Get the Knack

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.{{cite news|last=McKenna|first=Kristine|author-link=Kristine McKenna|title=The Knack and How to Do It|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 3, 1978|page=94}}

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.{{cite magazine|last=McCullaugh|first=Jim|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7iMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT65|title=Knack Rides Charts with $18,000 Album|magazine=Billboard|volume=91|issue=31|date=August 4, 1979|accessdate=November 3, 2020|page=62}}

{{Album ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web|last=Woodstra|first=Chris|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/get-the-knack-mw0000203259|title=Get the Knack – The Knack|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=November 3, 2020}}

|rev2 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

|rev2score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite book|last=Nelson|first=Chris|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-link=Christian Hoard|chapter=The Knack|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|publisher=Simon & Schuster|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/462 462–63]}}

|rev3 = Smash Hits

|rev3score = 5/10{{cite magazine|last=Starr|first=Red|title=Albums|magazine=Smash Hits|volume=1|issue=18|date=August 9–22, 1979|page=25}}

|rev4 = The Village Voice

|rev4score = B−{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv9-79.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|work=The Village Voice|date=September 3, 1979|accessdate=July 3, 2011}}

}}

Get the Knack was released in June 1979 and became an immediate success, thanks in part to an intense promotional campaign by Capitol Records. The Knack's image was largely influenced by the Beatles. The album cover imitates the Beatles' first Capitol LP, Meet the Beatles!, and the back cover photo depicts a scene from the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night. To complete the Beatle imagery, the 1960s Capitol rainbow label adorned the LP, a detail the band had written into its contract. The album obtained a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in just 13 days, becoming Capitol Records' fastest selling debut LP since Meet the Beatles! in 1964. In August, the album reached number one on the Billboard 200, where it remained for five weeks, and was certified platinum by the RIAA for one million copies sold. The lead single, "My Sharona", also met with immediate success, becoming Capitol's fastest selling debut single since the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and staying at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks.{{cite magazine|last=Atkinson|first=Terry|title=The Knack: yesterday...and today|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=October 18, 1979|pages=32, 35–37}}

A backlash against the Knack's overnight success formed among critics who found the band's image too contrived and their attitude too brash. San Francisco conceptual artist Hugh Brown, who had designed the Clash's Give 'Em Enough Rope album cover, started a "Knuke the Knack" campaign complete with T-shirts, buttons and bumper stickers. Some music writers began to criticize the band for what they perceived as arrogance, hype and a misogynist attitude expressed in their songs.{{cite news|last=Hilburn|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Hilburn|title=A Knack on the Door for L.A. Rock|work=Los Angeles Times|date=July 29, 1979|page=L1}}{{cite news|last=McKenna|first=Kristine|author-link=Kristine McKenna|title=Knack: A Dissenting View|work=Los Angeles Times|date=July 29, 1979|page=L64}} The band's refusal to do interviews was also viewed negatively by the music press. One entertainment weekly, Scene magazine, refused to publish a review of the Knack's concert in Cleveland due to what it called "attempts at censorship" by the band's management.{{cite news|author=Ed|title=Live Wire|work=Scene|date=October 11–17, 1979}}

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice was critical of the album's misogynistic themes and remarked that if the Knack "felt this way about girls when they were unknowns, I shudder to think how they're reacting to groupies." However, Christgau countered critics who had dismissed the band on "purely technical terms", arguing that "if they're less engaging musically than, say, the Scruffs, they have a lot more pop and power going for them than, say, the Real Kids." Billboard critic Dick Nusser was particularly complimentary of tracks such as "Let Me Out", "Maybe Tonight" and "That's What the Little Girls Do", while noting that the pleading song "Oh Tara" indicates that the Knack "aren't strict girl haters."{{cite magazine|last=Nusser|first=Dick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nCQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT107|title=The Knack: Get the Knack|magazine=Billboard|volume=91|issue=30|date=July 28, 1979|accessdate=July 14, 2011|pages=52, 66}}

