Knuke the Knack

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Text on Button KNUKE THE KNACK
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The Knack was a band best known for their single, “My Sharona,” which was released in 1979 on their album Get the Knack. The album spent six weeks at the top of Billboard’s Top 100 list and they were highly popular in the Los Angeles club scene. The band consisted of Doug Fieger, Bruce Gary, Prescott Niles, and Berton Averre.

Shortly after Get the Knack was released, the band began to receive criticism for similarities between their album art and that of The Beatles’ debut Meet the Beatles, which had been released in 1964. The also received a great deal of backlash based on their refusal to give interviews as well as the subject matter of some of their songs.

In 1979, not long after the album was released, San Francisco artist Hugh Brown began the “Knuke the Knack” movement as a way to poke fun at the band. He believed their popularity was “over-hyped” and that they had a manufactured sound. He produced and sold kits that included buttons, t-shirts and bumper stickers.

Sources

Goldstein, P. (1979 August 18) Knuke the Knack. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/08/18/opportunity…

Swanson, D. (2015 June 11) The History of My Sharona: How one song doomed The Knack. Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved from http://ultimateclassicrock.com/the-knack-get-the-knack/

Catalog ID MU0506