It was nearly impossible to turn on a radio the summer of 1979 without hearing Los Angeles-based rock band The Knack. A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Rock music is a genre of Popular music often though not necessarily employing Electric guitar, Bass guitar, and Drums. Power pop (or powerpop) is a popular Musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and Rock music. In the Music industry, a record label can be a Brand and a Trademark associated with the Marketing of music recordings and Music Capitol Records is a major United States -based Record label owned by EMI and located in Hollywood California and New York City as Doug Fieger (born Douglas Fieger 20 August 1952, Detroit, Michigan) is an American Singer-songwriter. Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, which is often contrasted with Speech. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles Berton Averre (b 13 Dec 1952, Van Nuys, California) is the guitarist with the Los Angeles rock band The Knack. A backing vocalist or backing singer (or especially in the US Prescott Niles (born May 2, 1951) is an American rock bassist The electric bass guitar (also called electric bass, or simply bass; ˈbeɪs as in "base" is a Stringed instrument played primarily with the Bruce Gary ( 7 April 1951 – 22 August 2006) was best known as the drummer for the music group The Knack. A drum kit (also drum set or trap set) is a collection of Drums Cymbals and sometimes other Percussion instruments such as cowbells Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West Rock music is a genre of Popular music often though not necessarily employing Electric guitar, Bass guitar, and Drums. "My Sharona" entered Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 on June 23, 1979, and reached number one nine weeks later on August 25, 1979, where it remained for six weeks on its way to becoming the number one song of the year (see 1979 in music). " My Sharona " is the 1979 debut single released by rock band The Knack, off their album Get the Knack. See Billboard (Turkish magazine Billboard is a weekly American Magazine devoted to the Music industry See also Musical groups established in 1979 Record labels established in 1979 1979 in music (UK

Get The Knack

The Knack first performed June 1, 1978, at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. A bidding war for the band ensued and was eventually won by Capitol Records. Capitol Records is a major United States -based Record label owned by EMI and located in Hollywood California and New York City as Heralded as the "new fab four" by Rolling Stone Magazine, Capitol introduced theKnack's debut album, "Get the Knack," with the kind of fanfare not seen since the British Invasion. Rolling Stone is a United States -based Magazine devoted to Music, Politics, and Popular culture that is published The British Invasion was the term applied by the news media — and subsequently by consumers — to the influx of Rock and roll, beat and pop performers With a heavy marketing push from Capitol and the immense success of "My Sharona," the record flew off the shelves. Gold certification took thirteen days, and platinum certification came in less than seven weeks-- making "Get The Knack" one of the fastest gold and platinum debuts of all time.

The power pop of "My Sharona", coupled with the band's "retro" 1970s new wave look, earned the band comparisons to the early Beatles. Power pop (or powerpop) is a popular Musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and Rock music. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. New Wave is a Rock music genre that existed during the late 1970s and the 1980s The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960 In typical New Wave fashion, the cover of "Get the Knack" featured a stark black and white photo of the band, while the back cover featured a performance photo as obvious send ups of The Beatles first album "Meet The Beatles. Meet The Beatles! is the second Beatles ' album released in the United States despite the "first album" claim on its cover " This album also featured their version of Buddy Holly's "Heartbeat," and a second single called "Good Girls Don't. Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holley (September 7 1936 – February 3 1959 was an American Singer-songwriter and a pioneer of Rock and roll. " It sold respectfully, reaching number seventeen on the Billboard charts, but not until the band edited these original lyrics for the single version:

She's your adolescent dream
School boy stuff and sticky sweet romance
Cause she makes you wanna scream
Wishing you could get inside her pants
So you fantasize away
While you're squeezing her You thought you heard her saying

(Chorus)
Good girls don't
Good girls don't
Well she'll be telling you
Good girls don't but I do

So you call her on the phone
To talk about the teachers that you hate
And she says she's all alone
And her parents won't be coming home 'til late
There's a ringing in your brain
Cause you could've sworn
You thought you heard her say

(Repeat Chorus)

And it's teenage sadness
That the one has got to taste
An in between age madness
That you know you can't erase
Til she's sitting on your face

