The success of the song (it came in at number 29 on VH1's Top 100 hard rock songs of all time) not only shot Jett to the top of the charts, it also set her on the front lines of the mainstream gender debate. As Kennedy notes, she was labeled an "inadvertent feminist, but to fans, colleagues and eventually music insiders, Jett epitomized, embodied and set the standards for the 'rock 'n' roll girl.'"
It wasn't Jett's plan to be a gender pioneer. In fact, as she told People in 1982, she intentionally did not want her second band to be an all-girl affair. "It would have been sacrilegious to have another all-girl band," she said. By forcing the rock world to notice her on both her own terms and those of the industry, Jett claimed her place in the annals of music history. Although Rolling Stone would chide the album Bad Reputation for what it saw as technical shortcomings, it did recognize the deeper meaning behind Joan Jett's Bad Reputation: "Jett's first solo album is a determined retelling of what sometimes seems like the truest rock story there is."
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