The Knack - Get The Knack (1979)

Fun, catchy New Wave power pop. While the band tried to cultivate a Beatles-like image, their music was more closely related to the Kinks. A most successful debut, it went gold in 13 days and platinum in 2 months, eventually selling 6 million copies. The songwriting (mostly by lead singer/guitarist Doug Fieger) is hook-laden and the instrumentation is sparse. For me, this band burned twice as bright, but half as long. Lyrically, the songs are misogynistic and sleazy, but I didn't pick up on that when I was 13. Now, of course, the crudeness can make them a difficult listen; however, like most power pop, the songs have aged well.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "effectively fuses new wave harshness and conviction with mainstream rock"
• CashBox: "one of the freshest and most immediately likeable records to be released on the pop market in sometime"
• Rolling Stone: "Dirty intensity in power pop this clean and arousing is amazing."
• Stereo Review: "the Knack gets on my nerves"
• Trouser Press: "they offer us nothing new and at best sound like a good Pezband."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #1
• CashBox: #1
• Rolling Stone: #1

Tracks: 12 tracks, of which I like 11. The only misstep is That's What The Little Girls Do. What was side 2 on the album leads off with My Sharona, which spent 6 weeks at #1, effectively moving the Top 40 from disco to New Wave. Even though you hear this song everywhere, I still like it. The album does have one Beatlesque song: Maybe Tonight. There's also a good Buddy Holly cover, Heartbeat.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Surprisingly, I never had a copy of this album when it was released. I had a cassette copy dubbed from a friend's LP until I found a used copy of the CD about 10 years ago. It's still good all these years later. As I wrote here, I like to tell people that my wife's nickname is Sharona and that the song was written about her. Apparently, the real Sharona is a real estate agent in L.A.

As a freshman in high school, I had a huge crush on a junior named Connie. We both played trumpet in the school band and were active in the drama club so I was around her quite a bit outside of school hours. She was way out of my league, but tolerated me like a little brother. One day in the summer of 1980 or 1981 (probably after a summer band practice), Connie and I piled into her Pontiac Sunbird and went to Sonic for a drink. Unsure of how much money we had, I spent most of the drive digging between the seats for spare change, probably so we could add an extra flavor to our soda (now I'm craving a cherry Sprite). Connie had this cassette playing in the car and I remember her singing along to (She's So) Selfish.