When Cherie Currie had auditioned to join the Runaways, the other bandmembers quickly came up with a song called “Cherry Bomb” – named after a famous firework, and not the John Mellencamp song by the same name, “Cherry Bomb” – that she was asked to sing instead of the Suzi Quatro song that she had picked out.  The song features a line in the chorus “Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!” that was a play on her first name; Joan Jett and Kim Fowley are credited as the songwriters.  “Cherry Bomb” became the opening track on their album and the band’s first single; while “Cherry Bomb” only made it to #106 on the Billboard singles charts, the song was named #52 on the list of the greatest hard rock songs of all time by VH1. 

The Runaways’ sole hit “Cherry Bomb” was included on the tape Awesome Mix, Vol. 1 that was prominently featured in the 2014 mega-hit Guardians of the Galaxy.  Not surprisingly, an album called Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix, Vol. 1 has also been released, and it too includes “Cherry Bomb”.  In his Allmusic review of the album, Stephen Thomas Erlewine says that “the ‘Awesome Mix’ . . . offers a nostalgia trip that’s potent even if you’ve never seen the film”.  

(January 2015/1)