A Tribute To The Rock and Roll Stars....

"I Love Rock 'n Roll" is a rock song written in 1975 by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of The Arrows, who recorded the first released version. The song was later made famous by the hit version recorded by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts in 1981.

The song was originally recorded and released by the Arrows in 1975 on RAK Records, with lead vocals by Alan Merrill and produced by Mickie Most. In an interview with Songfacts, Merrill said he wrote it as "a knee-jerk response to The Rolling Stones' It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It).'"[1] This version was first released as a B-side, but was soon re-recorded and flipped to A-side status on a subsequent pressing of the record. Although not a chart hit in its original version as a result of non-existent promotion by the band's label, the song has come to worldwide prominence due to very successful cover versions that have been recorded.

Joan Jett saw the Arrows perform "I Love Rock 'n Roll" on their weekly television series The Arrows Show when she was touring England with The Runaways in 1976. She first recorded the song in 1979 with two of the Sex Pistols: Steve Jones and Paul Cook. This first version was not released until 1993 in Flashback. In 1981, Jett re-recorded the song, this time with her band, The Blackhearts. Early copies of the album, which was released just before Christmas 1981, featured the Christmas song "Little Drummer Boy" but, since it made little sense to have such a song on an album outside the holiday period, it was quickly replaced with "Oh Woe is Me". This recording became a U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one single for seven weeks,[2] effectively launching Jett's solo career. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing two million records shipped. This success propelled Jett's I Love Rock 'n Roll album to number two on the Billboard 200.

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" is the fourth European single released internationally by pop singer Britney Spears from the album Britney during the second quarter of 2002, except in the USA. The song was used in her 2002 movie Crossroads. Spears's character, Lucy, performs it in a karaoke bar. Spears said of the song, "They asked me to sing karaoke in the movie Crossroads and I've actually sung I Love Rock 'n' Roll in a lot of clubs that I've been to."[6]

Spears has publicly admitted the original song to be one of her favorites. Spears listened to The Arrows' original Mickie Most-produced version just before she recorded the song, according to her Jive A&R man Steve Lunt. When promoting the single's release she infamously attributed the hit version of the song to Pat Benatar instead of Jett, although she claims this was a remark made in sarcasm rather than a mistake.