In music, plenty of songs have found success after being covered by another artist. That was the case for “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll”, which was originally sung by the Arrows. It didn’t become a big hit until Joan Jett & The Blackhearts took it on years later. However, Alan Merrill, who wrote the song with Jake Hooker, ended up predicting its delayed success in an offbeat sort of way.
In an interview with SongFacts, Merrill explained that he thought of “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” as a “hit within a hit”. This had to do with the way the song’s chorus is structured.
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The song’s verses tell the story of a girl wooing a guy by the record machine. The chorus, though, at least as Merrill wrote it, was meant to be an actual jukebox hit that the characters in the song were listening to.
“…I was so sure ‘I Love Rock and Roll’ was gonna be a hit for the Arrows that I thought, Well, when we have a hit with it, it’s gonna be a hit within a hit,” the songwriter explained. “A fictional hit coming out of the chorus with the kids singing it as their favorite song in the verse of the song.”
In 1982, the song became a hit for Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. Ironically, through this, Merrill’s initial concept kind of came to life.
He continued, “So when it actually became a huge hit for Joan Jett, my Twilight Zone concept came true. And I don’t think too many people get that about the song, you know? They just like the melody, and it’s catchy. But it was actually a pretty clever stroke, one that I’m proud of.”
How Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” Came To Be
When Joan Jett first heard “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll”, the rocker envisioned it as a song that her all-girl rock group The Runaways would sing. However, the other members weren’t too keen on the song, so it never got recorded that way.
In 1979, Jett released a version that also included Paul Cook and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols. In 1980, she released her debut album, Bad Reputation, under her own record label. This decision followed after she was rejected by 23 record labels.
Then, in 1982, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts released “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” as a single. The song also appeared on the group’s first album, which was also titled I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll.
The song was a massive hit, topping charts internationally. To this day, it’s still the band’s only No. 1 hit.
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