When the group split from Fowley, they also parted with their record label Mercury/ PolyGram, to which their deal was tied. The group quickly hired Toby Mamis, who worked for Blondie and Suzi Quatro. The band released their fourth album, Waitin' for the Night, and started a world tour in support of the Ramones.ĭue to disagreements over money and the management of the band, the Runaways and Kim Fowley parted ways in 1977. Jett, who had previously shared vocals with Currie, took over lead vocals full-time. Currie then left the group after a blow-up with Ford in the fall of 1977. Jett took over bass duties until the group returned home and recruited Vicki Blue. Many years later, she told the Telegraph her relationship with the band deteriorated after Kim Fowley raped her in front of a roomful of people. While in Japan, Fox left the band shortly before the group was scheduled to appear at the 1977 Tokyo Music Festival.
While in Japan, the Runaways had a TV special, did numerous television appearances, and released the album Live in Japan, which went gold. Jett later described the mass hysteria as "like Beatlemania". They were unprepared for the onslaught of fans that greeted them at the airport. In the summer of 1977, booking agent David Libert secured dates in Japan, where they played a string of sold-out shows. The band (already fixtures on the West Coast punk scene) formed alliances with mostly male punk bands such as the Ramones and the Dead Boys (via New York City's CBGB) as well as the British punk scene by hanging out with the likes of the Damned, Generation X and the Sex Pistols. The Runaways quickly became lumped in with the growing punk rock movement. Their second album, Queens of Noise, was released in 1977 and the band performed a world tour in support of the album. For their stage performance, the documentary Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways (directed by former Runaway bassist Vicki Blue) revealed each girl patterned herself after their musical idol: Currie on David Bowie, Jett on Suzi Quatro, Ford on a cross between Jeff Beck and Ritchie Blackmore, West on Roger Taylor, and Fox on Gene Simmons. in support of headlining groups such as Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Talking Heads, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The Runaways were signed to Mercury Records in 1976 and their debut album, The Runaways, was released shortly afterward. Lead singer Cherie Currie was recruited in a local teen nightclub called the Sugar Shack, followed by Jackie Fox on bass. Steele was soon fired from the group, replaced by bassist Peggy Foster, who left after just one month. They soon added lead guitarist Lita Ford and Jett switched to rhythm guitar. Starting as a power trio with singer/bassist Micki Steele, the Runaways began playing the party and club circuit around Los Angeles. Two decades later he said, "I didn't put the Runaways together, I had an idea, they had ideas, we all met, there was combustion and out of five different versions of that group came the five girls who were the ones that people liked." Fowley then helped the girls find other members. The Runaways were formed in August 1975 by drummer Sandy West and guitarist Joan Jett after they had separately introduced themselves to producer Kim Fowley, who gave Jett's phone number to West.