Great Rock Albums of 1979: The Knack- Get the Knack

I mentioned when I introduced 1979, that for three months of that life changing year, I was in a place where I was starved musically, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina or to quote the film "Full Metal Jacket," home for the crazy brave. When I left that lovely place as a US Marine, I came home on leave and found that the song of the day was "My Sharona" by The Knack. When I listened to it, I thought it was a lot better than all the disco that was around before I went to boot camp and so I bought the 45. A friend played the entire album for me not long after and I must say that I was impressed.
"My Sharona" is by far the best song on the album and Berton Averre's guitar solo on the song is very good indeed. It has always baffled me why he isn't given more space to showcase his talents on other tracks on the album. That is not to say that the other tracks aren't good, I especially like the second single "Good Girls Don't" although I much prefer the lyrical version of the song not meant for radio and "Frustrated" is too a good song just because Averre plays a guitar solo on that one too.
"Get the Knack" was one of the fastest selling debut albums since the debut from The Beatles in 1964. Many began comparing them to the legends from Liverpool and I think that was the big mistake. Okay, there were similarities, but I never thought The Knack were that good. Most of their songs were short sharp rockers that you got into then got out of. It was as simple as that.

Track Listing:

1. Let Me Out

2. Your Number or Your Name

3. Let Me Out

4. (She's So) Selfish

5. Maybe Tonight

6. Good Girls Don't

7. My Sharona

8.Heartbeat

9. Siamese Twims (The Monkey and Me)

10. Lucinda

11. That's What Little Girls Do

12. Frustrated

The Knack

Doug Fieger- rhythm guitar, vocals

Berton Averre- lead guitar

Doug Gary- drums

Prescott Niles- bass

In past posts, I have spoken about the Sophmore jinx and I will be mentioning that again when I visit The Knack's next album. For debut albums, "Get the Knack" is one of the best. It's a fun album that rides well on the back of a classic single and if there's one good thing that can be said about it, it did knock disco off the charts.

Next post: Molly Hatchet- Flirtin' With Disaster

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