Photos courtesy of Prescott Niles
Their journey has been depicted as both a Cinderella story and one of music’s most epic fails.
Yet there can be no denying that for (at least) the fall of 1979, LA-based foursome The Knack — singer and rhythm guitarist Doug Fieger, lead guitarist Berton Averre, bassist Prescott Niles, and drummer Bruce Gary — had listeners firmly in their grasp. The bait was a hook-laden single rife with pent-up sexual energy. The song, of course, was the Fieger-penned “My Sharona,” which skyrocketed up the Billboard Hot 100 to Number One where it stayed for six straight weeks.
The track would be the biggest hit of 1979 (during the height of disco no less!) and propel their Capitol Records debut album, Get the Knack, to double platinum status. The song would eventually put a young performer named Alfred Yankovic on the map around the same time with his own unique, accordion-driven take (“My Bologna”).
Enter the 1980s though and this musical Icarus sees its wings melt having come perhaps too close to the commercial sun. There’s a critical backlash; a “Knuke the Knack” campaign; a second album that sells a quarter of what their debut does; and a legitimately good band being branded as obsolete.
But there are other band accomplishments to consider that are rarely if ever brought into this conversation. What about the fact there’s another Knack Top 20 hit (“Good Girls Don’t”), or how, at their peak, the band could easily sell out venues like Carnegie Hall and the Forum in Los Angeles? How about their two Grammy nominations in 1980, including one for Best New Artist? How about being dubbed by songwriter/producer extraordinaire Mike Chapman as “the easiest band” he ever worked with? What about being talented enough to get superstar producers like Jack Douglas and Don Was to willingly produce their later albums?
As Knack bassist Prescott Niles told me recently: “We’re great. We did great interviews. People liked us. We weren’t assholes on any level.”
So what exactly happened? How does a band like this soar that high and then apparently come crashing down just as quickly?
In speaking with Niles, I found out that while there is an answer to this question, there are also several misconceptions about The Knack that should be addressed. Let’s start with their band’s road to success being an easy one.
“The overnight success was a year of playing prior to (Get The Knack). The band’s first show was June 1, 1978. After that show we decided there was a real chemistry between us in that, ‘OK, let’s really do this thing,’” Niles said. “We had been playing around LA for quite a while — all the clubs. A lot of people assumed The Knack was hyped by Capitol. We just did the work; played everywhere in LA; went to San Francisco — did everything you do to break a band. Nobody had any idea that the album we made was going to be what it became. It truly was magic.”
Then there’s the idea that the band was molded in the shape — and look — of The Beatles. Per Niles: “A lot of people assumed Capitol created us to be the next Beatles, which was the farthest thing from the truth. If you really listen to the band’s sound and the level of musicianship, we were more like the Who and the Kinks.”
What about group superstar success stemming from “My Sharona” as a single only? Nope. The album came first. It wasn’t until radio started playing “My Sharona” while the band was touring Europe that it truly caught on.
“Normally you have a single that paves the way for the album; this worked in reverse, which to me was fantastic because the album was promoted which meant more people listened to the album as opposed to just listening to one song,” Niles said.
Then there’s the misconception that Capitol forced the band to release its second album, …But The Little Girls Understand, mere months after its first to cash in on the success of “My Sharona.”
“The biggest problem we had — and the biggest problem Capitol was put in the position to do — was to release another album. Capitol did not ask us to do a second album; it was backwards,” Niles told me. “The biggest mistake we and Capitol made was that you couldn’t overestimate the fact that “Sharona” became what it was. To follow up a second album with a second single, it’s got to be better or at least equal to “Sharona.””
Regardless, by the time 1980 rolls around, The Knack’s second album is on store shelves, hitting the Top 20, with a new rocking single (“Baby Talks Dirty”) in tow. While “Baby Talks Dirty” would allegedly sound very similar to “My Sharona,” Niles points out they are quite different.
“It might have been in the same key of G and it had a riff but there was actually a chorus to it. The format was different number one,” he said. “The drums did not have a signature beat. If you listen to the bridge, it really was more like Led Zeppelin in terms of structure in the way it played out.”
Compared to “My Sharona,” “Baby Talks Dirty” would barely reach the Top 40. The song’s raunchier lyrics (“You know my baby, she say, ‘Hurt me, hurt me!’”) would prove off-putting to many.
