2000 Great Songs #1197: You Don't Know What You've Got

My immense love for Joan Jett doesn't really come across on this list, largely because she has buckets of really good songs but not necessarily a lot of clearly essential ones (and a lot of my favorite Jett tracks are covers). Still, there are plenty of great JJ originals, and "You Don't Know What You Want" has always been a personal favorite. It appeared on her eponymous 1980 debut (renamed Bad Reputation when reissued in 1981), and while the previously-noted title track was a blast of punk-flavored fury, this one is pure bubblegum pop--and I'm a sucker for pure bubblegum pop.

Like "Bad Reputation," this one's co-written by Jett and her songwriter-producers, a couple of ringers working squarely in their sweet-spot: Ritchie Cordell had written a few hit singles for Tommy James & The Shondells, while Jett's longstanding producer and musical partner Kenny Laguna had written or played on countless 60s bubblegum pop singles. Given that lineage, it's not surprising that this sounds like a cover of a great lost Josie & The Pussycats number, energized by Joan's inimitable edge. There's a lot less of her proto-punk Runaways hard rock/glam here than in most of her catalog, but it's sweet and cute and undeniably fun.

Live on tv:

And again:

Jawbreaker cover: