DISGRACELAND Podcast Summary

Episode: The Runaways: Exploited by the Music Industry, Escape, and Excellent Rock ‘N’ Roll
Host: Jake Brennan (Double Elvis Productions)
Date: January 20, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the raw, harrowing, and ultimately transformational story of The Runaways—five teenage girls who exploded onto the rock scene in the 1970s, only to be chewed up and exploited by the very industry they were trying to conquer. Host Jake Brennan examines not only their musical achievements but also the predatory forces that shaped—and haunted—their careers, exploring themes of rebellion, exploitation, escape, trauma, and ultimately, self-invention.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rebellion, Escape, and Identity Creation

• The episode sets the stage with the story of Keri/Kari/Kari Chrome (Carrie Krause), who runs away from a troubled home life in Long Beach to Hollywood, seeking transformation inspired by icons like David Bowie.
• Rodney’s English Disco and Hollywood’s 1970s glam scene emerges as a haven for misfits and gender-bending outsiders.
• Theme: The power—and price—of becoming “someone new,” of using rock and roll as both weapon and armor.

2. The Runaways Come Together: Talent Meets Predation

• Chrome writes songs and is discovered by Kim Fowley, a seasoned but deeply problematic producer (02:40).
• Fowley’s vision for an all-girl, underage band channels the era’s transgressive (and exploitative) energy, constructing The Runaways with Cherie Currie (vocals), Joan Jett (guitar), Lita Ford (guitar), Jackie Fox (bass), and Sandy West (drums).
• Fowley spotlights their youth and sexualizes the group as a marketing ploy, which becomes a form of both empowerment and entrapment.
• Contextualization: Jake Brennan reminds listeners of the broader, permissive, and predatory culture in the 1970s rock ecosystem—"Kim Fowley wasn't the only one being a total creep" (08:56).

3. Exploitation and Abuse

• The episode reveals in painful detail acts of sexual abuse and manipulation by Kim Fowley—against both Keri Chrome, Jackie Fox, and others (11:00).
• Quotations from contemporary reporting and later memoirs highlight both industry complicity and individual trauma:
  • Quote: "In her memoir, Cherie Currie writes that Kim Fowley once had sex with a visibly intoxicated adult woman in front of the entire band so that they could learn, in his words, 'the right way to'" (11:00).
  • Jackie Fox later alleged that Fowley drugged and raped her in front of a crowd after the band’s debut show.
• The episode charts the personal toll: Chrome’s spiraling into addiction and homelessness, Jackie’s repression and trauma, and Currie’s and Jett’s efforts to claim agency within a toxic system.

4. The Cost of Notoriety: Drugs, Jail, and Public Pressure

• Anecdotes include the Runaways’ misadventures on a 1976 European tour, from collecting hotel keys at Robert Plant’s suggestion—which lands them in jail (15:25), to smuggling cocaine and facing near-arrest for drug possession (17:10).
• Currie’s secret pregnancy—resulting from her relationship with their manager and culminating in an abortion—underscores the precarity and vulnerability of these girls (19:47).
• Brennan does not shy away from recounting the unrelenting misogyny the Runaways faced: heckling, abuse, and violence from male fans and critics alike—“bitches, dykes and cunts every day just for being women who dared being in a band with zero swinging dicks among them” (23:46).

5. Breaking Points and Aftermath

• Band relationships deteriorate under pressure, abuse, and the relentless machine of rock commerce.
• Jackie Fox’s mental health crisis in Japan (26:40): after the breaking of her bass, she self-harms, her anguish spilling out physically.
  • Quote: “She dragged the piece of glass in a straight, a jagged line across 4 inches of her arm. More blood. The pain on the outside. Finally a match for the pain on the inside.” (27:54)
• Sandy West’s post-Runaways life: addiction, working construction, collecting drug debts, finding “stability” only in jail, and dying young at 47 (30:24).
• Persistent legal and personal fallout: Fox’s public rape allegations (2015), Chrome’s 2023 lawsuit, and continued exposure of the system that protected predators.

6. The Runaways’ Lasting Impact

• Despite (and because of) trauma and exploitation, the Runaways become symbols of autonomy and self-creation.
• Brennan frames their legacy as one of possibility—the power to “turn yourself into the thing the world told you you could never be.”
  • Quote: “The Runaways didn’t just kick open a door, they obliterated the idea that the door ever existed. That is rock and roll. And rock and roll is no disgrace.” (35:16)
• The connection to Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust as myth-making liberator runs throughout, positioning the Runaways as avatars for “every girl who…later saw Joan Jett sing Bad Reputation in heavy rotation on MTV.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “[This] is a story about transformation. About what happens when you don’t just play rock and roll—you use it to become someone new, someone louder than, someone impossible to ignore.” – Jake Brennan (01:10)
• “‘He said she had real talent and, with his guidance, she could be somebody—somebody else.’” – On Kim Fowley’s pitch to Keri Chrome (03:35)
• “[They] were jailbait…avatars of teenage rebellion and juvenile delinquency.” – Jake Brennan (07:58)
• “Suddenly I am overcome with the urge to jack off against the stage... just so I could touch the platform boots of these 16-year-old girls.” – Quoting journalist Charles M. Young’s contemporary take (09:19)
• “Kim Fowley wasn’t the only one…being a total creep. This was the same time that Jimmy Page and David Bowie and so many other powerful musicians were sleeping with underage girls.” (08:56)
• “She was in a foreign country and she was only 16. The placidils were wearing off, and now panic, dread, and sickness…began to consume her.” – On Cherie Currie’s fear in lockup (18:47)
• “The pain on the outside. Finally a match for the pain on the inside.” – On Jackie Fox’s self-harm (27:54)
• “Every girl who heard the Runaways play Cherry Bomb... wasn’t just inspired to form a band. They were inspired to become whoever the hell they wanted to be.” (35:01)

Important Segments & Timestamps

• Opening Theme and Context (01:10) – Rebellion, escape, and the cost of transformation.
• Carrie Chrome’s Backstory (02:30–05:15) – Hollywood dreams and first encounters.
• Runaways’ Formation & Fowley’s Manipulation (07:58–09:45) – The manufactured myth and reality.
• Sexual Assault & Industry Complicity (10:51–12:30) – Accounts of rape and exploitation.
• Runaways’ First European Tour: Jail and Drugs (15:20–19:47) – Prison in Dover and drug smuggling.
• Public Backlash & Pregnant Currie (23:46–24:45) – Misogyny, trauma, abortion.
• Jackie Fox’s Crisis in Japan (26:40–29:03) – The bass, the breakdown, the aftermath.
• Sandy West’s Downward Spiral (30:24–32:40) – Addiction, crime, and an early death.
• Legacies and Lawsuits (33:37–34:38) – Coming forward, suing Fowley’s estate.
• Final Reflection: The Myth of the Runaways (35:16–35:40) – Transforming themselves and rock history.

Tone & Language

• Candid, dramatic, and unflinching—both reverent and critical.
• Mixes narrative drama with gritty realism, laced with dark humor and a sense of justice.
• Jake Brennan maintains his signature style: punchy, evocative, confronting the darkness head-on while championing artistic resilience.

Overall Takeaway

The Runaways’ saga is a microcosm of the peril and possibility at the heart of rock and roll. Their story is as much about autonomy and self-invention as it is about exploitation and trauma. Through both myth and music, they obliterated boundaries—not just for themselves, but for every listener who needed a way out.

For more information, sources, and full episode credits, visit disgracelandpod.com.