Pretty much an over-hyped one hit wonder really. I bought the album Get The Knack on the strength of My Sharona but found the songs to be weak and boring. I didn't mind their Beatle look though, I just didn't like their songs.
One-hit wonders with an obnoxious frontman. And in 1979 there were a hell of a lot better things to do than recycle the British Invasion.
Love The Knack. 2nd album I bought with my own cssh. 1980. Musicland, Woodfield Mall, Schaumberg IL. Can we talk about how tight they were and how Bruce Gary was a monster player?
I heard an interview with none other than Corey Feldman who said the first four tracks of Get the Knack were the best intro of any album, ever. Not the same as hearing it from Jon Landau, but interesting nonetheless.
If nothing else, The Knack gave the world some good songs and one absolute knock out killer hit single. I owned the album - and yes, the 45 RPM with the suggestive picture sleeve - and played the bejeezus out of it. Circa 1979, I hadn't yet made the jump to FM radio and remember how explosive "My Sharona" sounded squeezed in between the disco and syrupy ballads of the era. ...but The Knack had a George Lazenby-like talent for shooting themselves in the foot. They allowed the PR machine to market them as "the new Beatles" (has marketing anyone as the "new (blank)" ever worked?) they didn't do TV appearances (they performed "My Sharona" on television for the first time...in 1996) and in the few interviews they did do at the time, Fieger came off sounding like an arrogant prick. None of those things would have mattered if The Knack had the goods to back it up - around the same time The Clash were billed as "The Only Band That Matters" then they released London Calling - and the second album proved they didn't. That was that, really.
Love the George Lazenby reference. And the comparison to The Clash is apt. That moniker their PR firm laid on them was huge and damning and eye rolling but you are right, then they released London Calling - after two previous wall busting, genre defining albums(I think there is an EP before that lot also). But we are here not to praise The Clash, we are here to bury The Knack.
Someone referenced The Clash line "phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust" and I have to thank them though I'm not going back 6 pages. Until I read it here I never connected it to The Knack and I wondered what the reference was. I assumed it was the packaged shows of Beatle songs to visuals. I saw one in 77. But The Knack reference makes much more sense and is more powerful.
As a teenager I don't remember all this Beatles hype/comparisons, I do remember thinking it had that older 60's sound. Understand that I was never a Beatles fan, I don't listen to their music and own 3 albums. The blue and red compilation and Sgt Pepper (cause I liked the movie, since EW&F are one of my favs!!), so any Beatles reference never resonated with me. My Sharona has such a massive infectious beat, you can't not love that song, even today..... I think for me it was a time when I was knee deep into progressive rock about 2 years in by then, I don't recall the 2nd album coming out nor heard much about it.......I was not old enough to probably care enough to read about Fieger's comments, I was too immersed into reading about Rush, Genesis, Yes.....LOL! I can only think that timing and the punk movement might have killed The Knack's music style, kids wanted something different in late 70s.
To this day it's all a bunch of INSANITY to me! The absolute ridiculous stuff some people bring to music has always just made me shake my head! The Knack were ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! I saw them live and they were a hot, tight, hard rocking band! I like every one of their albums (of course not every song) but there's great music throughout! The notion that they only had a few good songs is ridiculous! To me their absolute best album is SERIOUS FUN, and it is filled and I do mean filled with great songs! Not to mention it's the HARDEST ROCKING album they ever made! Here's the title song and it is just no messing around hard rock and roll, The Knack getting down SERIOUS FUN INDEED...
I don't care what anyone says, their debut album just smokes. Poor, rushed follow-up, and they were savaged by the music press (yet another reason to ignore them). Serious Fun is a great record as well, and they acquitted themselves really well live.
Yeah. I had no idea what it could be about - if it is indeed about that. For a long time, I thought it had to do with Beatles repackages, compilations that were going strong in the late 70s. But it has to be about the Knack, as there is a Clash connection here : the guy who made these "knuke the knack" badges was Hugh Brown who designed The Clash's second album "Give 'Em Enough Rope" in 1978. It's a shame though. The music matters, the Knack were good, they were not manufactured, and looking into it, there seems to have been a lot misunderstandings and decisions that made the Knack look bad.
I most definitely will! You're right, I saw them live in Texas and they just absolutely smoked on stage! Talk about high energy rock and roll, and you're right again that Bruce Gary was an absolute monster on drums! I have to also give mention of Berton Averre, how no one talks about this absolutely phenomenal guitarist is mind blowing! His solos are just jaw dropping great! Whatever went wrong, it wasn't because the Knack weren't a good band and it for sure wasn't because the music wasn't good, because the VAST MAJORITY of it was fantastic! Ok time to go have some SERIOUS FUN!
And that's how you play the solo ! In a desire to aid fellow musicians who have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic, The Knack have pledged to donate the first quarter 2020 digital streaming royalties for "My Sharona" -- which have seen an uninvited uptick due to the crisis -- to Music Health Alliance, a Nashville-based organization that provides healthcare support services to uninsured members of the music industry.
It would be a lot to deal with and process for a band. First single - smash hit, first album - smash hit. And instant backclash at the same time.
As a Power Pop aficionado, I can attest to this. Power pop is a niche genre. Bands like Shoes, for as many wonderfully catchy songs as they write, just do not translate on a large scale. As for the Knack, the problem to me was that that the first single from the follow-up was basically "My Sharona" part two, which, when you're facing a potential backlash, isn't going to overcome being dismissed as nothing more than a cynical cash-grab.
As someone who experienced the Rise and Fall of The Knack in real-time like you did, I think you understood it quite well. Let's face it: Extreme immediate popularity almost *always* foments a backlash, typically among the jealous and envious. It's why Disco was facing the same thing at the same time. It's the old adage of stick your head above the crowd and someone will throw a rock at it. Success breads haters. In the end, you beat a backlash by delivering the goods. In the case of The Knack, it turned out that they only had one "My Sharona" in them. Had they been able to deliver another in 1980 or 1981, they would have beaten the backlash.
Oh man. I looooooooooooove Shoes. These guys should swim in a pool full of dollar bills. Sadly, it didn't happen that way.
Pity too. Got a Shoes box set recently and am mentioning it as often and whenever I can . Great power pop collection.
