The Knack
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Knack | |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Rock Power pop |
| Years active | 1978-1981 1986-1987 1991-Present |
| Label(s) | Capitol |
| Members | |
| Doug Fieger (lead vocals, guitar) Berton Averre (guitar, backing vocals) Prescott Niles (bass guitar, backing vocals) |
|
| Former members | |
| Bruce Gary (drums, percussion) (deceased) | |
It was nearly impossible to turn on a radio the summer of 1979 without hearing Los Angeles-based rock band The Knack. "My Sharona" entered Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 on June 23, 1979, and reached number one nine weeks later on August 25, 1979, where it remained for six weeks on its way to becoming the number one song of the year (see 1979 in music).
Contents |
[edit] Get The Knack
The Knack first performed June 1, 1978, at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. A bidding war for the band ensued and was eventually won by Capitol Records. Heralded as the "new fab four" by Rolling Stone Magazine, Capitol introduced theKnack's debut album, "Get the Knack," with the kind of fanfare not seen since the British Invasion. With a heavy marketing push from Capitol and the immense success of "My Sharona," the record flew off the shelves. Gold certification took thirteen days, and platinum certification came in less than seven weeks-- making "Get The Knack" one of the fastest gold and platinum debuts of all time.
The power pop of "My Sharona", coupled with the band's "retro" 1970s new wave look, earned the band comparisons to the early Beatles. In typical New Wave fashion, the cover of "Get the Knack" featured a stark black and white photo of the band, while the back cover featured a performance photo as obvious send ups of The Beatles first album "Meet The Beatles." This album also featured their version of Buddy Holly's "Heartbeat," and a second single called "Good Girls Don't." It sold respectfully, reaching number seventeen on the Billboard charts, but not until the band edited these original lyrics for the single version:
She's your adolescent dream
School boy stuff and sticky sweet romance
Cause she makes you wanna scream
Wishing you could get inside her pants
So you fantasize away
While you're squeezing her You thought you heard her saying
(Chorus)
Good girls don't
Good girls don't
Well she'll be telling you
Good girls don't but I do
So you call her on the phone
To talk about the teachers that you hate
And she says she's all alone
And her parents won't be coming home 'til late
There's a ringing in your brain
Cause you could've sworn
You thought you heard her say
(Repeat Chorus)
And it's teenage sadness
That the one has got to taste
An in between age madness
That you know you can't erase
Til she's sitting on your face
You're alone with her at last
And you're waiting 'til you think the time is right
Cause you heard she's pretty fast
And you're hoping that she'll give you some tonight
So you start to make your play
Cause you could've sworn
You thought you heard her say
(Repeat Chorus)
But I do
The line "Wishing you could get inside her pants" was edited to "Wishing she was giving you a chance" relatively unnoticed, but changing "Til she's sitting on your face" to "Til she puts you in your place" changed the meaning of the song completely and led to criticism of the band that they were cynical fakes. Their follow up LP, "...but the Little Girls Understand," barely went gold, and none of their albums since has even done that well. Still, Get the Knack went on to sell over six million copies worldwide. "My Sharona" opened the door for many New Wave bands to follow, and still ranks as one of the biggest selling singles of the rock era.
[edit] The Knack vs. Run DMC
Members of The Knack have filed a lawsuit[1] against popular rap music group Run DMC for copyright infringement. The lawsuit alleges that the defining guitar riff from "My Sharona" was used without permission in the Run DMC track "It's Tricky" from their 1986 album "Raising Hell." The amount of damages sought is currently unspecified.
