Here’s an intriguing collaborative track that I should’ve seen coming: Kathleen Hanna, the great riot grrrl frontwoman, Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz, her husband/member of a certain rap trio du jour, and Peaches have teamed up for a cut off a forthcoming tribute to the Runaways. In addition to tracks performed by the Dandy Warhols and 34 other artists, Hanna & Co. recorded a cover of the ’70s all-girl rock band’s “Dead End Justice” on Main Man Records’ double-disc covers LP Take It or Leave It – A Tribute to the Queens of Noise: The Runaways.
As for why this promising cut doesn’t come completely out of the blue, last March, Hanna posted a raving review of director Floria Sigismondi’s Runaways biopic’s Joan Jett-portraying star:
Kristen Stewart seriously deserves an academy award for her performance as Joan Jett. Not to brag, but I know Joan and was really worried she would be portrayed as a boring tomboy in the sick new tradition of “girls kick ass” flicks, but she wasn’t. Stewart portrayed her as a sexy, complicated punk who, quite simply was born to be onstage.
Ad-Rock, the track’s producer, teamed up with the Bikini Kill/Julie Ruin icon for a live cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” a few months later, so, apparently, this inevitably epic studio pairing even has a live precedence. You can pre-order the 36-track set, which arrives on June 28 with all proceeds going to the American Cancer Society in honor of late Runaways drummer Sandy West, here.