Jawbox - Live At Metro Chicago 2019

Six years after I Love Rock 'n' Roll made her a household name, Joan Jett was written off by radio and stuck in a commercial slump. Up Your Alley, released in May 1988, ended that conversation permanently. It climbed to number 19 on the Billboard 200, went platinum, and proved the Blackhearts could go toe to toe with the biggest hard rock acts of the late eighties without borrowing an ounce of their hairspray.

"I Hate Myself for Loving You" is the engine. Co-written with Desmond Child and built on a riff that has outlived nearly everything else from 1988, it hit number 8 on the Hot 100 and earned the band a Grammy nomination. Former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor turns up to play the solo. "Little Liar" followed it into the top 20, while "Ridin' with James Dean" and a hungry cover of Chuck Berry's "Tulane" keep the record moving, and a lurching six-minute run at the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" reminds you exactly which side of the tracks Jett came from. Kenny Laguna and Ric Browde produced most of it, with Bob Ludwig mastering, and the whole thing lands hard and clean.

Nearly forty years on, it stands as Jett's second great statement and the sound of a punk lifer beating arena rock at its own game on her own label.

This Record Store Day 2023 edition presses the album on lemonade yellow vinyl, limited to 2,200 copies worldwide and long out of print. A scarce color variant of a platinum record that still gets played loud.

Used copy: VG+