“’Baby Talks Dirty’ had its good points, but I don’t think the song itself was as strong,” Niles said. “If Steven Tyler did it … it would have been more acceptable because that’s who he was, raunchy and sexual so to speak. But for the Knack to be doing it, it didn’t seem quite right.”
Yet as a whole, …But The Little Girls Understand is a worthy complement to the band’s debut. On this release, The Knack still knows how to cut to the musical chase, avoid production frill, and embody the West Coast’s answer to Cheap Trick. Essentially, they follow the same exact formula as their debut, which took only three weeks and $15,000 to create. They even had prior unrecorded songs in their arsenal ready to go for this album. Yet because of the massive success of Get The Knack, this album tends to get neglected, which is unfortunate. Chalk it up to everything from Capitol’s choices for singles, to overall band/producer dynamic the second time around, to its album cover, per Niles.
“It’s the same band. I think the performances were great,” Niles says. “’I Want Ya,’ I felt could have been a good single. It’s a really great pop single. Bruce’s drumming is incredible on it. ‘Rave Up’ was a great rocker we used to do live. I thought that was a great song. ‘Tell Me You’re Mine’ — I think that was a great live song. I like the songwriting on that album pretty much.
“We didn’t do any promotion to promote the album. The trajectory of the band itself was sidetracked by things we should have done that we didn’t do,” Niles adds. “It was one of those perfect storms of failure.”
Three other key factors seemingly spurred The Knack to suffer the sophomore jinx, according to Niles: not appearing at the Grammys in 1980 despite being nominated for two awards; a lack of overall American television presence; and critics waiting en masse to pounce on the band and their low-fi poppy sound. I’ll let Niles address each one respectively:
“To not go to the Grammys is a sin, quote me on that one. I mean it’s one thing to go and not be part of it but to be nominated. If we had done ‘Sharona’ on live TV, we would have sold eight million albums overnight because the thing about the band was, we were really good and we didn’t have to pretend to sound like the record; we were the record.
“By not doing American TV, that to me was the biggest problem. Nobody knew who we were. We should have done American TV only because we needed to let America know who we were.
“Because of our great success, I think critics were waiting to attack us. And I think we gave them the ammunition to go, ‘Yeah, well they’re a one hit wonder because the second album didn’t have a hit.’ I think that unfortunately they overlooked the band and focused on the failure. It was too soon, and everything was compared to ‘Sharona’.”
But it’s not all what-ifs when it comes to The Knack. …But the Little Girls Understand has a solid sound, replete with garage rock, ‘50s rock, and surf rock undertones. Certain songs are shorter, like “Hold On Tight” and “Don’t Let Go.” However, given that punk remained viable at this time, that’s not a bad thing. Many songs would also find their way into the group’s reunion sets over the years.
And, for anyone who thinks these songs may be throwaways, just remember that “My Sharona” was recorded in one take at Mike Chapman’s insistence. And how successful did that track become?
“Mike was responsible, I believe, for allowing the band to the be the band and not worry about production. Mike really wanted to capture who we were,” said Niles. “Mike was the only one who said ‘Sharona’ was a number one. First time he heard it, he went, ‘That’s a number one.’ I wrote that in my journal, by the way. Mike’s words were true gospel to me.”
“I listen to (…But The Little Girls Understand), and I play it. The musicianship was great and Doug’s vocals were great and most of the songs I really like,” Niles adds. “It’s not that it’s a bad album — it’s not. I just think you shouldn’t compare albums to each other anyway.”
The Knack would make it through another album, 1981’s Round Trip (produced by Jack Douglas), before taking a 10-year break.
For Record Store Day 2022, a previously unreleased 2001 concert The Knack did entitled Live At The House Of Blues has surfaced. Recorded in Hollywood, the 18-track set is a limited edition release with only 2,500 copies available as a double LP gatefold set on “baby blue” vinyl. CD and digital releases will follow in May 2022. It is sure to remind listeners of The Knack’s endurance and talents, especially given the untimely deaths of Gary in 2006 and Fieger in 2010.
“The album itself captures a different Knack but a really exciting Knack,” Niles says.
And like their prior releases, it’s important to remember that The Knack has always been exciting, even if they didn’t fit into spheres of critical coolness or genius rockers. …But the Little Girls Understand ultimately proves that there’s a reason we all, at one time, cared about what this band had to say and play.
“We didn’t fail in terms of musicianship or quality,” Niles says. “I do like the second album and a lot of people like it. If that was our first album, it would have been received very well.”
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