I liked this one, but agree that the song structure feels awkward and unfinished. It got a lot of radio play in '79 and '80, and seemed quite risque at the time. But for such a big hit it sure vanished down the memory hole pretty quickly - you seldom heard it by the middle of the decade, and it and Nightingale seem largely forgotten. She's probably best-remembered today (if not only remembered) for '76's Tony Orlando-esque "Right Back Where We Started From".
I find "My Sharona" too repetative. The hook is cute, but they beat it to death... and then the guitar solo, while skillfully played, totally doesn't fit the song.
It's meant to be loud dumb rock and roll. And it succeeds. The Knack were certainly tipped for superstardom after this outing, whereas the far more unwieldy assembly that was Blondie seemed far too undisciplined - and also frankly far too smart - to go on to further success. But sometimes, as it turns out, big and dumb isn't such an advantage after all.
This was such a great song which I associate with my time living in a college dorm. I may even have seen them play live once but some of those concerts are a bit foggy in my memory. The Knack was mercilessly pilloried by the industry for trying to be a British throwback, which is exactly what they were aiming for. I don't know why exactly that was such a bad thing but it really irked their peers. For a long while I thought they were British, but it certainly didn't make me feel like I had been duped.
What a dirty little song it is, too. While he never makes it clear what the age of Sharona is, he did write the line "I always give it up for the touch of the younger kind." Turns out he indeed wrote the song about a teenage girl from his past. But, it sounds creepy. Capitol Records, as with The Raspberries, tried to promote The Knack as the new Beatles. They even issued the song on the 60s swirl label. It sure didn't last long.
The backlash against The Knack started really quickly, probably due to Capitol trying to push them as the new Beatles. Even though most of my friends were big rock fans, none of them liked this track at all. Admittedly, I only liked it a little bit and never bought anything by the group until many years later. Today, My Sharona is a stone cold classic from 1979 and I welcome it whenever it comes on the radio, or pops up on my player. It has gotten better with age, like a fine wine, but certainly not mellowed with age, like a fine wine. Maybe it's more like a cheap wine?
That song is 1979 to me, the very epitome. Always liked it, never loved it, which fits that era quite well. "My Sharona"...the less said, the better! Never liked it at all.
It didn't help with the kind of label they used for this . . . Likewise, the album Get The Knack from which this came also went "retro" with label design . . . The funny thing was, this was the second group with the name The Knack to record for Capitol Records. There was another entity with that nomenclature, that was on the label in the late 1960's. Here's one single by that Knack (their last) . . . No LP's by this aggregation, alas . . . Discogs profile of this "other" Knack
This one, you don't hear anymore on the radio (at least, WCBS-FM 101.1 today avoids this one while playing to death her big hit from three years prior). Quel shame.
“My Sharona” Nervy, obnoxious, repetitive, angular...sounds more like a bratty immature Kinks song, than a Beatles influence. At the time, I was not privy to the backlash against them for trying to be an homage to the British Invasion...a couple of decades later and they would have been applauded for it...but as a kid and having a teenage older sister, it was an infectious, hard to resist, chant along, raver. It got a little old after a while, but it’s crackling energy was a interesting left turn for AT40. While this live clip gets creepy towards the end, it demonstrates how good these guys were as a band, propelled by the MVP of the band, Bruce Gary on drums. He is a monster on this track and those Gretsch drums sure sound fantastic. As the years progressed, my love/like for this track has ebbed and flowed, but it always brings an initial smile when I hear it...then it gets creepy...Fieger is just too obnoxious and icky and knowing the story behind its creation doesn’t help. I sure do remember the larger than life promo posters for the single, and even I, as a ten year old by this point, knew not to ask my mom if I could buy it. Never got around to purchasing the single or the LP. Never really had to, it was seemingly everywhere and then nowhere at once. The next year, I remember getting a pack of Chu-Bops (remember those?) that had a mini replica of their follow up album and thinking, “whatever happened to those guys?”
Also . . . Ms. Nightingale's "Lead Me On" was the only other hit besides the Starland Vocal Band's "Afternoon Delight" to the name of John Denver's Windsong label.
I said the oldest rappers and fans were boomers.... BUT it was the rise of Gen X where it really took off. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to read my entire post. The oldest Gen X-ers were 14 when Rapper's Delight came out and someone born in the early 1970s was a teen when Run-DMC and LL Cool J and others started crossing over to MTV and the mainstream. Seriously, look at the detractors on this forum, most of them are boomers who lament hip hop because it was something that wasn't as geared for them as Zeppelin, Stones, Beatles, etc... were. And they're still bitter about it in 2019 and refuse to acknowledge the worth. Sure there are Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z people who don't like hip hop, but the majority of the ones who flat out refuse to give it any due are boomers who grew up at the height of guitar gods and rock music.
I like My Sharona, but I also don't have memories of hearing the song every 15 minutes for months on end. It's definitely the first #1 that could almost be mistaken as an 80s song (some say Heart Of Glass, but it does have the heavy disco influence). Hell, it has a timeless enough sound that it actually came back on the charts in 1994 after being used in "Reality Bites" as the sound of it actually didn't sound too out of place with a lot of the alternative rock (non-grunge but more like groups like The Lemonheads and the ilk) that was around then.
