Joan Jett & The Blackhearts — “Everyday People”

Entered Top 40:  October 15, 1983
2  weeks 
Peaked at: 37

Of the many cover songs Joan Jett released as singles, two of them were new version of songs that were back-to-back #1 hits in the winter of 1969: “Crimson and Clover” by Tommy James & the Shondells, which Jett took to #7 as a followup to her #1 “I Love Rock & Roll;” and Sly & the Family Stone’s Everyday People.” The Sly Stone original was an appeal for harmony, racial and otherwise. Not every cover song needs to respect the original’s context, but Jett’s message here, especially in the video, seems to be, “Hey, even rockstars can have calamities with hair dryers and toasters! We’re just like you!”

Joan Jett’s next single would be an original, “Fake Friends,” and it just escaped the Bottom Five, peaking at #35. Later in the decade she’d make a movie with Michael J. Fox, get another Top 10 single, and we’ll see her back in the Bottom Five to start the ’90s with a very unlikely cover.