You're alone with her at last
And you're waiting 'til you think the time is right
Cause you heard she's pretty fast
And you're hoping that she'll give you some tonight
So you start to make your play
Cause you could've sworn
You thought you heard her say

(Repeat Chorus)
But I do

The line "Wishing you could get inside her pants" was edited to "Wishing she was giving you a chance" relatively unnoticed, but changing "Til she's sitting on your face" to "Til she puts you in your place" changed the meaning of the song completely and led to criticism of the band that they were cynical fakes. The Billboard charts are music sales airplay and digital ranking reports distributed to the general public by Billboard magazine Their follow up LP, ". . . but the Little Girls Understand," barely went gold, and none of their albums since has even done that well. Still, Get the Knack went on to sell over six million copies worldwide. "My Sharona" opened the door for many New Wave bands to follow, and still ranks as one of the biggest selling singles of the rock era.

The Knack vs. Run DMC

Members of The Knack have filed a lawsuit^[1] against popular rap music group Run DMC for copyright infringement. Run-DMC was a pioneering hip hop group during the 1980s founded by Joseph "[The Reverend] Run" Simmons, Darryl "D The lawsuit alleges that the defining guitar riff from "My Sharona" was used without permission in the Run DMC track "It's Tricky" from their 1986 album "Raising Hell. " It's Tricky " is a single from the Hip-hop group Run-D For the video by Iron Maiden, see Raising Hell (video Raising Hell is a 1986 album by Hip-hop group " The amount of damages sought is currently unspecified.

Follow Up Success Proves Elusive

After subsequent albums, they broke up amidst internal squabbles. The Knack resurfaced in 1994 after "My Sharona" was heard on the Reality Bites sound track. The band had been offered two films ' in one day and had to choose between them. "One was for this hip comedy starring Wynnona Ryder," says Averre, "and the other was for the homosexual rape scene in Pulp Fiction. Hmmm, that's a tough choice"

Suddenly, teenagers too young to remember the song the first time around fell in love with it and "My Sharona became only the 10th former . . 1 hit to chart again. It also prompted a tour of 32 cities. They have re-united periodically over the years and in 2001 put out a studio album Normal As The Next Guy and a live DVD Live From The Rock N'Roll Funhouse. As of 2005, the Knack are still active and play at various venues. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Band Member Bios

All members of the group are Jewish. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Singer Doug Fieger, a native of Detroit, Michigan, had previously played in an eclectic rock band called Sky as well as The Sunset Bombers. Doug Fieger (born Douglas Fieger 20 August 1952, Detroit, Michigan) is an American Singer-songwriter. Sky was an American band in the early 1970s based in the Detroit area who put out two albums on RCA, 1970 's Don't Hold Back and Fieger is the brother of Detroit-area attorney Geoffrey Fieger, best known for representing Dr. Geoffrey Fieger is an American Attorney. Based in Southfield Michigan, he represented Dr Jack Kevorkian in a series of assisted suicide cases. Jack Kevorkian (kɛˈvɔrkiːɛn (born on May 26, 1928) is an Armenian-American As of August 2006, the band has been on hiatus after Doug Fieger underwent cancer surgery. On June 7, 2007, Doug's latest scan shows that his cancer is in remission.

Of the three other original members of The Knack (Berton Averre - Guitar, Prescott Niles - Bass, and Bruce Gary - Drums), Averre and Niles still currently play with The Knack. Bruce Gary died from lymphoma on August 22, 2006. Bruce Gary ( 7 April 1951 – 22 August 2006) was best known as the drummer for the music group The Knack. Lymphoma a type of Neoplasm that originates in Lymphocytes (a type of White blood cell in the vertebrate Immune system) Events 392 - Arbogast has Eugenius elected Western Roman Emperor. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. He was 55.