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." 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."{{cite web|last1=Robbins|first1=Ira|last2=Sandlin|first2=Michael|url=http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=knack|title=Knack|work=Trouser Press|accessdate=July 18, 2011}} In 2016, Paste ranked Get the Knack at number 39 on its list of the 50 best new wave albums.{{cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/new-wave/the-best-new-wave-albums/|title=The 50 Best New Wave Albums|work=Paste|date=September 8, 2016|accessdate=November 3, 2020}} Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain listed Get the Knack as one of his 50 favorite recordings.{{cite book|last1=Cross|first1=Charles R.|author-link1=Charles R. Cross|last2=Gaar|first2=Gillian G.|last3=Gendron|first3=Bob|last4=Martens|first4=Todd|last5=Yarm|first5=Mark|title=Nirvana: The Complete Illustrated History|publisher=Voyageur Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-7603-4521-4|page=56}}

When the album was initially released on CD in 1989,{{cite web|title=CD Album - The Knack - Get The Knack - Capitol - USA|publisher=45worlds|url=http://www.45worlds.com/cdalbum/cd/cdp7918482|accessdate=April 25, 2017}} 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".{{cite web|last=Woodstra|first=Chris|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/get-the-knack-bonus-tracks-mr0000763450|title=Get the Knack [Bonus Tracks] – The Knack|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=November 3, 2020}}{{cite book|last=Guterman|first=Jimmy|title=Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-306-81397-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/runawayamericand00gute/page/109 109–110]}}{{cite book|last=Borack|first=John M.|author-link=John M. Borack|title=Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide|publisher=Not Lame Recordings|year=2007|isbn=978-0-9797714-0-8|page=60}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.musicdirect.com/optical-disc/the-knack-get-the-knack-strictly-limited-to-2000-numbered-edition-hybrid-sacd|title=The Knack – Get The Knack (Numbered Hybrid SACD)|publisher=Music Direct|accessdate=April 25, 2017}} This release, like the 2002 Capitol and 2011 Iconoclassic versions, utilizes the original, un-censored mixes.

{{tracklist

|headline = Side one

|title1 = Let Me Out

|writer1 = Doug Fieger, Berton Averre

|length1 = 2:20

|title2 = Your Number or Your Name

|writer2 = Fieger, Averre

|length2 = 2:57

|title3 = Oh Tara

|writer3 = Fieger

|length3 = 3:04

|title4 = (She's So) Selfish

|writer4 = Fieger, Averre

|length4 = 4:30

|title5 = Maybe Tonight

|writer5 = Fieger

|length5 = 4:00

|title6 = Good Girls Don't

|writer6 = Fieger

|length6 = 3:07

}}

{{Track listing

|headline = Side two

|title7 = My Sharona

|writer7 = Fieger, Averre

|length7 = 4:52

|title8 = Heartbeat

|writer8 = Bob Montgomery, Norman Petty

|length8 = 2:11

|title9 = Siamese Twins (The Monkey and Me)

|writer9 = Fieger, Averre

|length9 = 3:25

|title10 = Lucinda

|writer10 = Fieger, Averre

|length10 = 4:00

|title11 = That's What the Little Girls Do

|writer11 = Fieger

|length11 = 2:41

|title12 = Frustrated

|writer12 = Fieger, Averre

|length12 = 3:51

|total_length = 40:58

}}

The Knack

• Doug Fieger – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica on "Good Girls Don't"
• Berton Averre – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Prescott Niles – bass
• Bruce Gary – drums

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Australia|artist=The Knack|title=Get the Knack|award=Gold|relyear=1979|certyear=1979|certref={{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1979/CB-1979-09-15.pdf|title=International Dateline - Australia|magazine=Cash Box|via=World Radio History|page=57|date=September 15, 1979|access-date= December 1, 2021}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Canada|artist=The Knack|title=Get the Knack|award=Platinum|number=4|relyear=1979|accessdate=November 16, 2019}}

{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=New Zealand|artist=The Knack|title=Get the Knack|award=Gold|id=1979-09-21|source=newchart|access-date=2024-11-20|relyear=1979}}

{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United States|artist=The Knack|title=Get the Knack|award=Platinum|number=2|accessdate=November 4, 2020}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

{{Reflist}}

{{The Knack}}

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Category:The Knack albums

Category:1979 debut albums

Category:Albums produced by Mike Chapman

Category:Capitol Records albums