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Article: True Godfathers Of Punk: Part 6 - The Knack
Note: I'm moving towards writing these blog posts as think pieces rather than record reviews. People can go to music sites and hear all the cuts, so I'll stress providing context.
I'm going to devote a few parts to artists who may not be considered Godfathers of Punk but, in retrospect, had a large or even profound influence on the "movement." The Knack had one of the biggest hits of the year, "My Sharona," which caused an often contentious debate among Punk fans and critics over their validity (and commercial success) but did a lot to keep Punk an active subject in the media.
I remember the Punk band I was in was told before our first gig that no one knew what was good yet, so as long as the audience had a strong reaction of love or hate and wasn't indifferent, we'd be brought back. The Knack was a band that no one was indifferent about in the Punk Scene.
In the late 70s, the average person didn't have much say in the direction of music except for buying records (and concert tickets). Artists and labels preferred that people bought a whole album on faith after reading a review and hearing a sample or two on the radio. There was virtually no recourse if the buyer found that the album sucked. That made a critic's opinion important. A review was generally the first hopefully knowledgeable opinion a person got about a particular record.
There was another area where critics had a great deal of influence, which was helping to introduce a new artist or genre. One such genre was Punk. Punk was dismissed at first by many of the Boomer artists who normally would have supported it, at least in the 60s when they were younger. The main reason is probably that their defiance was directed at the music industry and the rock and roll rebels who had started to settle into the role of decadent sages and lovable millionaires.
So the enthusiasm for Punk initially came from smaller scenes and was publicized by music writers and fabs who sometimes lapsed into snobbery and gatekeeping.
One of the earliest questions that virtually all of the first wave of artists had to deal with was whether or not they were Punk or Punk enough. One of the most famous examples was the Knack out of Southern California which formed in 1978. They were not only criticized for being too pop but for committing the unforgivable sin of having a major hit record in 1979 despite open disapproval from the newly formed Punk elite and critics.
The Knack's success did help the Punk movement. Like more than a few artists at the time, like the Cars or Blondie, they weren't actually that "pure" but their hits did help create wider acceptance by the rock audience. The Knack's two big hits, "My Sharona" and "Good Girls Don't," had one other effect; helping to prove the viability of Punk, aka New Wave. That gave talented groups like the Go Go's and others a path to success that wouldn't have existed if Punk had been limited to what became "Hardcore."
Their first album in 1979 was a best seller thanks to the hit singles and was a nice collection of guitar-based New Wave. My personal favorites were two other cuts, "Your Number Or Your Name" and a cover of Buddy Holly's "Heartbeat."
The Knack may never be seen as a true Godfather since nostalgia makes Punk now seem more pure than it was back in 1977. But that's only if you think Punk was an ideological movement. It was simply a new generation of musicians who wanted their music heard, and groups like The Knack were instrumental in achieving that.
Plus, if "My Sharona" truly offended the purists, then maybe they were offensive and outrageous Punks after all. Of course, in 2024, we're all past that. Getting butt hurt over impure music is a young man's game.
- Al Handa
Oct 13, 2024
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