Bruce Gary left the band well before his death, becoming a respected producer (archive recordings of Jimi Hendrix and new recordings of The Ventures) and a very successful sideman performing live and on studio sessions with artists such as Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Spencer Davis, Stephen Stills, Rod Stewart, and Sheryl Crow - and he did not join the more recent Knack reunions. James Marshall Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix) (November 27 1942 – September 18 1970 was an American Guitarist, Singer and Songwriter The Ventures are an American Instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce (born 14 May 1943 is a Scottish -born musician composer and Singer. Michael "Mick" Kevin Taylor (born 17 January 1949 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire) is an English Musician best known as a Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman, May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter author poet and painter who has been a major George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001 was an English rock Guitarist Singer - Songwriter, Author Spencer David Nelson Davis (born 17 July 1939 in Swansea, Wales, UK) is a musician and multi- Instrumentalist, and the founder of the Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945 is an American Guitarist and Singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Roderick "Rod" David Stewart, CBE (born 10 January 1945 is a Singer and Songwriter born and raised in London England and currently Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American Singer-songwriter and Musician.

Several drummers have played for the group since Gary's departure including Billy Ward (Serious Fun album), Terry Bozzio (Zoom album), and David Henderson as 'Holmes Jones' (Normal as the Next Guy and Live at the Rock N Roll Funhouse albums). Terry John Bozzio ( December 27, 1950) is an American Drummer best known for his work with the late Frank Zappa. Currently Pat Torpey (Mr. Pat Torpey is the former Drummer of the Hard rock band Mr Big. Big) is playing the drums for the group.

All four original band members, including Bruce Gary, reunited in the studio on one occasion in recent years to record a track for a multi-artist compilation album saluting the British band Badfinger. Badfinger was a Rock band formed in Swansea Wales in the early 1960s and was one of the earliest representatives of the Power pop genre In 2005, The Knack made an appearance on the TV program "Hit Me Baby One More Time". Doug Fieger appeared in the Countdown Spectacular 2 concert series in Australia between late-August and early-September 2007. The Countdown Spectacular is a series of concerts reviving the nostalgia of the Australian music television series Countdown. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. He sang The Knack favourite "My Sharona" only. " My Sharona " is the 1979 debut single released by rock band The Knack, off their album Get the Knack.

Bassist Prescott Niles runs his myspace page myspace. com/prescottniles

Discography

Studio albums

• Get the Knack (1979) #1 (6 weeks) US, #65 UK 2x Platinum
• . Get the Knack is the debut Album by The Knack. It was released in April 1979 and includes their famous single " My Sharona " which . . But The Little Girls Understand (1980) #15 US Gold
• Round Trip (1981) #93 US
• Serious Fun (1991)
• Zoom (The Knack album)|Zoom (1998)
• Normal As The Next Guy (2001)
• Re-Zoom (Zoom with Bonus Tracks) (2003)

Live Album Released on CD and DVD

• Live From the Rock n Roll Funhouse (2001)

Live Concert Released on Laserdisc

• The Knack Live at Carnegie Hall (1979)

Live Concert Released on DVD

• World Cafe Live: The Knack in Concert (May 2007)

Compilation Albums

• My Sharona (album)|My Sharona (1995)
• Retrospective (The Knack album)|Retrospective (1992)
• Proof: The Very Best Of The Knack (1998)

Documentary DVD

• Getting The Knack (2004)

Singles

• "My Sharona" (1979) #1 (6 weeks) US, #6 UK
• "Good Girls Don't" (1979) #11 US, #66 UK
• "Baby Talks Dirty" (1980) #38 US
• "Can't Put A Price On Love" (1980) #62 US
• "Pay The Devil" (1981) #67 US
• "Rocket O' Love" (1991) #9 US (mainstream rock tracks)

Lead Singer Doug Fieger Solo Album

• First Things First (2000)

Audio sample

The Knack - My Sharona excerpt

An excerpt from My Sharona

Problems listening to the file? See media help. " My Sharona " is the 1979 debut single released by rock band The Knack, off their album Get the Knack.

References

1. ^ MusicRooms. com (2006). The Knack vs. Run DMC Lawsuit. Retrieved 2006-09-18. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated

External links

• The Knack official website
• The Official Doug Fieger website
• Bruce Gary official website
• The Offical Prescott Niles Myspace
• The Offical The Knack Myspace