There was another all-girl band that surfaced in Los Angeles just about the time that Fanny, the second all-girl band to capture national attention (after Goldie & The Gingerbreads) was dissolving. That band was the Runaways whose line-up included Joan Jett, Sandy West, Lita Ford and Cherie Currie.

The power punk band was signed by Mercury Records in 1976 and headlined shows with opening acts that read like a Who’s Who of rock and roll royalty – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Van Halen and Cheap Trick.

One of the top US rock and roll band exports to Japan, a 1977 summer tour produced, according to Jett, Beatlemania-scale hysteria. A grainy video of “I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are” from that tour clearly shows the band using the ubiquitous SM58.

The band’s last tour was in 1979, with some members going on to even greater success. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts continue to perform today. Even Shure’s involvement with The Runaways fast-forwarded into 2010 with the release of the Floria Sigismondi film “The Runaways” starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning. Numerous Shure microphones performed supporting roles.

The Runaways band site