Any fans of The Knack?

[Ivan May]

It is quite obvious that this is the band that was known mostly for "My Sharona", and then wrongfully faded into obscurity.

 

But they were a very influential power pop band. The group was led by a young guy, Doug Fieger, who had previously played bass in the earlier power pop band the Sky, which was also influenced by a lot of country rock. The other members of the Knack included guitarist Berton Averre, bassist Prescott Niles and drummer Bruce Gary (who died in 2006).

The Knack released their first album, Get The Knack, in early 1979. It was produced by an Australian named Mike Chapman, who also produced records for Suzi Quatro, Pat Benatar and Blondie. Like My Sharona, Get The Knack reached #1 on the Billboard 200 in July of 1979, and has become a somewhat influential album in the history of rock. Kurt Cobain has listed this record as an influence on Nirvana, and The Knack's other big fans included Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty.

The Knack never scaled such heights again, though follow up But The Little Girls Understand came a little close.

 

I always felt that the reason they were blasted by radio critics was because of all the misogynistic lyrics Fieger wrote. Rolling Srone critic Dave Marsh once wrote about the Knack: "The music can't redeem the lyrics–not only because such dehumanization is irredeemable, but also because the music is lame. Indeed, the Knack are the most nefarious sort of hacks. They're terribly competent and they have a seemingly inexhaustible storehouse of clichés... the Knack's greatest achievement is to make hard-rock clichés sound completely gutless... Fieger's puling vocals suggest that, for him, the ultimate agony would be to imagine that somewhere in the world there exists a woman who might find him sexually unattractive. Compared to Doug Fieger, Rod Stewart is a paragon of sexual humility."

 

I recently bought Get The Knack at a record store and I must say it is a brilliantly made record. Lots of good guitar riffs. Doug Fieger also played the harmonica on Good Girls Don't. If I remember correctly Doug Fieger mostly used a 72 Strat and a Vox AC30 amp on that album, mostly using the bridge pickup on that Strat. He also played a red 1965 Gibson SG, whilst Berton Averre played a black Norlin Les Paul with a Mesa/Boogie amp. He also used to borrow a lot of Doug's gear (namely a Gretsch Country Gentleman, which was played on That's What The Little Girls Do, and a Rickenbacker amp.) Fieger was an avid collector of guitars, used to own a bunch of Rickenbackers, even an old Epiphone Casino. Most of it was auctioned off when he died in 2010.

Not to mention the great sounds that Prescott got out of his Rickenbacker 4001 Jetglo jet black bass.

 

Fieger died of cancer in 2010, but his legacy lived on.

Here is an interesting Vintage Guitar magazine article made in 2008 on Fieger's collection if anyone wants to read it. 

 

https://www.vintageguitar.com/3428/doug-fieger/

 

And a picture of him with his 72 Strat

 

I highly recommend playing Get The Knack and Look Sharp! by Joe Jackson back to back, those albums are true examples of what power pop sounded like.

 

But I hope someone responds to this thread.

[KuruPrionz]

I loved The Knack!!! 

We made fun of them too when they came out but I've heard My Sherona and Good Girls Don't more recently and thought they were both brilliant. 

Rock and Roll has always been "dirty" the only way to condemn it is to condemn pretty much all of it or STFU. 😇

 

Joe Jackson Look Sharp and Beat Crazy are two albums that got a lot of play in my world, some of those songs even got covered. More great stuff from that era.

So was Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food - classic - "This Ain't No Party, This Ain't No Disco"...

 

And, welcome to MPN immusicruiz, be sure to take a look at the other forums too. This is a great place to hang. 

[desertbluesman]

I liked My Sharona but never heard anything else by them.

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, desertbluesman said:

I liked My Sharona but never heard anything else by them.

This was their other radio hit, classic.

 

[Scott Fraser]

I was always amazed they fizzled after one giant hit. They could have been another Cars; jumpy, infectious, meaningless, fun, teen-oriented pop. Who knows, did they piss off the wrong cigar-chomping suit in the music industry machine?

[Larryz]

1 hour ago, desertbluesman said:

I liked My Sharona but never heard anything else by them.

+1 DBM, Same here... till the post of "Good Girls Don't" above.  Cool tune! 😎👍

[p90jr]

I loved "Get The Knack" when I was a kid... and still do... the second record was pushed out too quick and they forgot to write songs, the single - "Baby Talk Dirty" - was kind of an inverted rewrite of "My Sharona." I bought the third record for $1 in a cut out bin a couple of years after it came out, still have it somewhere... I only remember one cool country-ish ballad ("Pay The Devil?") and an embarrassing song called "Art War" or something... I heard a later CD in the 90s but wasn't focused on it...

Now, Joe Jackson... I'm a huge fan and have almost every record he's put out (the rock and pop music ones, anyway). He reunited the original Joe Jackson Band in 2006 and put out another record with them titled "Volume 4," did a world tour and then put out a live record from that called "Afterlife." His last couple of records have been great... I saw him live in 2014 or so... I have tickets to see him in June. He's using a guitarist, again (Teddy Kumpel from NYC)... I learned every guitar and bass part on "Look Sharp" and "I'm The Man" and "Beat Crazy" when I was a kid. Great guitar voicings, similar to Steely Dan (piano players, I guess). I sang and played bass in a band in college that did "Got The Time," which was always a blast to play...,

Interview with Teddy Kumpel from Joe Jackson's band.

 

[BiC]

I like it. I actually listened to "Get The Knack" recently. My big brother owned the album. So, I grew up listening to it. 

[KuruPrionz]

I was in a punk parody band during the My Sharona era so we changed it to "Juan Corona" and sang about burying dead people. 

[Larryz]

As a joke with the lyrics, I heard a tune that went:  "She was the ugly one, until I had 5 Coronas!"