The Runaways’ reunion had been like a distant dream for fans since members Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie have been involved in their own feuds. Currie and Ford had both accused Jett of sabotaging and getting in the way of a reunion over the years, though it seems that Ford almost managed to revive the band with a witty plan.
Cherie Currie told all about this plan in 2000 while chatting with Backfire magazine, recalling how Lita was determined to have the Runaways get together:
“Lita Ford approached us about two and a half years ago [around 1998] – had us all write letters to Joan, begging her. Lita staged this whole thing. Joan all of a sudden goes, ‘Okay, let’s do this.’ So we had like a million-dollar record deal right then.”
However, things didn’t go the way as Ford decided to sink her own plan:
“We were starting to think about the tour when we did a conference call between me and Sandy and Lita and Joan and Kenny Laguna [Joan’s musical partner]. Lita didn’t last three minutes on the phone. Joan had just flown in from Hong Kong; she was exhausted. And Joan talks like, [deadpan sounding] ‘Yeah…’ Joan’s very Zen.”
Cherie continued by telling how Lita was furious with Jett’s tone:
“And Lita gets so pissed off – she goes, ‘I want you to be doing f*ckin’ double backflips over this. I want you excited.’ And Joan said, ‘Hey, Lita, man, you know, chill out. I’m tired, I just got off a plane after fifteen hours…’ And Lita says, ‘Sorry – I can’t do this. I’m out.’ It was like, ‘Wait wait wait, Lita! Lita, wait.’ She goes, ‘No, sorry, f*ck all you guys, forget it,’ and she hangs up the phone.”
However, after that ‘messy’ breakup, Currie explained how the band was offered a good amount of money to tour for forty dates. Still, it seemed that Ford wasn’t interested in touring or getting together with the Runaways, as Cherrie said:
“We were offered a substantial amount of money to tour two months ago, 40 dates. Joan is totally into it, we’re all into it. And Lita freaks out again and says, ‘You know what? I don’t need the money. I’m moving into my two-million-dollar house in the Caribbean – have a nice life, everyone. Good-bye.’ And it was just like, ‘What the hell?'”
As the contract required four original members to tour together, the Runaways couldn’t make a comeback in 2000, for a forty-dated tour. One could say things haven’t gotten better since, as Cherrie herself had recently accused Jett of ‘sabotaging‘ her album, while Ford seemed determined not to make up with Joan.