[edit] Follow Up Success Proves Elusive
After subsequent albums, they broke up amidst internal squabbles. The Knack resurfaced in 1994 after "My Sharona" was heard on the Reality Bites sound track. The band had been offered two films ' in one day and had to choose between them. "One was for this hip comedy starring Wynnona Ryder," says Averre, "and the other was for the homosexual rape scene in Pulp Fiction. Hmmm, that's a tough choice"
Suddenly, teenagers too young to remember the song the first time around fell in love with it and "My Sharona became only the 10th former ..1 hit to chart again. It also prompted a tour of 32 cities. They have re-united periodically over the years and in 2001 put out a studio album Normal As The Next Guy and a live DVD Live From The Rock N'Roll Funhouse. As of 2005, the Knack are still active and play at various venues.
[edit] Band Member Bios
All members of the group are Jewish. Singer Doug Fieger, a native of Detroit, Michigan, had previously played in an eclectic rock band called Sky as well as The Sunset Bombers. Fieger is the brother of Detroit-area attorney Geoffrey Fieger, best known for representing Dr. Jack Kevorkian in a series of assisted suicide cases. As of August 2006, the band has been on hiatus after Doug Fieger underwent cancer surgery. On June 7, 2007, Doug's latest scan shows that his cancer is in remission.
Of the three other original members of The Knack (Berton Averre - Guitar, Prescott Niles - Bass, and Bruce Gary - Drums), Averre and Niles still currently play with The Knack. Bruce Gary died from lymphoma on August 22, 2006. He was 55.
Bruce Gary left the band well before his death, becoming a respected producer (archive recordings of Jimi Hendrix and new recordings of The Ventures) and a very successful sideman performing live and on studio sessions with artists such as Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Spencer Davis, Stephen Stills, Rod Stewart, and Sheryl Crow - and he did not join the more recent Knack reunions.
Several drummers have played for the group since Gary's departure including Billy Ward (Serious Fun album), Terry Bozzio (Zoom album), and David Henderson as 'Holmes Jones' (Normal as the Next Guy and Live at the Rock N Roll Funhouse albums). Currently Pat Torpey (Mr. Big) is playing the drums for the group.
All four original band members, including Bruce Gary, reunited in the studio on one occasion in recent years to record a track for a multi-artist compilation album saluting the British band Badfinger. In 2005, The Knack made an appearance on the TV program "Hit Me Baby One More Time". Doug Fieger appeared in the Countdown Spectacular 2 concert series in Australia between late-August and early-September 2007. He sang The Knack favourite "My Sharona" only.
Bassist Prescott Niles runs his myspace page myspace.com/prescottniles
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- Get the Knack (1979) #1 (6 weeks) US, #65 UK 2x Platinum
- ...But The Little Girls Understand (1980) #15 US Gold
- Round Trip (1981) #93 US
- Serious Fun (1991)
- Zoom (The Knack album)|Zoom (1998)
- Normal As The Next Guy (2001)
- Re-Zoom (Zoom with Bonus Tracks) (2003)
[edit] Live Album Released on CD and DVD
- Live From the Rock n Roll Funhouse (2001)
[edit] Live Concert Released on Laserdisc
- The Knack Live at Carnegie Hall (1979)
[edit] Live Concert Released on DVD
- World Cafe Live: The Knack in Concert (May 2007)
[edit] Compilation Albums
- My Sharona (album)|My Sharona (1995)
- Retrospective (The Knack album)|Retrospective (1992)
- Proof: The Very Best Of The Knack (1998)
[edit] Documentary DVD
- Getting The Knack (2004)
[edit] Singles
- "My Sharona" (1979) #1 (6 weeks) US, #6 UK
- "Good Girls Don't" (1979) #11 US, #66 UK
- "Baby Talks Dirty" (1980) #38 US
- "Can't Put A Price On Love" (1980) #62 US
- "Pay The Devil" (1981) #67 US
- "Rocket O' Love" (1991) #9 US (mainstream rock tracks)
[edit] Lead Singer Doug Fieger Solo Album
- First Things First (2000)
[edit] Audio sample
The Knack - My Sharona excerpt
[edit] References
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) |
- ^ MusicRooms.com (2006). The Knack vs. Run DMC Lawsuit. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
