Get The Knack
| Get The Knack | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Studio album by The Knack | ||||
| Released | June 11, 1979[1] | |||
| Recorded | April 1979 | |||
| Genre | New wave, power pop | |||
| Length | 40:58 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Mike Chapman | |||
| The Knack chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| Robert Christgau | (B-) [3] |
Get The Knack is the debut album by The Knack, released in June 1979. The album was the fasting-selling debut album on Capitol Records since Meet the Beatles in 1964.[4] It went platinum (one million units sold) in just two months and spent five weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The lead single from the album, "My Sharona", was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and #1 on Billboard's Top Pop Singles of 1979 year end chart. The LP also featured the second single "Good Girls Don't" which peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other cuts that received significant airplay on AOR radio were: "(She's So) Selfish" and "Frustrated", and a cover version of the Buddy Holly song "Heartbeat".[citation needed]
The album was recorded in two weeks at a cost of just $18,000 and became an instant success, thanks in part to an intense promotional campaign by Capitol Records. It sold two million copies in the United States and six million worldwide.[5] The Knack's image was largely influenced by The Beatles: the album cover imitates The Beatles' first Capitol LP Meet the Beatles! and the back cover photo depicts a scene very close to a shot from The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night. To complete the Beatle imagery, the 1960s Capitol rainbow label adorned the LP, a detail the band had written into its contract.[1]
The album presented a raw energetic sound with fast cuts from song to song that helped establish the new wave trend. It also featured lyrics that were quite raunchy for a pop album in a time before warning labels. In a negative review of the album for the Los Angeles Times, Kristine McKenna found the lyrics particularly objectionable because the band's music appealed to listeners that were younger and more impressionable than the fans of most other rock groups.[1] While the album was extremely popular, there was also an intense negative backlash spearheaded by the "Knuke the Knack" campaign that was partly in response to the controversial lyrics. However, Dick Nusser of Billboard Magazine praised many of the songs.[6] Besides the big hits, he noted that the album opener "Let Me Out" is a "teen anthem delivered at full speed" with "delightful backing harmonies, singing, slapping guitars and perfectly tuned drumming," that the quiet ballad "Maybe Tonight" is "a potential standard," and that the pleading song "Oh Tara" indicates that The Knack "aren't strict girl haters." Nasser also called "That's What the Little Girls Do" a "classic," remarking on its "strong melody" and remarked on the Bo Diddley-like riff on "(She's So) Selfish."[6]
Allmusic critic Bruce Eder referred to The Knack's version of Buddy Holly cover "Heartbeat" as "a ballad played with a lot of '70s attitude," and that "it does give a fresh take on the song."[7] Trouser Press referred to "Maybe Tonight" as "bottom-of-the-barrel sap" but praised "My Sharona," "Let Me Out" and "Frustrated" as "tight guitar pop."[8] Trouser Press also commented on the negative portrayal of the woman protagonists of "She's So Selfish," "Frustrated" and "That's What the Little Girls Do."[8]
When the album was released on CD in the 1990s, lyrics on the song "(She's So) Selfish" were significantly altered, with lines like "coming from the quaalude scene" changed to "lame'o scene". The album was re-released on CD in 2002 as a remastered version true to the original vinyl release, and included bonus demo tracks of "My Sharona" and "That's What The Little Girls Do," as well as a rehearsal track of "Maybe Tonight." It also included a cover of Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town outtake "Don't Look Back," which The Knack recorded in 1979 but left off the original Get The Knack album, and a cover of Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds' "I Knew the Bride".[9][10][11]
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Side 1
- "Let Me Out" (Doug Fieger, Berton Averre) – 2:20
- "Your Number or Your Name" (Fieger, Averre) – 2:57
- "Oh Tara" (Fieger) – 3:04
- "(She's So) Selfish" (Fieger, Averre) – 4:30
- "Maybe Tonight" (Fieger) – 4:00
- "Good Girls Don't" (Fieger) – 3:07
[edit] Side 2
- "My Sharona" (Fieger, Averre) – 4:52
- "Heartbeat" (Bob Montgomery, Norman Petty) – 2:11
- "Siamese Twins (The Monkey and Me)" (Fieger, Averre) – 3:25
- "Lucinda" (Fieger, Averre) – 4:00
- "That's What the Little Girls Do" (Fieger) – 2:41
- "Frustrated" (Fieger, Averre) – 3:51
[edit] Personnel
- Doug Fieger – rhythm guitar, lead vocals
- Berton Averre – lead guitar
- Bruce Gary – drums
- Prescott Niles – bass
[edit] Chart positions
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Billboard 200 | 1 |
| 1979 | Kent Music Report (Australia) | 1 |
| 1979 | UK Album Chart | 65 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | "My Sharona" | Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| 1979 | "My Sharona" | Kent Music Report (Australia) | 1 |
| 1979 | "My Sharona" | UK Singles Chart | 6 |
| 1979 | "Good Girls Don't" | Billboard Hot 100 | 11 |
| 1979 | "Good Girls Don't" | UK Singles Chart | 66 |
| Preceded by Bad Girls by Donna Summer |
Billboard 200 number-one album August 11 - September 14, 1979 |
Succeeded by In Through the Out Door by Led Zeppelin |
| Preceded by The Very Best of Leo Sayer by Leo Sayer |
Australian Kent Music Report number-one album September 3 - September 16, 1979 September 24 - October 7, 1979 |
Succeeded by Slow Train Coming by Bob Dylan |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Atkinson, Terry (October 18, 1979). "The Knack: Yesterday...and Today". Rolling Stone (Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc.) (302): 32, 35–37.
- ^ Woodstra, Chris. "Allmusic review". Allmusic. All Media Guide. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r11107. Retrieved 2011-07-03.
- ^ link "Robert Christgau's Consumer Guide". Robert Christgau. robertchristgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=2073&name=The+Knack link. Retrieved 2011-07-03.
- ^ McCullaugh, Jim. "Knack Rides Charts with $18,000 Album" Billboard August 4, 1979: 62
- ^ Milano, Brett (September 2, 1998). "Music; After years of taking flak, the Knack is back and on the attack". Herald Media Inc.. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/access/33599871.html?dids=33599871:33599871&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Sep+02%2C+1998&author=BRETT+MILANO&pub=Boston+Herald&desc=Music%3B+After+years+of+taking+flak%2C+the+Knack+is+back+and+on+the+attack&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2011-10-07.
- ^ a b Nusser, D. (July 28, 1979). "Closeup: Get The Knack". Billboard Magazine. pp. 52, 66. http://books.google.com/books?id=nCQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT107&dq=%22maybe+tonight%22+knack&hl=en&ei=yucdTvaGLYXW0QGVh8jkBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=%22maybe%20tonight%22%20knack&f=false. Retrieved 2011-07-14.
- ^ Eder, B.. "Get the Knack/...But the Little Girls Understand". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/get-the-knackbut-the-little-girls-understand-r220215/review. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
- ^ a b Robbins, I. & Sandlin, M.. "Knack". Trouser Press. http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=knack. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
- ^ "Get the Knack (Bonus Tracks)". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/get-the-knack-bonus-tracks-r587054. Retrieved 2011-07-12.
- ^ Guterman, J. (2005). Runaway American dream: listening to Bruce Springsteen. Da Capo Press. pp. 109–110. ISBN 9780306813979.
- ^ Borack, J. (2007). Shake some action: the ultimate power pop guide. p. 60. ISBN 9780979771408.
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