“Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett

"Bad Reputation" shares its name with Joan Jett's solo debut, a snotty punk-rock blast she co-wrote and has kept as one of her signature songs ever since.

Its video didn't arrive until 1982, once "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" had blown up. David Mallet directed it as a re-enactment of the 23 record labels that turned down Jett's first solo album and the chart-topping rise that followed, with Blackheart Records co-founder Kenny Laguna playing the Warner Bros. executive. The song gets a wink in that other video too, blaring out of the jukebox as it opens.

VH1 ranked it 29th among the greatest hard rock songs ever in 2009, the highest spot on the list for a song by a woman, and Rolling Stone slotted it at 249 on its 500 greatest songs in 2021.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.