Reminiscing about The Knack's "Good Girls Don't"
I took my family to a free (and terrific!) The Knack concert in Woodland Hills, Californian on Sunday, and used my digital camera to take a crappy video of the band performing my favorite song of theirs, "Good Girls Don't." Silent Porn Star wrote a wonderful essay about what the song meant to her when she used to listen to it in high school in 1978.
I'm no music expert, so I wouldn't even try to discuss "their sound" and it's place in Music History; but The Knack holds a very important place in my music history.You see, like most high school girls in 1978, I ran out and bought My Sharona. First, it was the 45 single (for you young pups, that's a smaller vinyl recording played at a faster speed); but as soon as it was released, I went to Get The Knack (that's the LP, dearies). And when Good Girls Don't hit the airwaves, well, things changed.
In that flushing-heat sort of way.
Read the rest of the essay here: Good Girls Don't
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Nothing like bringing the family to see a band who got famous for writing a song about pedophilia!
I'm just glad I'm didn't take them to the church that got infamous for practicing pedophilia!
I remember that song best as the bowlderized Chipmunk version from Chipmunk Punk
"Wishing you could get another chance" instead of "Wishing you could get inside her pants." But then, I was, like, 7 at the time.
So the lyrics are "when she's sitting on your face", not "when she puts you in your place"? The YouTube video of The Knack singing the song has them singing the latter...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc3KXwd8ZWQ
Doug Fieger's older brother Geoffrey was Jack Kevorkian's lawyer. Jeffery also ran for Governor of Michigan in 1998 and gave Weird Al Yankovic his big breakafter hearing the song "My Baloney". We should all applaud the Fiegers for their wonderful contributions to this great country of ours. Accordion parody music, almost legal doctor assisted suicide and Rock n Roll hits. Bravo gentleman.
isaacb2@4: They did a watered-down version for radio.
Their third album "Round Trip" is actually their best. No joke!
Argh - nothing against the Knack or anything - I sorta liked them too - while badmouthing them at the same time as 1978's Monkies - but why do I fear that bands like "The knack" or "The Cars", or Rick Springfield will always be remembered fondly by the masses when the real trailblazers like Television, or Wire or [insert cult band that was influential but never sold records]will disappear into the mists of time - forgotten, even though they were better, and first [at revitalizing rock - which was dead as of 1975 ]. Just ranting....
The masses didn't like Television back then, and they won't ever like them. That doesn't mean Televsion isn't and won't always be loved and admired by some people. (like me.)
The difference is the difference between popularity and the underground. Your favorite obscure bands disappear because they aren't popular (yet). Why aren't obscure bands more popular? You got me there.
Besides, Television sounds too much like the Grateful Dead (admit it, there are similarities) and the GD were never popular among the masses. Even "Touch Of Grey" didn't do much for them in the long haul, except perhaps in residuals earned from being played during a 7th inning stretch. But again, that just illustrates that popular things are popular. Nobody's ever heard any of those Donna songs in a beer commercial, ToG notwithstanding.
This is off topic, but why do people constantly assert that young people don't know what vinyl is? My town (Olympia, WA) is pretty small and has two record stores.
Damn, I wish I made it out to the park for the Knack. I did manage to catch Howard Jones last month, and he was pretty good. If a little optimistic for my taste.
I'm jealous about 1) all the good shows that you get up in LA and 2) all the free time you have to go see them.
And Mark: Post #2: Burn of the day. Well done.
"Get the Knack" also contained a great rendition of Buddy Holly's "Heartbeat!" I have always loved them for dusting that one off and giving it a shine again.
I feel the same way about The Knack that I feel about ABBA; they may not be my cup of tea but I respect them. Both ABBA and The Knack wrote their own songs and produced their own music. Just like Television, Big Star etc. If you can keep your self respect in this business and get paid to play then hooray for you.
Wow. This video is kind of surreal for me, what with the kids and their very old parents (I guess I'm old, too--damn) lounging and nonchalantly walking around to this dirty little ditty, when the last time I heard/saw The Knack was almost 30 years ago on their sold-out European tour (um, okay, I was 8--my mom's bf was the tour manager) packed with teenage groupies and all sorts of naughtiness... I'm guessing they helped make me who I am today, in a sense. Weird.
Gee, and I thought that the sole significance of "Good Girls Don't" was that it was the only thing keeping The Knack from being one-hit wonders...
I like the second Knack album.
I liked the essay:
Brought me back to those childhood/teenage years when tiny, seemingly inane events (like listening to a song's lyrics) could trigger huge bouts of self-realization...
@rodney -- olympia isn't really representative of the rest of the country. it is a huge hotbed for indie rock, especially relative to its size. i do agree with your general comment, though. no one was still using 8 tracks when i was growing up but i knew what they were.
Dead Kennedy's "Pull My Strings" pretty much says everything that ever needed to be said about The Knack.
Whatever positive things people may say about The Knack, they simply cannot outweigh the crime of creating something as atrociously insipid, repetitive and just plain anti-musical as My Sharona.
I am continuously amazed at what I can find on the internet! I have had an ongoing debate with my husband over the lyrics in this song for years! I KNEW I was right!!! I loved this song as a young preteen/teenager. It was racy enough for me with the radio edit lyrics! LOL! He had the LP so he only really knew the album lyrics. We used to make out in his Toyota Celica to the "Get The Knack" album on Cassette when we were in college (late 80's). He was thrilled when I bought him the CD a few years ago. Now it's on his iPod - so he has owned this album in every form but 8 track! LOL!