New Wave (depeche mode, electronic, dance, metal, punk)

Screen13 · 10-02-2012, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

I hadn't heard "Boys Go Crazy" and "Another Lousy Day" before. (Until today I didn't even realize there *was* a third album by The Knack!) Very peppy music. That *would* be wild and funny if you actually bought back your own old casette, Screen.

I'd say in these two songs their strength is their instrumentation and not the lyrics, although they are both nice songs. The documentary about The Knack said how frustrating it was for them when people would always say, "When are you going to play another song like 'My Sharona?'" because they knew they could never top that. Ah well, that's the downside of fame. It always ends sometime!

True. Most of my like for Round Trip is mainly with trying to prove that they had something else in their sound, although there were a couple of times where it failed - Their "Africa" sounded like a failed audition for a new Love Boat theme for starters - but the Country style of "Pay the Devil" (The single...not really a wise choice as it was too far a move away) was a good thing and the slightly Beatles '67-esque happening of "We Are Waiting" was pretty good, kind of like a harbinger of LA's New-Psych scene of The 80's.

The Producer of Round Trip was Jack Douglas, and that should have brought some attention after JD's production of John and Yoko's album Double Fantasy, but it seriously went in and out of the Top 200 in a blink.

Actually, Feiger revived The Knack a few times, one for a critically accepted but little sold album called Serious Fun in '91, while "Sharona" was having a mega comeback of sorts (again, the Deal With the Devil Strikes Again!...and what did they say on that third album?), and a couple of other discs that were only known to their die hard following.

The best thing about The Knack's sound was that they were seasoned professionals who knew to keep it simple and play with a Mid 60's force while keeping it tight and well-produced for the industry of their time. Feiger is still known to Classic Rock collectors of rare music for his band Sky. "Sharona" sounded like a serious do or die time for them, as if this was the moment to seriously break through in the music biz after year of being on the sidelines.