The Runaways “Queens of Noise” 1977. Kicking it back 40 years for today March 8th, International Women’s Day, by spinning the hard rocking, female bad-assery music of The Runaways. Queens of Noise is their second studio album, full of heavy rockers, power chords and riffs. It charted at #172 on the Billboard album chart with one single, “Heartbeat,” (#110). With the exception of the lead track, “Queens of Noise,” all of the tracks were written by various combinations of Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, Sandy West, Lita Ford and Jackie Fox. Because of increasing tensions with their manager and producer, Kim Fowley, the band took over much of the production work for Queens of Noise, emphasizing bigger volume and more sophistication in the mix. My favorite tracks are the big ass-kickers: “Take It or Leave It,” “Neon Angels on the Road to Ruin,” and “I Love Playin’ With Fire.” I’ve never been a big fan of hair metal power ballads so tracks like “Midnight Music” make me cringe, a little. The final track, “Johnny Guitar” is really long, clocking in at over 7 minutes. Joan Jett called it a chance for “Lita to show off her lead guitar work,” while Jackie Fox described it as “without question the single worst song the Runaways ever did.” It’s really not that bad; Ford’s guitar work is truly impressive.