Runaways 1976 ALAO YOKOGI

Weekly Playboy (Japanese magazine)1976

1976年、女性ロックバンドの草分けとして知られるランナウェイズが来日した。アメリカではティーン向けの話題性ばかりが強調され、音楽的評価は決して高くなかったが、日本では事情が違った。彼女たちは「女性が本気でロックをやる」存在として受け止められ、アメリカ以上に正面から音楽として聴かれていた。結果として、ランナウェイズは日本で特異な支持を得ることになる。

ボーカルはシェリー・カーリーだった。十代とは思えないほど完成度の高いステージングと、冷えた視線を伴う声質は、ロックにおける「若さ」や「反抗」を感情過多に表現するものではなく、どこか突き放した温度を持っていた。

スタジオ撮影にあたり、僕はポートレートではなく、ライブを写真に封じ込めることを意識した。強力なオーディオを持ち込み、彼女たちの曲を大音量で流しながら撮影した。演出では作れない瞬間を撮るためだった。ロックバンドを撮る、という判断だった。

ランナウェイズ解散後、ギタリストだったジョーン・ジェットはソロとして再出発し、「I Love Rock ’n’ Roll」で世界的な成功を収める。彼女は時代を超えてロック・アイコンとなり、その過程でランナウェイズ時代も再評価されていく。やがて、バンドの結成から崩壊までを描いた映画『The Runaways』が制作され、シェリー・カーリーとジョーン・ジェットの関係性、若さゆえの衝突や断絶が物語として可視化された。

The Runaways - Cherry Bomb

In 1976, The Runaways—known as pioneers of all-female rock bands—came to Japan. In the United States, they were largely framed as a teenage novelty, and their musical value was not highly regarded. Japan was different. Here, they were received as a band of women seriously playing rock, and their music was listened to head-on, more earnestly than in their home country. As a result, The Runaways gained a distinctive level of support in Japan.

The vocalist was Cherie Currie. Her stage presence was remarkably complete for someone still in her teens, and her voice—paired with a cold, steady gaze—did not exaggerate the usual notions of youth or rebellion in rock. Instead, it carried a detached temperature, slightly removed, and that distance defined her presence.

For the studio shoot, I was not interested in making portraits. I wanted to trap a live performance inside still photographs. I brought in a powerful sound system and played their music at full volume during the shoot. It was the only way to capture moments that could not be manufactured. I decided to photograph them simply as a rock band.

After the breakup of The Runaways, guitarist Joan Jett relaunched her career as a solo artist and achieved global success with “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll.” She became a rock icon that transcended generations, and in the process, her time with The Runaways was re-evaluated. Eventually, the film The Runaways was made, portraying the band’s formation and collapse, and visualizing the relationship between Cherie Currie and Joan Jett—the conflicts and ruptures born of youth.

Their 1976 visit to Japan came at a moment when none of this had yet solidified. It was neither legend nor nostalgia. The Runaways were there as a band in motion, unfinished and unresolved. The intensity of their reception in Japan shows that they were not merely consumed, but recognized as a phenomenon. Being able to record that moment in photographs has preserved a separate timeline—one that exists apart from later evaluations and narratives.

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts (Official Video)