That is such a good question and I'd like to know that myself. As a variety show fanatic as a kid I knew most of these people. But I never heard of Joan Jett until she made that movie with Michael J. Fox in 87 and had to ask who she was. I figured it was because I didn't listen/know rock groups. Pretty sure I had never heard of Rod Stewart back then either.
Rod was pretty big in the 1970s and had been around since the 1960s in different bands like Small Faces. But the Runaways were more an underground rock group, with some punk rock mixed in. Their music wasn't really "underground" in sound, kinda like KISS & Foghat sort of rock. They were mainly known as being a band of teenaged girls that played instruments, rather than a singing "girl group". They weren't the first all female band, they were maybe the first who got any sort of popularity. Rock had a primarily male audience and so most did not take females doing it seriously. Joan Jett didn't become popular until the 1980s after The Runaways broke up. She had a few Top 40 hits, but overall was not that big on the radio. Other members also found some fame in the 1980s, like Michael Steele who was in The Bangles, and Lita Ford, who was kinda glam metal aka "hair metal". Hair metal was really popular during the mid to late 1980s.
. But a lot of people were like that for me with a few exceptions. The Runaways are sort of what they call a cult act, like when Peter Gabriel was the lead singer of Genesis instead of Phil Collins. The Phil led lineup was much more successful. The movie equivalent would be Rocky Horror Picture Show. They're known to a niche audience but less known by the mainstream. The Runaways had a biopic made a few years ago, but this is probably due to the later success of some members.^^you know your music.* I admit I wasn't familiar with Rod back then but then I had an aversion to anything I considered "hard rock". It seems like I just looked up and there he was.
Or I "discover" somebody now and find out they've been around for five decades.
I've been trying to research how they got on the show since they had just formed and apparently weren't big here but gigantic in Japan. I thought maybe an agent or manager had a connection to ABC. But I can't find anything.
*I'm always impressed with your posts.
That's basically Jann Wenner & Rolling Stone magazine. It's who they want to put in, not really based on anything else. Hard rock, progressive rock, punk rock, & heavy metal were never really the focus of Rolling Stone. It was more into blues based rock like The Rolling Stones, early Fleetwood Mac, The Who, & Eric Clapton. Most of the acts in the Hall are boomer era which is Wenner's generation.
