Feb 152010
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Just read the news that Doug Fieger of The Knack died Sunday. I wasn’t old enough to remember the war the rock press had with this band and its success, but I do remember “My Sharona.” Later, when I fancied myself a student of the power pop genre, I discovered that first Knack record and all of its many gems.
So, the questions for you is this: Get The Knack or Knuke The Knack?
TB
NEXT: Rock Town Hall’s Official Eulogy…
The hub-bub over “My Sharona” when it hit was something else, TB. It was poised to be New Wave’s breakthrough track, but instead it seemed something much less. Doug Fieger never seemed part of “the cause,” as I felt it as a teenager. It wasn’t horrible by any stretch – and some songs, like “Good Girls Don’t,” delivered the good, but for me it immediately rreeked of a means to coopt the efforts of “real” New Wave artists. I’m trying to relate these feelings as the teenager I was, but I still can’t shake feeling this way. I would much rather have seen the adulation and money go to Braham Tchaikovsky’s “Girl of My Dreams,” The Records’ “Starry Eyes,” or The (Paul Collins’) Beat’s tiny hit, the name of which now escapes me. Blondie and Tom Petty were major label “New Wave” success stories at that time that I could fully support.
Was The Beat song you’re thinking of “Rock N Roll Girl?” If so, it’s a sure doozy.
As I said, I can’t relate to whole anti-Knack thing like you can because I only know the record and how it related to me when I got older. I never saw them as “the next Beatles” or whatever they were supposed to be. It’s interesting to get that perspective.
My bandmate and I were talking this morning when we got the news of Doug’s passing and he summed it up for us: “That record’s got magic.” It’s one of the few so-called power pop records where I can put it on and enjoy each and every track. I never had the courage to dig deeper, although I picked that second album up many times (Maybe I’ll honor Doug and finally buy that one.).
And I totally agree with you on the goodness of those other artists and records (The Records were another late discovery for me that I was thankful I found), but removed from the hype, I just like the music on that first Knack record.
TB
I totally got the Knack, and still get that first LP. What will always befuddle and confuse me is how incredibly useless all of their follow-up efforts were. Talk about a hit-it-and-quit-it band. There must be some Aesop’s fable, or tale in Greek mythology, that their incredible success, followed by their artistic *and* commercial implosion, would rival. The gap was that huge. I have a Knack rockumentary that tries to shed light on the “why,” but it still seems unbelievable.
RIP, Doug! They say you were a king-sized a-hole, but I could care less.
Sad to hear it. I knew that it was just a matter of time.
I still dig their 1st LP and their 1990 “comeback” record Serious Fun.
There is a nice Best Of that has them covering Springsteen’s “Don’t Look Back” that is very good.
the Knack was 1 hit wonder material to the general pop public, but Power Pop fans kept up with them (the audience became more “select” as they say”)and they mostly delivered good power pop stuff.
Mod, basically I agree with your assessment, but still: that first lp (or, really, the singles) will always conjure up that time and place. (In a good way, I mean.) I was 11 or 12, and shoot, even I knew the “new Beatles” and torchbearers for the New Wave stuff was bs. Still, thanks for the memories and r.i.p. and all that.
I remember the day that I came home with The Knack’s Get The Knack. It was the same day I bought Devo’s – Duty Now For The Future and Joe Jackson’s Look Sharp LPs.
Being a young aspiring bassist it was my obligation to learn all these new killer bass parts so i could show off to my friends and possibly play the covers in bands. Whoopee!
The Knack were like The King Bees, or The Kings for that matter, with respect to writing one, maybe two, great songs to achieve air play. The problem is that their LPs much like the others contained very little if any real depth or identity. I think that’s why when I juxtapose that fateful day’s LP purchases in retrospect, it’s primarily Joe Jackson and Devo that had a good deal more staying power in them. Both seemed to have had more of an underlying signature musical mission in stock that gave them their staying power. There was substance and conviction in what they did.
But all in all the Knack did manage to squeeze out a couple of lusty good’ns. I’ll give them that much.
I loved the first Knack record. I couldn’t relate to the credibility war that ensued. I wanted New Wave to be co-opted, especially by people who were really good at their instruments. Who cares who’s jumping someone else’s train? That album had the goods.
Unfortunately they approached the second album like a movie sequel where the idea is to make the exact same movie a second time. The results were predictably mediocre, but the first album still works for me.
Did Fieger have an interesting run of pre-fame bands and recorded material prior to hitting paydirt with The Knack? We learned in on of our Richard Lloyd interviews that one of the band members was in a band with Lloyd’s Hendrix-taught friend, the name of whom escapes me. I believe either that Knack member or another guy also had a near-success as an early member or audition runner-up with some band like Blondie, but I’ve never heard anything about pre-Knack Fieger.
Although their lyrics vacillated between misogynistic and down right creepy, their music was catchy as shit and excellently executed.
The hidden gem on that first album is That’s What the Little Girls Do. Absolutely perfect pop.
cdm is spot on, I think I like every other song better on there than My Sharona, although the middle part of that kicks butt. Once again, if say, Weird Al were to help out on the lyrics, it would have no doubt classic power-pop possibilities.
In response to him being a “king size a-hole,” the story I heard was that during the height of their fame he was pretty horrible but also had a drinking problem. After he got sober, he was apparently an extremely sweet guy.
So many people dying these days….
Whoa! From Wikipedia:
Triumvirat was one of the ultimate bands beloved by audiophile assholes in my high school days! No wonder Get The Knack sounds so hot!
Here’s a Sky track I found on YouTube. It has elements I can dig:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBaI88Sx3_c
I guess this is another one that was just posted today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rusKihFQGQ
The guy had a knack for pinky-rock bubblegum way back when.
For those of you who’ve never had Triumvirat shoved down your throat – or those of you who, like me, has not heard a lick of their music for 30 years – here’s a little taste:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJAfMp5vYS4
The Comments on YouTube for this video are touching. Really.
Fieger also sang a couple of songs on the second Was (Not Was) album, Born To Laugh At Tornadoes, after the Knack’s success had subsided some. I think it was a Detroit thing.
I remember buying Get the Knack at Musicland and the older clerk saying — “Man, who are these guys? We are selling a ton of these albums today.”
Sure, I grew out of them in three months, but just putting on Get the Knack puts me a good place.
Musical considerations aside, that was an era where bands had names you could get behind. The Knack, The Beat, The Records, The Heartbreakers, The Attractions, The Jam, XTC and on and on.
What do we get now? Stuff like the one Links posted on RTH v1 yesterday “The Bewitched Hands On Top Of Our Heads”. No wonder I can’t be bothered to listen to anything new…