The Real Story of The Runaways

There’s sort of nothing more awesome in the world than The Runaways going to Japan as mega-famous rock stars in 1977, when they were just some random teens, basically. How fun and hilarious!

And of course now comes the Runaways longreads which explains that actually of course none of it was any fun. And of course the band was constructed and managed by a nightmarish predator! How nightmarish?

In the June 1975 issue of Back Door Man, an influential L.A. ’zine, he spelled out his desires in a personal ad that included a cheesy photo of him in a white sport coat and white pants. It began, “If you are eighteen and like it or if you are under 18 and legally emancipated (with paper work) then you may have just stumbled upon the opportunity of a lifetime.”

NEAT. Which is to say that you should know what you’re getting into if you go to read that piece, which is very good, it’s like ten yikes on the gross scale.