The Runaways‘ Cherie Currie has claimed that she could have suffered a severe injury due to Rush allegedly “sabotaging” them while performing.
While appearing as a guest on The Metal Voice, the former frontwoman opened up about the band’s feud with the Canadian prog-rock band, and how one of their sabotaging acts could have allegedly left Currie paralysed.
Formed in 1975, The Runaways – comprised of Currie, guitarists Joan Jett and Lita Ford, bassist Jackie Fox and drummer Sandy West – were one of the first all-female rock bands known for their hit tracks such as ‘Cherry Bomb’, ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Queens Of Noise’.
In her interview with The Metal Voice, Currie opened up about touring with Rush in 1977 and their behaviour. At the time, the members of The Runaways were teenagers while Rush were all in their mid-twenties. Reportedly, the ‘Closer To The Heart’ singers were laughing at the group from the side of the stage, angering both Currie and Jett.
“We had been treated so well by Tom Petty who opened for us, and Cheap Trick who opened for us, but Rush sabotaged our set,” Currie told the show’s host Jimmy Kay.
She continued, “We’re at Detroit’s Cobo Hall. It’s a big venue. I saw them and they were throwing pieces of paper, just like standard 8×10 paper, onto the stage whipping it like you would a pizza. I was in 6-inch platform boots and I had to jump off of Sandy West’s drum riser. I hit one of those pieces of paper and I slid across that stage and there was an orchestra pit with all the photographers.”
The singer went on to share that she nearly fell off the stage and recalled the horrified faced of the photographers in the pit. “I’ll never forget seeing them reach up with fear,” she said, adding that she was able to stop herself from falling and “did one of those, you know [rock star poses], to one of the photographers.”
“I could have been paralysed. I’m not exaggerating, I could have been very much injured had I gone off that stage,” she added. “They weren’t protecting us, they were sabotaging us that night and they would be sitting there behind Lita [Ford]’s amp [snickering].”
Rush have been inactive since the passing of the death of drummer Neil Peart in 2020. Earlier this year, Peart’s final book Silver Surfers, which documented his obsession with sports cars of the ’60s, was released.
The post The Runaways’ Cherie Currie claims she “could have been paralysed” by Rush “sabotaging” them during feud appeared first on NME.
