Among their best-known songs are "Cherry Bomb", "Hollywood", "Queens of Noise" and a cover version of the Velvet Underground's "Rock & Roll".

Never a major success in the United States, the Runaways became a sensation overseas, especially in Japan, thanks to the single "Cherry Bomb".

In early 1975, the rock producer Kim Fowley had an idea for assembling an all-female band at a time when, according to guitarist Joan Jett, "There were no young girls at all playing guitar or any sort of instruments.

"[6] Fowley met lyricist Kari Krome at a party held for Alice Cooper, put her on salary, and had her begin looking for female performers.

Jett successfully auditioned for Fowley by playing ukulele to a Sweet album, and picked up guitar as her instrument.

Soon afterward, in the parking lot of the Rainbow Bar and Grill, Fowley met Sandy West, who agreed to play drums.

Fowley had Jett rehearse with West at the latter's home in Huntington Beach, and auditioned the pair on the telephone to music journalist Ritchie Yorke.

in November, bassist Peggy Foster, as well as Lita Ford had joined to the group as lead guitarist, allowing Jett to focus on rhythm guitar.

[citation needed] Fowley and Jett discovered Cherie Currie at the teen nightclub The Sugar Shack[14] and brought her in as lead vocalist for the group.

[7][8] In two weeks, Foster left the group too and was replaced by Jackie Fox, whom Fowley's colleague Rodney Bingenheimer found at the parking lot of the West Hollywood nightclub the Starwood.

Phonogram/Mercury Records' West Coast director of A&R, Denny Rosencrantz, agreed to sign the Runaways on December 12, 1975.

[16] The band toured the U.S. in support of headlining groups such as Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Talking Heads, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

A week later, Fowley severed his ties with the band and forfeited his rights, titles, claims, and merchandising ownership to Mercury Records.

[16] Fowley and the band reconciled in November and returned to the studio to record their followup album Queens of Noise.

[citation needed] In the summer of 1977, booking agent David Libert secured dates in Japan, where they played a string of sold-out shows.

Jackie Fox left mid-tour and was replaced by bassist Vicki Blue when the group returned to America.

Fowley recorded the Runaways' third LP, Waitin' for the Night, at Larrabee Studios the same month, with the band as a four-piece and with Joan Jett on vocals.

[32] Due to disagreements over money and the management of the band, the Runaways and Kim Fowley parted ways in 1977.

Blue left the group due to medical problems and was briefly replaced by Laurie McAllister in November 1978.

[34] The band played their last concert on New Year's Eve 1978 at the Cow Palace and officially broke up in April 1979.

[35] In 2010, Jett and Currie reunited to re-record the song "Cherry Bomb" for the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

[36] In a 2015 interview with WHMH-FM, Ford said that she decided against a possible reunion in the early 1990s because "Nirvana was just kicking in, and it was really bad timing; it wouldn't have worked.

A memorial tribute concert was later held in Los Angeles, featuring the Sandy West Band, Cherie Currie, the Bangles, the Donnas, and Carmine and Vinny Appice, among several others.

Ford returned to PolyGram as a solo artist in the 1980s, where she released several albums before pairing with manager Sharon Osbourne.

She had success with songs like "Kiss Me Deadly" and "Close My Eyes Forever" (the second a duet with her manager's husband Ozzy Osbourne).

In 2005, Tischler-Blue directed Naked Under Leather, a documentary about fellow female rocker Suzi Quatro, which was selected for the Santa Cruz Film Festival in May 2004 but never released.

Additionally, Tischler-Blue and Ford teamed up to record music for El Guitarrista, an animated series that Sacred Dogs Entertainment Group is producing.

Fox returned to using her birth name of Fuchs and graduated from UCLA summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and Italian.

[71] They are named as influences by several artists, including the Germs, Courtney Love, the Adolescents, Taylor Momsen, White Flag, and Rhino Bucket who acknowledged the Runaways' influence on their music during their performance at the December 2006 tribute concert honoring Sandy West.

Missy Bonilla was recruited from the typing pool of CBS Records, Denise Pryor came from Compton and Kathrine Dombrowski ("Kathy DiAmber") was also added.