Sometimes a band makes a record that defines a moment of time and therefore find it impossible to get anywhere near that level of success again.

This is certainly true in the case of The Knack. The summer of 1979 saw their single “My Sharona” all over US radio. It was the number one in the US and Canadian charts. It was even a hit in the UK.

The album “My Sharona” came from was “Get The Knack” which was released June 11, 1979. The album was produced by Mike Chapman who fresh from the success of Blondie’s “Parallel Lines.” It was recorded in two week and only cost $18,000 which was peanuts for that time. It was released by Capitol Records. As The Beatles were a huge influence on the band insisted Capitol released the album on the old rainbow label.

Get The Knack became a huge success thanks to the promotional campaign by Capitol. It became their fastest selling debut since Meet The Beatles!. The album was No.1 for five weeks.

However the backlash was to start almost immediately. There were those who objected to the perceived overnight success. Some critics were unhappy about the misogynistic lyrics in some of the songs. The Knack certainly did not help themselves by refusing to conduct interviews which showed them as being arrogant. By the time of the third album Round Trip they were finished as a band.

What about the album itself? I find that “Get The Knack” to be an excellent slice of new wave power pop. Yes, it wears its influences on their sleeves but The Knack were no different to many new wave bands of that period. What makes this album stand out in my opinion are the standard of the songs. The stand out song is of course My Sharona which contains the heavy backbeat of Bruce Gary’s drumming. Songs like “Let Me Out” and “Frustrated” are hook laden guitar pop at it’s best. They can even be forgiven for including a cover of “Heartbeat”.

Maybe it’s best to end this blog with Kurt Cobain listing “Get The Knack” as one of his favourite records.

Steve Whitty