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Article by Omid
Omid and Cherie |
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 Now, along with being a fan, I am also an avid collector of anything and everything that has to do with The Runaways. I know there are quite a few others like me out there, so as I mentioned a good part of this magazine is going to be dedicated to sharing what information and knowledge I’ve gathered on this area! For some people, all of this information and writing below will seem trivial, but to me it’s fascinating!! Of course the music on all the LPs and 45s and CDs is usually the EXACT same versions! Of course in many of the magazines you’ll find the EXACT same pictures over and over! For me though, the fun is in the hunt and finding new things, regardless of how different they are! It’s a hobby, an obsession of sorts, but a healthy one that has never hurt anyone- so why question it!
When I first got the itch to start collecting The Runaways, I had NO idea what I was getting into! I figured well here’s a band that has 5 official LPs and a few compilations out, how much could there really be on them? Well, it would be an understatement to say that there was MUCH more than I expected! Below is a general description of what I’ve found, what I know about being out there, and what is still a mystery to me!
Of course the first and easiest thing to always find is the vinyl. Not that it’s possible to go to chain stores in the mall and pick this stuff up anymore, but compared to the other materials, finding the vinyl is a breeze. In the LP department as mentioned above there are 5 official releases by the band: the 4 studio LPs (S/T, Queens, Waiting, and And Now..) and the “Live in Japan” LP. Along with that there’s a few compilations (“Best of”, “Flaming Schoolgirls” and “I Love Playing With Fire”), and a few more odd releases and bootlegs too.
 But of course EVERY LP was released in MANY different countries! How many? Well, let’s put it this way, every time I think I’ve seen, have, or know of them all- another one pops up! These records came out ALL over the world; I have found records from 18 different countries! These include: US, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, France, Austria, and probably more that again will come out of the woodwork later! And with every LP there’s usually a stock copy and a promo copy, plus a test pressing and acetate made! Starting to scare you yet? It does me….
And as far as inserts, forget it! There’s no rhyme or reason to what comes with what from where, and while the Japanese LPs are usually the ones which come with the most and most incredible inserts, any LP is fair game to possibly have a promo kit & photo or just about anything inside! So just collecting all the LPs alone could take a lifetime of work, but of course there’s the 45s!
There are also quite a few more 45s out there than one would have suspected! In the US there was only 2 single ever released on the Runaways, while in Japan they had no less than 8 different singles all with beautiful picture inserts! Their biggest hit was of course “Cherry Bomb” and there are about 20 different pressings of that single that I’ve found from 10 countries! Many of these singles (especially the European and Japanese ones) come in AMAZING picture sleeves! And as is the case with the LPs, there is almost always a promo and stock version for each release, along with test pressings and acetates! But again, this is only the beginning, the vinyl is the ‘easy’ part….
 After finding the records, the next step is looking at the magazines and books out there on The Runaways. As was the case in all areas, there is very little stuff from the US in this category. They made the cover of a few ‘major’ magazines in 1976 (Circus, Bomp!, and Crawdaddy), and there are a few other ‘regional’ rock magazines and papers who put them on the cover. But in general, the majority of the press was from overseas, and there is a LOT of it!
The main countries in which they got magazines and articles done on them were Japan and Sweden. In Japan, when the band went over for their 1977 tour there was a media blitz, and there’s a ton of stuff as a result! Some of the main gems that came out of Japan are the 4 ‘oversize’ 10”x14” magazines which are either all or part Runaways (all have Cherie on the covers). These are titled: Young Idol Now, Young Rock, Rock Screen Special, and the Big Goro Special. Along with these, there was a digest size ‘book’ which came out which is ALL Runaways, and is called appropriately “All About The Runaways”. This is the Holy Grail of the Japanese collectibles, there are only a handful of them out there. And of course, they made the covers of and got featured in all the regular Japanese music magazines of the era.
 From Sweden there are also a lot of magazines, not as many as from Japan, but more than most other countries. Almost all of the Swedish coverage was in a magazine titled “Poster”, which they made the cover of either as a group or individually no less than 5 times! And they were featured in many other issues than that too, and all issues have beautiful full color posters inside. There are a lot of other magazines from many different countries around the world with articles, features, write ups on the band, but again there is no ‘complete and concrete’ list of all of them since new ones pop up all the time! Hence the name of this section of this magazine…the never ending quest!
Now the last area of the collecting front is the memorabilia, and this is the category where ‘everything else’ falls! Posters, promo materials, tour merchandise, personal artifacts, and much more! This is another vast area, as the amount of stuff that has, can, and will turn up is seemingly endless!
There are quite a few different posters on the band, and again- there is no definitive list or record of all the posters that have been produced! For every concert they did in most every country, there was a poster made! The concert posters are hardest to find as not many of them survived, but they still turn up here and there. But there are a few different promo posters for the albums and a couple ‘personality’ posters which were also made back in the 70’s.
 Promo materials, again, every time I think I’ve heard and or seen it all something new comes along! Probably the coolest things that came out were a set of promotional tennis shoes and a belt set that came out of Holland for the “Waiting…” and “And Now…” albums! And also from Holland came a promo set of playing cards!!! Anyone have a set to trade? I’m looking! But from Japan there’s also some very cool stuff, including a promo autograph sheet, stickers, and posters for virtually every album they did! Also, there are press kits from many countries for most of the albums, the best of which come from the US (we did have the best stuff in ONE area!)!
 Tour merchandise, well, where to start? Let’s talk shirts first. In the 70’s it was more common for the venues themselves to produces shirts for each individual concert (especially in the US) so there are a lot of different concert shirts out there! There’s not really any official “tour shirts” that I know of, there are ’76 and ’78 European tour shirts and a ’77 Japanese tour shirt (which has a hilarious ‘corset’ design), but again I’m not sure if these were made by the band or the promoters or what.
The coolest shirts are the original shirts the band used to make themselves with the iron on letters, they had one for each member of course but there were some that just said “The Runaways” that were also sold at shows! And there’s a slew of homemade and bootleg shirts that came out over the years too, but these are usually pretty easy to identify as being “too new” to be legit! Also, there are two different official tour books, the 1977 Japan and the 1977 UK. And there are also the scarves, which I think were sold on the 1977 European tour.
Now for the ‘everything else’. There is of course a lot of stage gear and personal artifacts that have made their way into the hands of fans over the years. The band members gave some things to people themselves, some of it who knows where it came from! But again, there’s no beginning or end to this area- there’s a lot out there and it’s hard to tell what’s what. The best things are ones where you can get the story behind the items to “authenticate” it, and make sure it’s not just some knock off created to take advantage of the collectors out there (like me!)!! If it seems too good to be true, chances are it probably is, so be careful in this area…
So there you have it! A little over view of what collecting The Runaways is all about! It’s not an easy task and I don’t think that any one person ever can or will have it all, but is sure is fun hunting!
-Omid 6/18/02
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