Joan Jett Navigates the 'Boys Club' of Rock and Roll in Bad Reputation Documentary

The forthcoming Joan Jett documentary takes you back to a time when women were such a bizarre sight in rock that they were looked at, she says, as “aliens.” First as a member of the controversial but groundbreaking all-women band the Runaways, and then as a solo artist into the 1980s, Jett had a life and career that often went beyond alienation from the “boys club” and into more violent territory. She explains in the trailer that she’s been hit with beer bottles and batteries at shows and in 2015 Runaways member Jackie Fox told press that the band’s creepy manager Kim Fowley had raped her in front of the band and others at a party. “I’m lucky I’m still here,” Jett says in the trailer.

Directed by Kevin Kerslake (who directed music videos for Prince, Sonic Youth, and Depeche Mode, to name a few), the documentary includes interviews with some of Jett’s contemporaries and predecessors like Billie Joe Armstrong, Blondie, Kathleen Hannah, and more. Bad Reputation hits theaters September 28.