Joan Jett, ‘I Hate Myself for Loving You’ – Butch’s Way Back Wednesday

As a music fan there is always something new and great, but there really is something special about the songs you grew up listening to. For me, that was 70′s and 80′s classic rock. If I am in a shi**y mood, I throw in a little Zeppelin or Rush and take a trip back to rolling in my mom’s T-Bird. Now every Wednesday you get to take that trip with me. It’s Way Back Wednesday with Butch, and today’s feature is from a lady coming to visit us July 25th at Cheyenne Frontier Days… Joan Jett and "I Hate Myself for Loving You."

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts will open up for Kid Rock July 25th at Cheyenne Frontier Days. Tickets and details are available for that show here. 

"I Hate Myself for Loving You" was the first single from the 1988 album Up Your Alley. The song reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, Jett's third single to reach the Top 10, but her first since "Crimson and Clover" in 1982.

Jett came up with the guitar riff for this song and wrote it as "I Hate Myself Because I Can't Get Laid." She took it to the writer/producer Desmond Child, who thought the title would never fly and convinced Joan to change it to something with "Love" in the title. Child, who got a co-writing credit on the song, knows something about the hit potential of love: he also co-wrote "I Was Made For Lovin' You" for Kiss and "You Give Love A Bad Name" for Bon Jovi.

In Steven Tyler's 2011 book Does The Noise In My Head Bother You?, the Aerosmith frontman tells the story about showing up naked at Joan Jett's hotel room door while they were touring together. When she opened, he said, "I hate myself for loving you," and was soundly rejected.

Now take a trip back 26 years with us to 1988 here...