Musician and writer of the popular anthem I Love Rock’n’Roll
The singer and songwriter Alan Merrill, who has died aged 69 after contracting Covid-19, will be chiefly remembered for the song I Love Rock’n’Roll. Merrill composed it after hearing the Rolling Stones’ 1974 hit It’s Only Rock’n’Roll (But I Like It), which he considered took an unsuitably apologetic attitude to the
music he loved. The Arrows’ 1975 version was not a hit, but a recording by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts spent seven weeks at the top of the US Billboard pop chart in 1982.
The song has exhibited impressive staying power. Britney Spears took it into the
UK Top 20 in 2002, a
comedy version for charity, I Love Sausage Rolls, by LadBaby, topped the
British charts in December 2019, and it has been performed or recorded by
Miley Cyrus, Alvin Stardust, Showaddywaddy, Johnny Hallyday and many more. In 2016 Jett’s version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.