Get the Knack
Get the Knack is the debut album by American rock band the Knack, released in June 1979. At the time, the album was one of the most successful debuts in history, selling over one million copies in less than two months and spending five weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart.
The lead single from the album, "My Sharona", was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and number one on Billboard's Top Pop Singles of 1979 year-end chart. The follow-up single, "Good Girls Don't", reached number 11 on the Hot 100 and followed "My Sharona" to number one on the Canadian Singles Chart. In Billboard magazine's year-end charts, Get the Knack ranked at #16 for 1979,[4] and #72 for 1980.[5]
Background[edit]
The Knack formed in Los Angeles in May 1978, and after shopping their demo tape to various record labels without success, the band began playing the local club circuit beginning in June, playing over 50 gigs in the next six months. The band quickly gained a following as word of mouth spread about their energetic shows and musicians such as Ray Manzarek, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen came to their shows and joined the group on stage. By December, thirteen record labels, including some that previously rejected them, were offering recording contracts and the group signed with Capitol Records in January 1979.[6]
Recording[edit]
Get the Knack was recorded in just two weeks at a cost of only $18,000, an extremely quick and inexpensive recording at a time when many established artists were spending months and several hundred thousand dollars to record an album. The album was produced by Mike Chapman, who had written hits for Sweet in the early 1970s and most recently produced Blondie's breakout album Parallel Lines.[7]
Legacy[edit]
In a retrospective review, AllMusic critic Chris Woodstra wrote that the Knack's attempt to "update the Beatles sound for the new wave era" was "a good idea that was well executed", describing Get the Knack as "at once sleazy, sexist, hook-filled, and endlessly catchy – above all, it's a guilty pleasure and an exercise in simple fun."[8] Trouser Press noted the negative portrayal of the female protagonists of certain songs and singled out "Maybe Tonight" as "bottom-of-the-barrel sap", but praised "My Sharona", "Let Me Out" and "Frustrated" as "tight guitar pop."[17] In 2016, Paste ranked Get the Knack at number 39 on its list of the 50 best new wave albums.[1] Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain listed Get the Knack as one of his 50 favorite recordings.[18]
Re-issues[edit]
When the album was initially released on CD in 1989,[19] the song "(She's So) Selfish" had vocals different from the original release, with lyrics like "coming from the quaalude scene" changed to "...lame'o scene". Capitol Records used a censored, alternate version of the track which was requested in certain countries.
The album was re-issued on CD in 2002 as a remastered version true to the original vinyl release. This version included bonus demos of "My Sharona" and "That's What the Little Girls Do", as well as a rehearsal take 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 was left off the Get the Knack LP, and a cover of Nick Lowe's "I Knew the Bride".[20][21][2] A subsequent CD re-issue was remastered by Iconoclassic Records in 2011. Unlike the previous remaster, the 2011 release contains no dynamic range compression.
In April 2017, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released an audiophile version of the album on hybrid SACD.[22] This release, like the 2002 Capitol and 2011 Iconoclassic versions, utilizes the original, un-censored mixes.
The Knack