Jefferson Starshipwas known for having multiple changes in its career, and after the departure of two main singers, the track "Jane" marked a major shift in their sound for the years that followed.
Formerly known as Jefferson Airplane, the rock band found itself at a crossroads in 1978 before the release of their fifth album, Freedom at Point Zero. VocalistMarty Balin, who had penned many hit soft rock ballads, had stopped touring with the band and later left entirely. To top it off, vocalist Grace Slick also decided to drop out of the band, feeling she was too old to be a rock star and touring.
Instead of the band calling it quits, they rebranded themselves and took a gamble on singer Mickey Thomas, who fronted the band, Elvin Bishop. Thomas told Something Else in 2013 that he was flattered to have gotten the call after leaving the band, but was still hesitant. After meeting with them, he decided months later to join them: “As crazy as this is, and as unlikely as it would be that this would work, there’s something there."
"Jane" would become a perfect showcase of Thomas's talents and the needed shift in Jefferson Starship's music. It was penned by bassist David Freiberg and co-written by songwriter Jim McPherson, with the track having been McPherson's biggest claim to fame in his career before his death in 1985.
Freiberg would explain that he and McPherson were going for the style of the "Rolling Stones baroque period of the '60s," with guitarist Craig Chaquico chiming in that the bassist created a "great" hard rock arrangement. The bassist would also admit the track may or may not have been about an ex who wasn't named Jane.
The track would gain notoriety among fans for its long guitar solo that Chaquico argued over with their manager at the time. Their manager wanted to cut it short, believing it wouldn't do well over the radio.
"[H]e came in with a stopwatch and [argued] the guitar solo was too long. It will never get played on the radio, right?" he explained to Something Else in 2012. “The band backed me up, and we left the solo the way that it is, but our manager swore it would never be a hit. So, every time I hear it on the radio, it puts a smile on my face, because I knew I had to fight for every second of it! … We pushed the envelope, and it actually did get played – thank God.”
He even recalls having run into some of the members of Metallica, who praised the track for the solo and for having never been done before on the radio. The track was indeed a hit when it landed at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 6 on Cash Box.
"Jane" would end up getting a resurgence decades later when it was used as the opening theme of the horror filmCocaine Bear and in Paul Rudd's 2001 film Wet Hot American Summer. Jefferson Staship's "Jane" also became well-known among wrestling fans as it became the entrance music for All Elite Wrestling star Orange Cassidy.
Related: 1973 Rock Song, Reimagined for a Hit Film, Is Still a Generational Favorite 53 Years Later
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