Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Music»Artists - A to K»Artists - K
    Artists - K Music - 1970s 2 Mins Read

    Knack, The

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    The Knack exemplified American New Wave – a short haired, 60s-influenced band playing straight-ahead pop-rock while sporting skinny ties and modish suits.

    Charting worldwide in 1979 with the catchy, syncopated My Sharona, The Knack were briefly a bona fide pop sensation. The single blared on car radios throughout that summer, and their debut album, Get The Knack, sold 5 million copies in the US.

    knack2In the States, the beaty, swinging follow-up Good Girls Don’t stalled just outside the Top 10 but, in the UK, it didn’t even reach the Top 50.

    Because their success was based on one thing (Sharona) they were never allowed to do anything different and the British press – who viewed The Knack suspiciously as bandwagon-jumpers – grew very hostile to the band.

    Suddenly it was all over. The records stopped selling and the girls stopped screaming. Critics began to attack the band’s Beatles-esque packaging as shallow hype and attacked singer-guitarist Doug Fieger for the sexist arrogance of his lyrics.

    By November 1980 The Knack were falling apart. Although they buried the hatchet to record Round Trip (1981), the band gave their final performance at an Acapulco nightclub in December 1981.

    knack_097The Knack were later embraced by Nirvana‘s Kurt Cobain, who rated the Get The Knack album in his Top 20 all-time favourite records, and declared that Nirvana sounded like “a 90s version of Cheap Trick or The Knack”.

    The band reformed in 1991 without drummer Bruce Gary, but he rejoined them to make a Badfinger tribute album in 1997. Gary passed away in Los Angeles on 22 August 2006, aged 54.

    Doug Fieger (pictured at right) battled brain tumours and lung cancer until his death on 14 February 2010, in Woodland Hills, California. He was 57.

    Doug Fieger
    Vocals, guitar
    Berton Averre
    Guitar
    Prescott Niles
    Bass
    Bruce Gary
    Drums

    Video

    Related Posts

    • New Wave
      New Wave
      New Wave is often remembered more for skinny ties and silly haircuts than for musical merits. The Police, Elvis Costello, The Cars and Blondie all lent…
    • Hall & Oates
      Hall & Oates
      Philadelphia soulboys Daryl Hall (born Daryl Franklin Hohl) and John William Oates first met at the Adelphi Ballroom in Philadelphia…
    • Boston
      Boston
      Boston leader and guitarist Tom Scholz got a masters degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked…
    • Kansas
      Kansas
      Kansas started out as a bar band playing cover versions of contemporary songs and soul oldies in the American state…
    • Mi-Sex
      Mi-Sex
      Mi-Sex were formed in New Zealand as a long-haired hippie pub band known as The Fragments Of Time. They moved to Australia…
    • Police, The
      Police, The
      Originally known as Strontium 90, The Police was formed by American drummer Stewart Copeland in January 1977. Copeland (who had previously…
    • Rick Springfield
      Rick Springfield
      Born Richard Lewis Springthorpe on 23 August 1949 in the Sydney (Australia) suburb of Guildford, Rick Springfield began playing the…
    • Molly Hatchet
      Molly Hatchet
      What made Molly Hatchet the top post-Lynyrd Skynyrd Southern boogie band wasn't their Gainesville roots or their message (assuming they had…

    Power Pop
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleKLF
    Next Article Knickerbockers, The

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Timi Yuro
      Born Rosemarie Timotea Aurro (pronounced “Yuro”) in […]
    • Prick Up Your Ears (1987)
      The life of doomed gay British playwright Joe Orton gets a […]
    • Starstruck (1982)
      Jackie Mullens (Jo Kennedy) is a rambunctious 17-year-old […]
    • Zero Hour! (1957)
      Ted Stryker, an ex-fighter pilot haunted by his wartime […]
    • Young Lions, The (1958)
      Three soldiers have their outlook on life drastically altered […]
    • Going Straight
      1 9 7 8 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes This short-lived sequel to […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.