Joan Jett on why she doesn’t believe artists should ‘shut up and sing’

Joan Jett is a guest on the latest episode of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Music Makes Us podcast, where she opened up about musicians not being afraid to speak out when they see injustices in the world.

Asked by host Kathleen Hanna whether music can still make a difference with how people respond to the world, Jett pointed to Bad Bunny and his Super Bowl halftime show.

“Even if he’s not saying something specifically with his lyrics, he’s using this huge platform that he’s been given to discuss issues that are really important to Americans, and to more and more Americans as they’re realizing what’s happening,” she said.

Jett noted that she and the Blackhearts recently got back from doing shows in New Zealand, where people were asking them about what was going on in the U.S. She said she feels that as someone with a platform she needs to be able to address it.

“I’m not saying you have to go all in the way you would if you were sitting down having a face-to-face conversation. You can’t, you can’t utilize your time like that,” she said. “But I think you can certainly have a few well thought out sentences to let people know … what’s going on and whatever it is you wanna say.”

She added, “But saying ‘shut up and sing’ has never really been what musicians or artists do, from way on back.”

“When people talk to me about other songs, you know, that touched them, whether it was really bad times the music got them through or really good times, it shows that the music really connects and fills an important space, if you allow it, in people’s capacity to deal with all this stuff that we’re dealing with,” she said.

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