RUNAWAYS, THE – LIVE AT THE STARWOOD ’76

The Runaways were an all-female teenage American rock band that recorded and performed in the second half of the 1970’s.
The band released four studio albums and one live set during its run. Among their best-known songs are “Cherry Bomb”, “Hollywood”, “Queens of Noise” and a cover version of the Velvet Underground’s “Rock & Roll”.
Never a major success in the United States, the Runaways became a sensation overseas, especially in Japan, thanks to the hit single “Cherry Bomb”.

Tracklist
A1   Cherry Bomb
A2   Take It Or Leave It
A3   Secrets
A4   You Drive Me Wild
A5   Don’t Abuse Me
B1   Is It Day Or Night?
B2   C’mon Everybody
B3   Johnny Guitar
B4   Wild Thing

Members
Joan Jett – rhythm and lead guitar, lead and backing vocals (1975–1979); bass (1977, 1979)
Sandy West – drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals (1975–1979; died 2006)
Micki Steele – lead and backing vocals, bass (1975)
Lita Ford – lead and rhythm guitar, backing and lead vocals (1975–1979); bass (1975, 1977, 1979)
Peggy Foster – bass (1975)
Cherie Currie – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, tambourine, snare drum (1975–1977)
Jackie Fox – bass, backing vocals (1975–1977)
Vicki Blue – bass, backing vocals (1977–1978)
Laurie McAllister – bass (1978–1979; died 2011)

Discography (Studio albums)
The Runaways (1976)
Queens of Noise (1977)
Waitin’ for the Night (1977)
And Now… The Runaways (1978)

Live album
Live in Japan (1977)

New Runaways (1987)
In the early 1980’s, Gayle Welch, an ambitious 13-year-old girl from Kaitaia, New Zealand, wrote a song “Day of Age”, and recorded it in Mandrell Recording Studios in Auckland, New Zealand.
The resulting tape found its way to Fowley’s desk. He played the Welch tape for colleague and Los Angeles deejay legend Rodney Bingenheimer who played the song on his show on radio KROQ and included it on his annual compilation of his most-liked music for the year.
Also on that compilation was a song that featured Chicago-native guitarist Bill Millay. It did not take long before Fowley, who still owned the Runaways trademark, was putting together a new Runaways band built around Welch.
Missy Bonilla was recruited from the typing pool of CBS records, Denise Pryor came from Compton and Kathrine Dombrowski (“Kathy DiAmber”) was also added.
Welch was present only on tape and only on the first song on the CD, “I Want to Run With the Bad Boys”.
Millay played guitar, David Carr played keyboards and a drum machine rounded out the team. Glenn Holland, also from New Zealand, a friend of both Bingenheimer and Fowley, facilitated.
The album, Young and Fast was released in 1987, and was a minor hit.

Rodney Bingenheimer (born December 15, 1946) is an American radio disc jockey who was on the Los Angeles rock station KROQ.
He joined SiriusXM’s Little Steven’s Underground Garage on July 16, 2017. He is notable for helping numerous bands become successful in the American market.
His contribution to the music business has been described as important.
He developed a reputation for being the first American D.J. to identify new artists and play “edgy new bands” such as Blondie, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Van Halen, Guns N’ Roses, Duran Duran, The Cure, Joan Jett, The Hollywood Squares, Hole, Symbol Six, No Doubt, Blur, Nirvana,Sonic Youth, The Bangles, X, Germs and many others.
He once managed a L.A. nightclub called Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco in the early seventies.
He was the subject of a documentary by late filmmaker George Hickenlooper entitled Mayor of the Sunset Strip.
He was described as a “famous groupie, now respectable” by Mick Jagger, and the film documented Bingenheimer’s status as a person with numerous high-profile friends.
In 2007, he was honored with the 2,330th star on Hollywood Boulevard.