Sold Date: March 13, 2021
Start Date: March 6, 2021
Final Price: $81.00 (USD)
Bid Count: 24
Seller Feedback: 2376
Buyer Feedback: 0

Great LP for your vintage vinyl collection



The Runaways The Runaways
Original 1976 USA Pressing Gatefold Jacket
Mercury Records SRM-1-1090
Vinyl:   VG+ to NM- Sleeve:  G+ to VG (Has cut-out drill / tear where original price tag was - see photos)





Super Cool and Super Rare
Good luck on your bidding!




Shipping Notes:     A.  Shipping is currently quoted out at $5.00 - which is for USPS Domestic Media mail.

B. And, of course, more than happy to combine shipping on multiple auction wins in order to save you $$$ on total Shipping.
The Runaways:

Often dismissed during their existence as a crass marketing gimmick,  have grown in stature over the years as the first all-female band to make a substantial impression on the public by playing loud, straight-up, guitar-driven rock & roll. Since all of the members were teenagers (some of whom were still learning to play their instruments when they passed their auditions), the band's music was frequently raw and amateurish, but it neatly combined American heavy metal with the newly emerging sound of punk rock. In the media,  were victims of their own hype, supplied by maverick promoter/manager . 's insistence on a sleazy jailbait image for the group made it easy for the press to dismiss them as nothing but a tasteless adolescent fantasy -- an impression bolstered at the time by the admittedly erratic quality of their music. But in the end, ' sound and attitude proved crucially important in paving the way for female artists to crank up the volume on their guitars and rock as hard as the boys; plus, they produced one undeniably classic single in the rebel-girl manifesto "Cherry Bomb."

The genesis of  can be traced to a 1975  party, where  met teenage lyricist .  was impressed with 's streetwise perspective and set about putting together a female band. 's friend, guitarist  (born ), had been forming a band of her own with drummer  (born ), and  quickly had a trio on his hands. However, it soon became apparent that  was not much of a singer, and she was replaced by vocalist  (born ), who also began learning the bass. As a trio, this lineup recorded a demo titled Born to Be Bad in late 1975; shortly thereafter, guitarist  successfully auditioned through a trade-paper ad, and  left the group (she would later join ).  became the new lead vocalist, and after an extremely brief stint with a bass player known only as  (which lasted just a few weeks), the band settled on  (born ), who switched to bass from guitar in order to join the band.

Thus constituted as an entirely teenaged quintet, it didn't take long for  to score a record deal; 's stage wardrobe (lingerie) and 's well-established contacts made sure of that. After signing with Mercury in February 1976, the band began recording their self-titled debut album, which was released just a few months later. However, it was not greeted well.  was preceded by his reputation for overhyping gimmicky acts, and the sheer number of roles he played in guiding ' career made him appear a manipulative, Svengali-like figure. Moreover, regardless of whether or not  were simply a cheap exploitation act (an endlessly debatable question), the entire concept of the band -- teenage girls playing their own instruments and singing frankly and enthusiastically about sex, booze, and life on the streets -- was simply too discomforting for much of America. 's extensive involvement (some called it near-total control) made it easy for journalists and radio programmers to dismiss the group out of hand as a male-concocted sham; it was also a convenient way to ignore the myriad cultural buttons  were pushing.

Despite a wave of publicity on 's part,  just barely scraped the bottom of the charts in the early fall of 1976, around the same time the band played their first gig at the legendary New York punk club CBGB's. The second  album, , was released in early 1977 and fared little better on the charts than its predecessor, thanks to radio's continued reluctance to program the group's music. However, when  mounted a tour of Japan in June of that year, they were greeted with sold-out arena gigs and rabidly enthusiastic audiences who didn't consider them a joke ("Cherry Bomb" had, in fact, topped the Japanese charts). A concert record, , was culled from the tour, but wasn't released in the U.S.

Despite this taste of success, relationships between some of the group members had begun to fray, thanks partly to substance abuse problems and partly to unconcerned negligence on the management's part. Upon their return to Los Angeles in July 1977,  departed the group; a story circulated that she had attempted suicide on the Japanese tour, though it was later discredited. Before the year was out,  too had left, spurred in part by consistent disagreements with .  took over as lead vocalist, and new bassist  was hired for the group's third album.  was released at the end of the year, and failed to even hit the U.S. charts. By this point,  had lost interest in the band, and quit as manager early the next year. 's unofficial leadership role within the group became more serious, but unfortunately, musical differences were beginning to arise ('s punk and glam rock influences clashed with  and 's love of straight-up hard rock and heavy metal). One more album, , appeared toward the end of 1978, but it was released only in the group's core markets of Europe and Japan (it later appeared in America with a different running order under the title ).  quit the band after their New Year's gig and was replaced by , but to no avail;  left the group in April 1979, and  officially disbanded not long after.

 released a solo album in 1978 titled , and then teamed up with her twin sister  for 1980's .  went to law school and became an attorney. Meanwhile,  and  formed a short-lived outfit of their own, after which  went solo and scored several hits as a pop-metal artist during the '80s. An even better indicator that there was more to ' music than met the eye was the success of 's solo career.  formed her own band and record label, landed an enormous number one smash with 1982's "I Love Rock n' Roll," and continued to produce albums of tough hard rock into the 21st century. The heavily feminist riot grrrl punk movement claimed  as a major inspiration, prompting a re-examination of ' output divorced from 's marketing tactics. Rumors of a full-band reunion surfaced periodically but never resulted in an actual gig, although the release of a summertime biopic in 2010 -- one that starred Kristen Stewart as  and Dakota Fanning as  -- helped rejuvenate interest in the band.