My Sharona was like a breath of fresh air for me. The whole Knack LP, Get The Knack, was great. Many got sick of My Sharona because the radio stations played it constantly. If you haven't heard it in a while, I urge you to dig it out and listen to the album again. I consider it a forgotten classic. Songs like Let Me Out, Your Number Or Your Name, She's So Selfish, Good Girls Don't, and Frustrated will have you dancing around the room. Some might feel put off by the lyrics, but I prefer to believe that the singer had his tongue planted firmly in cheek. The latest reissue even has their version of Bruce Springsteen's "Don't Look Back." RIP Doug Fieger.
Yea I know there are boomers who hate The Beatles, who hate Motown, etc.... but I use the boomer thing because 9 out of 10 times when you see people still lamenting rap music in 2019 it's someone who was born before 1965. The Gen X-ers and Millennials and Gen Z-ers who dislike hip hop just move on, but they're also people where rap music has always been around, especially Millennials and Gen Z.... a lot of older rock guys who grew up in the 60s and early 70s see hip hop as the rain on their parade But I do see a lot of boomers who feel less inclined to try out other generations' music vs. Gen X and Millennials. I remember awhile back seeing some poster saying that Nirvana was when they tapped out on new music because it was "music for Gen X", which i found odd since I've met people who were 30-ish when grunge hit who actually celebrated Nirvana's explosion onto the scene after years of New Kids, Paula Abdul, Tiffany, MC Hammer and hair metal, but others saw Nirvana as "ok, my generation has had its day, time to shun off new music now", which to me does feel like boomers being whiny about changing times.
I did read your entire post. Maybe I was sleepy. I keep strange hours. Anyway... The reason I mentioned that baby-boomers were the first to appreciate rap is because the baby boomer era ended in 1965. That tail end of the group graduated from high school around 1983. Many of us were exposed to classic rock of the late 60s and early 70s, but did our growing up during the disco era. I think what throws people is that, until Generation Z, we were the largest generation in the history of this country, and there are 20 years of us. The reason there are so many on this forum who despise hip-hop is because of the predominant demographics of it. If I spell it out, some reactionary will report it to the gorts.
The big one - the song that killed Disco. Probably not true, but that is the song’s reputation. It is a fact that Top 40 Radio was very different after “My Sharona,” primarily because radio stations opened up their playlists and started playing other new wave music. “My Sharona” was the first pure rock and roll record to hit number 1 in years, and it was everywhere during the summer of 1979. I remember listening to the song on multiple stations while sitting in a “gas line” (google it if you’re too young to remember). Personally, I loved the song and owned the 45 - it’s still one of my all time favorites. I did not own the “Get the Knack” album but my brother did and I played it frequently. It was okay - some good tunes like “Good Girls Don’t” and “She’s So Selfish” but a lot of filler. The Knack was pretty typical of a lot of bands of the era - a couple of killer tunes, some okay stuff, but not much else. I definitely remember the Knack backlash and thought it was ridiculous. The complaints were: 1.) they were hyped as the next Beatles; 2.) their songs were sleazy sex songs, and 3.) they were misogynists. My response was: 1.) Record companies hype new bands as “the next Beatles” all of the time. Capitol records was just a little more creative about it. 2.) Really? A good part of rock and roll history is made up of sleazy sex songs. 3.) Misogynists? Compared to whom? The Rolling Stones? Led Zeppelin? My best friend (an ONJ & Bee Gees fan) absolutely hated “My Sharona” - hated it with a passion. One day in his car, it’s playing on the radio and he immediately changes it to another station that’s also playing “My Sharona.” He turns off the radio and says, “My Sharona...My Sharona...My Sharona...that’s all I ever hear! They play it every where, I hate it.” I replied, “It’s a great tune. Now you know how I felt last year with “Staying Alive. And it’s not ”My Sharona...My Sharona,” it’s “Mm..mm...mm...mm..my Sharona!”
Agree - and a lot of New Wave bands were trying to be British Invasion throwbacks including The Jam, The Romantics, etc.
I'm not sure I'd call "My Sharona" a bratty Kinks song. Ray Davies (the Kinks main writer) is a much more tasteful writer than that. I can sort of see where you're coming from -- soundwise --- if you're thinking of "You Really Got Me" or "All Day and All of the Night". But if you've gone into the Kinks material in any depth, you'd find that those songs are rather atypical of them. Not to mention two songs that were very early in what turned out to be a 30 year career for them.
I have observed the same things that you have with some boomers (not all). In my younger days, I've made the same arguments you have, and basically been told "that's how I feel -- deal with it". The thing is, I hear a lot of "it's all hip hop", and that has NEVER been the case, then or now. They just aren't looking in the right places (if they are looking at all). As far as I am concerned it is their loss (in other words they can be as bitter as they want to be). I'm going to live my life, and they can live theirs.
Late spring 1979... Montreal...crowded club ..Friday night... As some tired disco tune is fading away out of nowhere comes this pounding sound.The dance floor is quickly packed solid and the place is literally shaking to the grinding, driving beat of ' My Sharona ' An incredible song that is sadly maligned for God knows what silly reasons. Biggest song of the year too and rightly so. What a rocking blast. What #1 song rocked harder than this ? The answer is none. None rocked harder. Who cares what it's about or how the band was viewed? Anone who cannot groove to this is allergic to fun.
