| "My Sharona" | |||||||||
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| Single by The Knack | |||||||||
| from the album Get the Knack | |||||||||
| B-side | "Let Me Out" | ||||||||
| Released | June 1979 | ||||||||
| Format | 7" | ||||||||
| Recorded | April 1979 | ||||||||
| Genre | New Wave, power pop | ||||||||
| Length | 3:58 (single edit) 4:52 (album version) |
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| Label | Capitol | ||||||||
| Writer(s) | Doug Fieger, Berton Averre | ||||||||
| Producer | Mike Chapman | ||||||||
| The Knack singles chronology | |||||||||
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"My Sharona" is the debut single by The Knack, released in 1979 from their album Get the Knack. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart where it remained for six weeks and was #1 on Billboard's Top Pop Singles of 1979 year-end chart. It was certified gold (one million units sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America. It reached gold status faster than any debut single since The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in 1964.[1]
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The riff of "My Sharona" was written by the band's guitarist, Berton Averre, years before he joined The Knack. He had played it and a drum groove for Doug Fieger, the group's lead singer and rhythm guitarist, who loved it and promised to make it a song. However, Fieger, with no lyric ideas to add, was unsure what to do with it beyond that.
When Fieger, who was 25, met Sharona Alperin, who was 17 at the time,[2] she inspired a two-month-long run of songwriting, as well as becoming Fieger's girlfriend for the next four years. "It was like getting hit in the head with a baseball bat; I fell in love with her instantly. And when that happened, it sparked something and I started writing a lot of songs feverishly in a short amount of time." Whenever Fieger thought about Alperin, he would think of Berton Averre's guitar riff, and the two worked out the structure and melody from there. Averre was originally averse to using Sharona's name in the song, but Fieger wanted it to be a direct expression of his feelings; Averre ultimately relented.[3]
Sharona herself appears on the picture sleeve for the single, and became a major booster of the band bringing many girls to their early shows.[4] Sharona Alperin is now a real estate agent in Los Angeles, California,[5] and owns the song's Web domain name, using it for her personal Web site.
The music of the song echoes elements from songs from the 1960s. According to a Trouser Press reviewer, the song's main melodic hook is "an inversion of the signature riff" from "Gimme Some Loving," a 1967 song by the Spencer Davis Group.[1] Fieger has acknowledged that the song's tom-tom drum rhythm is "just a rewrite" of "Going to a Go-Go," a song from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles from 1965.[1] And the song's stuttering vocal effect of the repeated "muh muh muh my Sharona" phrase is reminiscent of the Roger Daltry's vocals in the 1965 song "My Generation" by The Who.[1] The song's clean production sound was also reminiscent of the sound of 1960s British Invasion.[1] Dick Nusser of Billboard Magazine remarked on the song's "catchy, deliberately awkward, stop-go drum and guitar breaks" and its "quirky lyrics" and "suggestive tone," and that the song will "make you ready, willing and able to hum the refrain at the right moment."[6] Chris Woodstra of Allmusic referred to the song as an "unforgettable hit."[7]
In 1994, "My Sharona" re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart (peaking at #91) when it was released as a single from the Reality Bites soundtrack album.
The song gained some attention in 2005 when it appeared on the playlist of U.S. President George W. Bush's iPod.[8]
"My Sharona" was ranked at #75 on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs in 2008.[9] It was also ranked #16 on the Top Billboard Hot 100 Rock Songs of the chart's first 50 years and as Billboard's Hot 100 Song of the Year for 1979.[10][11]
A cover version song is also featured as downloadable content in the music video game series Rock Band. The original version of the song, along with its music video, is featured on Lips: Party Classics on Xbox 360.
In films, the song has appeared in Reality Bites, RocketMan, and the trailer for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, and more recently in J.J. Abrams' Super 8. In the latter film, the song is featured when the main group of characters are shown singing it. The original version is heard during the end credits.
When Fieger died in 2010, The New York Times called the song "an emblem of the new wave era in rock and a prime example of the brevity of pop fame."[12]
| Chart (1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1[13] |
| U.S. Cash Box Top 100 Singles | 1 |
| Australian Kent Music Report | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 6[14] |
| New Zealand Charts | 3[15] |
With both the notoriety gained from being an international hit, and its distinctive rock guitar riff, "My Sharona" has been the subject of numerous parodies, tributes, and sampling, including:
| Preceded by "Good Times" by Chic |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single August 25, 1979 - September 29, 1979 |
Succeeded by "Sad Eyes" by Robert John |
| Preceded by "Born to Be Alive" by Patrick Hernandez |
Canadian "RPM" Singles Chart number-one single September 8, 1979 - September 22, 1979 |
Succeeded by "I Was Made for Loving You" by Kiss |
| Preceded by "Up There Cazaly" by Two-Man Band |
Australian Kent Music Report number one single September 3, 1979 - October 1, 1979 |
Succeeded by "Born to Be Alive" by Patrick Hernandez |
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