"I Love Rock 'n Roll" is a rock song written in 1975 by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of The Arrows, who recorded the first released version. The song was later made famous by the hit version recorded by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts in 1981.

The song was originally recorded and released by the Arrows in 1975 on RAK Records, with lead vocals by Alan Merrill and produced by Mickie Most. In an interview with Songfacts, Merrill said he wrote it as "a knee-jerk response to The Rolling Stones' It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It).'" This version was first released as a B-side, but was soon re-recorded and flipped to A-side status on a subsequent pressing of the record. Although not a chart hit in its original version as a result of non-existent promotion by the band's label, the song has come to worldwide prominence due to very successful cover versions that have been recorded.

Joan Jett saw the Arrows perform "I Love Rock 'n Roll" on their weekly television series The Arrows Showwhen she was touring England with The Runaways in 1976. She first recorded the song in 1979 with two of the Sex Pistols: Steve Jones and Paul Cook. This first version was not released until 1993 in Flashback. In 1981, Jett re-recorded the song, this time with her band, The Blackhearts. Early copies of the album, which was released just before Christmas 1981, featured the Christmas song "Little Drummer Boy" but, since it made little sense to have such a song on an album outside the holiday period, it was quickly replaced with "Oh Woe is Me". This recording became a U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one single for seven weeks, effectively launching Jett's solo career. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing two million records shipped. This success propelled Jett's I Love Rock 'n Rollalbum to number two on the Billboard 200.

"I Love Rock 'n Roll"'s gritty, black-and-white music video received heavy play from the then-young MTV network. In it, Jett and the Blackhearts travel to a small, dingy bar and proceed to excite the drunken crowd by performing the song and yelling out its famous chorus. A snippet of Jett's 1981 hit, "Bad Reputation," is featured at the beginning of the video. Jett followed "I Love Rock 'n Roll" up with another cover — her version of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover" was a top-ten U.S. hit. The video was originally in color, but it was converted to black and white due to the way Joan Jett felt her red leather jacket looked in color.

In 1983, "Weird Al" Yankovic released a parody of Jett's version, titled "I Love Rocky Road", which appeared on his self-titled debut album. Besides the song using Jett's version for the music, a music video was also released modeled after Jett's video.

Jett's version has received many accolades, including:

Also, cover versions of Jett's version have appeared in two music video games: Guitar Heroand Karaoke Revolution Party. The original version made an appearance in Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits.

In 1993 Joan Jett & The Blackhearts made another music video for the song as part of the Wayne's World 2 soundtrack. In the video appear several scenes from the movie with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey mixed with Joan and her band playing in a concert.

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" is the fourth European single released internationally by pop singer Britney Spears from the album Britneyduring the second quarter of 2002, except in the USA. The song was used in her 2002 movie Crossroads. Spears's character, Lucy, performs it in a karaoke bar. Spears said of the song, "They asked me to sing karaoke in the movie Crossroadsand I've actually sung I Love Rock 'n' Roll in a lot of clubs that I've been to."

Spears has publicly admitted the original song to be one of her favorites. Spears listened to The Arrows' original Mickie Most-produced version just before she recorded the song, according to her Jive A&R man Steve Lunt. When promoting the single's release she infamously attributed the hit version of the song to Pat Benatar instead of Jett, although she claims this was a remark made in sarcasm rather than a mistake.

Directed by Chris Applebaum, the music video for "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" features Spears in a tight-fitting leather getup. Straightforward, it features Spears jamming in a large red room, complete with her own band, a stack of speakers, and flashing lights. She crawls along on the floor, and plays air guitar before smashing the speakers with a real guitar. Spears also dances on a rotating motorcycle and gets covered with confetti. The Director's Cut version of the video was later leaked; it included previously unseen scenes from the video.The Bar where it was shot is called The Inn, in Long Beach , New York.

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" failed to make the top ten in most countries. However, the track was not a total flop as it made at least top forty placement in most regions. The song was moderately successful in the UK, where it peaked at number thirteen (which, at the time, was her lowest peak for a single released there, until "Break the Ice" only managed to reach number fifteen in 2008). The single sold a total of 51,000 copies. The single also got Gold certification in Australia despite missing the top ten.

"I Love Rock 'n Roll" is an often-covered song, and has been notably recorded by such artists as: