Episode #261 | 1.20.26
The Runaways: Exploited by the Music Industry, Escape, and Excellent Rock ‘N’ Roll
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In this episode
This is the story of five teenage girls who used rock ‘n roll to escape their lives, their names, and their futures—only to find themselves trapped in a nightmare of fame, exploitation, and identity turned inside-out. From the Sunset Strip to a jail cell in England, from David Bowie fantasies to Kim Fowley’s real-life horrors, this is how the Runaways reinvented what rebellion could be—and paid the ultimate price in the process.
Sources
Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway, by Cherie Currie with Tony O’Neill
Edgeplay: A Film about the Runaways (2004, dir. Victory Tischler-Blue)
Jackie Fox Of The Runaways: Manager Kim Fowley Raped Me (Huffington Post)
The Runaways: Wild Thing (LA Weekly)
The Infamous CrawDaddy Article (Runaways Message Board)
"It's Such A Greek Tragedy": LA Weekly Tracks The Sad Decline Of Runaways Drummer Sandy West (Village Voice)
Kari Krome: The Spark that Set Off the Cherry Bomb (New Historia)
Rodney Bingenheimer and the law (LA Weekly)
Episode 953: Joan Jett (WTF with Marc Maron)
Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal, by Greg Renoff
Worshipped as a god, Joan Jett just likes seeing fans smile (Ear of Newt)
Credits
Hosted by Jake Brennan.
Written by Zeth Lundy.
Copyedited by James Sullivan.
Mixed by Sean Cahalin.
DISGRACELAND theme song, “Crenshaw Space Boogie,” written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava, and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak