The Knack–Get the Knack …and then some!

Have you ever had an album that you listened to in your younger days and then fast forward another 10-12 years and you haven’t listened to it at all in those in-between years. At the time of it’s release, it was a platinum seller. Then, it was soon panned by critics.  Years later, this album comes across your path and you hesitantly put it on and you remember every note, every guitar lick and every lyric of the entire album. The album then haunts you for years. You’re not sure whether or not you want to add it to your current catalog of music because of the criticism. This happened to me with the album from 1979 known as Get the Knack~

In the late 70’s, I was a huge Star Wars fan and not a big music fan. My sisters obviously were fans of the disco craze of the 70’s. So, I knew a few artists from their collections and that era. But, I still had my finger on pop culture through the teen magazines my sister bought along with scholastic books pre-teen magazines like Dynamite and Bananas magazines.

My friends and I would frequent the Mall and various stores in our pre-teen life.  I remember one of my friends buying a 45 single of the Chipmunks singing Crazy Little Thing Called Love from Queen. Sometime after that I bought an 8-track version of an album called Chipmunk Punk. 

Now this contained the high sped up vocals of Alvin, Simon and Theodore singing hits like Refugee from Tom Petty, Call Me from Blondie, and My Sharona from the Knack. Strange enough, I came to know a lot of these songs rather well. In fact, 3 of the songs on this novelty record were to be on the album that would be engrained in my subconscious for years. Along with The Knack’s My Sharona, this also featured versions of the Knack’s songs Frustrated and Good Girls Don’t

At the time, my sister Kathy began signing up for the various “record clubs” you would find in various magazines.  So, I think somehow she ended up with two copies(on 8-track) of Get the Knack.  From there, I was given a copy or a took that extra copy. I don’t remember exactly. All I remember is that I was soon listening to every song on this 8-track.  I would clean my room every Saturday morning listening to this and the songs and lyrics would become solidified in my mind and memories.

 

Of course, the song that most people knew and still consider as their “One Hit Wonder” is My Sharona.  The song was ubiquitous and it was a big hit. With most big hits, it’s only a matter of time before the general public who bought and played and requested that song decide they don’t like it and begin to turn on it.  I didn’t follow the trends then(and I don’t really now either). But, The Knack had signed to Capitol records. The Beatles US distribution was through Capitol as well. If you look at the back cover of the Get the Knack album, the band is positioned and dressed in a simple black & white attire much like those lovable moptops from Liverpool.  The album sold millions and soon they became compared to the Beatles as well. It doesn’t take long before someone is bound to become offended by the comparison and the backlash begins.  Suddenly, from what I was reading was that it didn’t take long and the Knack wasn’t as popular as they once were and it wasn’t considered cool to like the Knack.

Fast forward to the late 80’s (1988-89). I’m working at Dustys Records and a customer comes in to sell a used CD copy of Get the Knack.  I begin thinking, “I haven’t heard this in ages.”  I slip the CD into the store stereo system and all the words and songs and rhythms come flooding back. I may have even started singing along to this as well.  I think both Bob and Forrest (fellow misfit employees) look at me and they make a sarcastic comment along the lines of “So, I take it you may have heard this before.”  At that point, I couldn’t deny this music from my past. I didn’t buy the CD at that point. But, it was surely on my mind to own it again someday. 

In the early 90’s, The Knack attempted to make a comeback with the album Serious Fun on Charisma records which was a subsidiary of a EMI/Capitol. While I worked at the Dustys store in Grand Island Nebraska, We either received a promo copy of the CD or we opened for in-store play. I thought it was filled with some great power-pop songs.  I actually talked to drummer Billy Ward that played on the album this past Fall(2013) at a drum clinic in San Antonio. Apparently, the album was set to be a big comeback. But, Charisma records ended up having some financial issues and all promotional support for the band suddenly dried up and the comeback never happened.

During my time living in Omaha from 1991-1994, I would make a habit of visiting the Dirt Cheap Recycled Sounds store in the Old Market section of town.  Around this time, the Ben Stiller movie Reality Bites featured a scene where Winona Ryder’s character and friends are dancing around a convenience store to the song My Sharona.  I had picked up a copy of the Dixie Dregs live reunion album Bring ‘Em Back Alive and on their song Take it Off The Top, the band incorporates a medley of different classic rock songs like Mississippi Queen, Freebird, and My Sharona.   One of my trips to Dirt Cheap, I found a used copy of Get the Knack on an LP. I snatched it up and threw it on the turntable and dropped the needle on it. Soon thereafter, I was singing along and playing air drums to this album once again. 

From that point on, I wouldn’t deny my love for this album. By the mid to late 90’s, it was cool to like the Knack. My friends in the cover band Fear of Flying from Central Nebraska used to play My Sharona as part of their set. It was always a big hit with the crowds that came out to see them. In the age of the internet, I like to look up some of the acts that I had grown up listening to. I don’t remember how I found it. But, I found a link for the original Knack drummer Bruce Gary.  It suddenly occurred that a lot of what he played was very influential in just great rock and power pop drumming….and it was fun to play too. In the age of social media, I love to share videos of the music and artists I seem to be tuned into on any given day. A few years back, I found some videos of the Knack playing some of the lesser known songs on the album.  In the comments for the video I had posted, I had a couple of comments from some of my fellow drummer friends that had fond memories of some great playing on that debut album.  I always had loved the album and the band in my own way. So, it was refreshing to have that confirmation from my friends and fellow musicians. 

Drummer Bruce Gary was the original with the band. He had played with Jack Bruce and Albert Collins. So, he had a lot of high profile gigs under his belt before he became the drummer of the Knack.  Drummer Pat Torpey of Mr. Big had actually been a member of the Knack just before he got the gig playing with Mr Big.  Former Zappa drummer Terry Bozzio even cut an album with the Knack called ZOOM.  Of course, I mentioned Billy Ward earlier.  His career has spanned work with Joan Osborne, BB King and Ace Frehley.  So, the drumming pedigree featured in this band has had some impressive credits as well.  But, to go back to that original drumming that Bruce Gary laid down is signature. After all, he came up with that drum intro that even non-drummers can identify and play as well. 

I love the rapid fire drum fills and the guitar riffs of Berton Averre as well. From songs like She’s So Selfish, Siamese Twins(the Monkey and Me) to Good Girls Don’t and Heartbeat, this whole album just rocks me and transports to a time when I started to discover popular music and the drums as well. 

Unfortunately, drummer Bruce Gary passed away in 2006 after suffering from non-Hodkin lymphoma and leader and songwriter Doug Fieger battled cancer and passed away in 2010.  Thus ends any chance of a classic Knack reunion.A couple months ago, I came across a documentary on the band narrated by Runaways singer Cherie Curie. This documentary talked about the album, the shot to stardom and the celebrity endorsements.  Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones praised Get the Knack  and claims it’s a favorite album of his. Before the band was signed to Capitol records, they were joined onstage at a club in Los Angeles by “The Boss” himself Bruce Springsteen.  They even joke about how there weren’t any record labels interested in them until news got out that Springsteen had jammed with them onstage. Then suddenly, they all wanted to sign them.

So, they may have shot to the top of the charts. They may be known as a “one-hit wonder”. But, that is for the people look for the hits and don’t see the whole album as a musical statement. They may have fell from the top of music charts and popular tastes as fast as they arrived. All I know is that I loved this album when I was 12 years old and now I still love and will proudly admit it now that I’m …..uhhhhhhh not 12 years old any more and I still love it.