[1] "Cherry Bomb" was ranked 52nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs[6] and peaked at number 106 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.

Rhythm guitarist/backing vocalist Joan Jett composed the song with Kim Fowley, the band's then-manager.

In the documentary Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways (2005), Fowley and former Runaways lead singer Cherie Currie claimed that "Cherry Bomb" was quickly written just for Currie to audition for the band because the band members could not perform the song she originally chose to sing.

The song was included in the soundtrack for the made for the TV movie: "Dawn Portrait of a Teenage Runaway" starring Eve Plumb, in 1976.

Jett re-recorded the song with her band the Blackhearts for the album Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth (1984).