Runaways *

– arrangements *

– lead vocals, piano *

– rhythm guitar, lead vocals *

– lead guitar *

Sandy West Sandy West (July 10, 1959 – October 21, 2006) was an American singer, drummer and songwriter. She was one of the founding members of the Runaways, the first teenage all-girl hard rock band to record and achieve widespread commercial success ...

– drums, vocals *

– bass, vocals (only credited, did not perform on the album) Additional musicians * Scott Anderson – arrangements *

– arrangements *

Rodney Bingenheimer Rodney Bingenheimer (born December 15, 1946) is an American radio disc jockey who is best known as the host of ''Rodney on the ROQ'', a radio program that ran on the Los Angeles rock station KROQ from 1976 to 2017. In the early 1970s, he also ma ...

– orchestration *

– bass (uncredited) Technical * Kim Fowley – production, direction * Andy Morris – sound * Scott Anderson – production coordination * Gilbert Kong – mastering * Bill Jimmerson – recording * Lawrence W. Wendelken – recording Artwork * Tom Gold – photography * Desmond Strobel – design

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Runaways 1976 debut albums Albums produced by Kim Fowley Mercury Records albums The Runaways albums