As The Knack’s “My Sharona” turns 40, we look back at the phenomenon that was The Knack’s first album, with some fun-poking ‘interpretations’ from both Weird Al Jankovic and Cheech & Chong, and tributes of sorts from both Nirvana and the Foo Fighters...

If you weren’t around and listening to top 40 radio at the time, it’s probably hard to understand just how much of an impact The Knack had when they appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, in 1979. “My Sharona” was not only ubiquitous, but it was also startlingly different anything else on the radio at the time – stark drums and guitar, a whomping beat, and undeniable energy.

The Knack were proof that the simple and direct qualities of classic mid-60s rock could still impact in an era of pomp (Styx, REO Speedwagon) and pap (sorry Roger Voudouris). They were, briefly, the commercial realisation of the ‘new wave’ that had been ushered in by punk, and of the rock’n’roll fanboy genre known as power pop, which was basically a conscious attempt to revive the qualities of 60s pop in a contemporary context. “My Sharona” wasn’t the only great track on Get The Knack; indeed second single “Good Girls Don’t” was a much better tune, and others, like “Oh Tara”, “Your Number or Your Name” and the barnstorming opener “Let Me Out” were all rippers. Their second album ...But The Little Girls Understand had a couple of killers too (“I Want Ya” and “It’s You”), and their rarely heard third album Round Trip is considered by some fans to be their best.  

The Knack also opened the door to success for other similarly influenced bands: without the success of “My Sharona” for instance it’s doubtful we would have even heard of the likes of “What I Like About You” by The Romantics and “The Break Up Song” by The Greg Kihn Band. Truth be told we may never have heard the likes of The Pretenders’ “Brass In Pocket”, Nick Lowe’s “Cruel To Be Kind”, The Go-Gos’ “We Got The Beat” – even Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl”, or, in Australia, The Sunnyboys’ “Happy Man” – on the radio if The Knack hadn’t opened doors and changed record company and radio attitudes. Dare we say even Devo benefited; sure they had already released two albums, but they were strictly weirdsville until 1980 album Freedom Of Choice made pop stars of them. Recorded as “My Sharona” was sitting on top of the charts, the first single off Devo’s third album, “The Girl You Want”, sounded like The Knack’s hit turned inside out.

While we listeners benefited, it wasn’t all wine and roses for The Knack for long. The band had been the subject of a massive level of hype; hype that stripped them of respect at the same time as they ascended to the top, resulting in a critical backlash and a ‘Nuke The Knack’ campaign encouraged by many of their contemporaries. They may have had the biggest single of the year in 1979, and they may have made the music industry realise it wasn’t all about blow waves and satin, but by the end of that year, The Knack were almost dead in the water. Within months that second album, too much more of the same despite those couple of crackers, pushed them under. 

The band’s leering and bragging lead singer and primary songwriter, the late Doug Fieger, may have also had something to do with the backlash. His obsession with the ‘younger kind’ wouldn’t cut it today, and truth be told it didn’t feel right back then either. It was there in “My Sharona”, but it was at its worst in the second single “Good Girls Don’t”, a great pop song marred by too much insight into Doug’s dirty mind. They at least had the decency to remove the worst lines for the single edit. Doug always maintained he wrote these songs from the perspective of a 14-year-old boy. There’s no doubt some truth to that, but the unfiltered contents of a 14-year-old boy’s mind are probably not something anybody really needs to hear on the radio.        

“My Sharona” also inadvertently kicked off the career of Weird Al Yankovic (when he still played the accordion!) and took the fancy of Cheech & Chong in their Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie. It also had an impact on the next generation of musicians – Nirvana was known to sarcastically pull it out live, and Dave Grohl revived it again with the Foo Fighters. Let’s check out these versions – and that Devo Sharona-soundalike...

Weird Al Yankovic “My Bologna” 

Cheech & Chong “My Scrotum” 

Devo “The Girl You Want” 

Nirvana “My Sharona”

Foo Fighters “Barcelona”