The Knack hit #1 with “My Sharona”

My Sharona The Knack

Writer(s): Doug Fieger, Berton Averre (see lyrics here) Released: June 1979 First Charted: June 23, 1979 Peak: 16 US, 16 CB, 15 GR, 15 HR, 13 RR, 6 UK, 13 CN, 15 AU, 3 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.4 UK, 10.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 4.0 radio, 72.35 video, 366.77 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Doug Fieger, the lead singer of the Knack, wrote “My Sharona” about the real-life Sharona Alperin. They met when he was 25 and she was 17. She was working at a clothing store and while his own girlfriend looked on, he invited her to a show. Fieger soon broke up with his girlfriend and professed his love to Sharona, although she was still with her boyfriend, who even accompanied her to Knack shows. SF Fieger said she “sparked something and I started writing a lot of songs feverishly in a short amount of time.” WK Fieger says “My Sharona” came about in about in 15 minutes. Berton Averre, the guitarist and co-writer on the song, was opposed to using her name, but Fieger wanted it to be as direct as possible. WK She also is featured on the cover of the single’s picture sleeve. WK The song was produced by Mike Chapman, who’d also written and/or produced Exile’s “Kiss You All Over,” Nick Gilder’s “Hot Child in the City,” Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz,” and Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman’s “Stumblin’ In.” RC He said when the Knack played him “My Sharona,” he thought, “How could I not go ito the studio with that song? I knew it was a number one two bars into the song.” TC The “naggingly catchy” TB song “compressed a sense of teenage sexual frustration into its stutter beat built on simple rock and roll.” FB The stutter effect was reminiscent of the Who’s “My Generation” while the song’s main melodic hook is an inverted version of the signature riff from the Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’.” WK The Knack were also compared to the Beatles because their music felt like a throwback to the British invasion. Also, “My Sharona” was Capitol Records’ fastest debut single to reach gold status since the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” WK going gold before it even hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. FB The New York Times called the song “an emblem of the new wave era in rock and a prime example of the brevity of pop fame.” WK Sadly, their pop success was indeed brief. Their name often comes up as one-hit wonders, which is inaccurate, but they did only have two other top 40 hits – “Good Girls Don’t” (#11) and “Baby Talks Dirty” (#38). A year after the song became a hit, “Sharona” finally caved in and started dating Fieger. They stayed together four years and even became engaged, but his alcoholism and rock n’ roll lifestyle led to their breakup. They remained friends, though. She was with him the last week of his life when he died of cancer on February 14, 2010. SF In his book World Without a Song, Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy assessed “My Sharona” as “the hardest of all the rocking I had ever heard” JT but also acknowledged the “critical vitriol heaped on” JT the song. He said, “The idea that what makes music so important at its core could be critiqued and rated is laughable in the face of the genuine promise almost any record can deliver to the listener.” JT Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for The Knack FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 509. BC Brad Carl (2015). 50 Songs from the 70s and 80s That Still Hold Up. Pages 11-12. RC Rod Couch (2015). The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015. Pages 158-9. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 628. SF Songfacts TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 184. JT Jeff Tweedy (11/7/2023). World Within a Song. Dutton/Penguin Random House. Pages 57-61. WK Wikipedia First posted 11/14/2019; last updated 5/2/2024.