Joan Jett - Bad Reputation (from Freaks and Geeks)

Joan Jett - Bad Reputation (Chords)

It might just be me that remembers Freaks and Geeks, and I was mostly there for Linda Cardellini and the theme tune. As I understand it, the series didn’t even make it to the end in the US. But we got the whole thing here in the UK. Apparently, it’s now a cult hit. There are certainly plenty of people involved with it who went on to bigger things. Most notably, it was the first time actor Seth Rogen and director Judd Atapow worked together (going on to make The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Superbad together).

The theme tune to Freaks and Geeks came from the days when even the punks wore shoulder pads and is fantastically catchy. And it has the best guitar solo shout out since, “Go, Nigel, go”: Pedal boys!

The tune is perfect for a bit of punk uke and would make a great uke club song (oh God, I’d love to hear GUGUG do this song). I’ve made the chords a little more uke club friendly by shifting them up from B to C. If you want it in the original key, you’ll have to shift everything down a fret (or tune down half a step).

For the first half of the song, the chords are C, F and G. Then there’s a key change to D and everything shifts up two frets (to D, G and A). The strumming shouldn’t trip you up either. Down, up, down, up should do you fine most of the way through the song.