Ranking the Albums: THE KNACK w/Steve Schnee

Ranking the Albums: THE KNACK w/Steve Schnee
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[@kevinalexander630]

Love The Knack. Peroid. Great band. Appreciate you guys keeping this music alive.

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

Please subscribe if you haven't and thanks for the comment!

[@Vinnie857]

Excellent show gentlemen. I’m glad The Knack is getting some exposure and we can recognize them as much more than a one-hit wonder. They should have had a lot more. I was fortunate to interview Doug Fieger some 20+ years ago and it was a terrific experience. He was a genuinely nice guy with some great stories. Unfortunately, I don’t remember a whole lot from our talk (I’ll have to search my archives for it), but I’ll share some interesting highlights I do recall that may interest you, though I can’t guarantee total accuracy: ▪ They weren’t a one-hit wonder, they were a two-hit wonder: “Good Girls Don’t” ▪ In Neal Schon’s opinion, But the Little Girls Understand… was better than the debut ▪ Regarding the sharp drop after Get the Knack, they were advised, or misinformed, to keep a low profile or risk overexposure (something like that), and subsequently were shunned by the press; I can’t recall exactly, but it’s something the band lamented as poor judgment ▪ Serious Fun was their “heavy metal” album ▪ They created Live from the Rock n’ Roll Funhouse meant to mimic the old ‘60s live TV appearances; this was definitely a point of pride ▪ Fun, maybe weird fact: Terri Nunn (Berlin) and I probably spent about 30 minutes discussing The Knack during our interview when I brought up Doug Fieger from a few days earlier! Regarding your show, of course I respect everyone’s opinion. We’re passionate music fans, and there’s always something to gain from other viewpoints that can lead to further deliberation and perhaps new discoveries, whether we’re aligned or not! To that end, I’m going to voice my support for the Serious Fun album from the late ‘80s. The first song, “Rocket of Love,” made a definitive statement after a decade, and distanced The Knack from dinosaur rock status and showed they could rock hard and roll with the heavier bands of the time. Yet, the entire album is undeniably The Knack, plenty of which is rolled right up into that first single. It's a nod to the "Sharona" holdovers who might still remember them as "that band," but also represents a fresh start for them and a new generation of listeners. Unfortunately Serious Fun hit a wall before "we're back" ever had a chance to resonate with the record-buying public. It's a shame because that was a solid record that stood well on its own merit, but with proper backing, could definitely have milked the brand image and repositioned them as the second coming of the next big thing-or something like that. Of course in hindsight it's easy to sit and speculate, but I remember at the time thinking these guys are going to be big again. I recommend this album for original (The) Knack followers and anyone into straight-ahead gimmick-free guitar rock. And overall, their entire catalog is worth pursuing. Great band and stellar musicians.

[@logancollins7097]

Great show Grant and Steve! You guys crack me up! I'll have to investigate the other Knack albums I've played and have that 1st one which is a classic

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

thanks young logan

[@JCStorm76]

1. Round Trip 2. Get The Knack 3. But The Little Girls 4. Zoom 5. Serious Fun 6. Normal As The Next Guy I Like all these albums

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

nice ranking! 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@leightonfarms4962]

👍👍👍👍👍

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

👍👍👍👍👍

[@andywylie6784]

I’ve been looking forward to this one! Great chat, fellas.

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

Glad you enjoyed it! Please subscribe if you haven't and thanks for the comment!

[@victoriawilcox3545]

Just listened to Zoom. It was great- I got a 60’s vibe from it. Thanks, Grant

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

definitely! I appreciate that! Please subscribe if you haven't and thanks for the comment!

[@superdown2009]

Serious Fun was 1991. I actually dug it at the time. Not sure it has aged well but I still enjoy it a lot. 1. Get The Knack 2. Round Trip 3. But The Little Girls Understand 4. Serious Fun 5. Zoom 6. Normal As The Next Guy

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

Correct... we were just think off the cuff. Good ranking!

[@christianhaynes1954]

Think I'm around your age Grant. Remember my sharona for sure , but not familiar with other tracks . Going to explore this catalog

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

explore and I want to heard your thoughts on it

[@TerryKrysinski]

Got Serious Fun as a cutout cd...never even knew of it. But-- even tho it's much edgier, I feel it worked! Very solid album for them. Maybe even my second fav. But there's stuff to love on every album. THey were a great throwback band. Thanks for the ranking vid..T

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

Great to hear!

[@JoeMay-wc6nv]

I had their Albums from back in the day when they were BIG & saw them live. I Now have all their CDs but my favorite Round Trip as it cost an arm & a leg to get it. So maybe someday (Still have the Round Trip LP just know way to play it,) I also have Proof The very Best of the Knack. Great band with great music & a great show Guys.

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

Thanks Joe! Please subscribe if you haven't and thanks for the comment!

[@JoeMay-wc6nv]

Thanks to your show I went looking again for it & found it a Great price. I should have by SAT. I am a subscriber to your channel already.

[@MrMusic193]

You know, Grant, you always have a knack for providing great videos

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

I appreciate that! Please subscribe if you haven't and thanks for the comment!

[@MrMusic193]

@@GrantsRockWarehaus oh yeah, I’ve been subscribed your channel for quite a while now, but I think the name that KZbin gives me is not my real name. My real name is Steve Auger so I’m not sure which comes up when I go on your videos.

[@louderthanlife]

01) The Knack 02) Round Trip 03) But The Little Girls Understand 04) Serious Fun 05) Zoom 06) Normal As The Next Guy

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

Serious Fun that high? Awesome! Please subscribe if you haven't and thanks for the comment!

[@louderthanlife]

@@GrantsRockWarehaus I have to take that album on its own merits. When I do that, I can appreciate it for what it is. As a proper Knack album, yea, not so much but there are hooks all over the thing, Doug's voice is in fine form and it brings so diversity to the band's canon. :)

[@SWEETFA24]

Nice way to celebrate 45 Years of the debut album.

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

tru dat

[@peterotwaska8131]

I bought all these when they were released good band. Their first album I bought was on vinyl can’t remember if it was only available in that media.

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

The 1st album was probably available on vinyl, cassette, and 8-track

[@georgemathie8123]

This is a band that I find that didn't deserve the bad press that they got the late Doug fieger was a talented songwriter and with his bandmates created some wonderful music together and my favorite knack album is serious fun I love the don was production on it and also fun fact Doug fieger sang lead on betrayal from was (not was's)1983 album born to laugh at tornadoes

[@PetesCDVinylWorld]

Did a ranking of their albums on my channel. All of them are good definately an underrated band

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

I'll have to check it out!

[@daveycretin664]

Oh, man! I always loved the song “Rocket O’ Love.” I thought the song was killer. Catchy, rocking and fun. We used to play the Serious Fun CD a lot, at the infamous TITUS OAKS CD AND RECORD EXCHANGE, in 1991. Ahhh 😌, the halcyon days of yore… I think I’ve heard most of these albums, but l really should refamiliarize myself with their short catalog. They had hook-laden tunes, beefy guitars, melodic vocals and best of all, they rocked! Another cool video, men. Cheers from The Big Apple. Rock Out, Prog On & Pogo! Your clone and mine, ~ The Delirious & Decadent Doppelgänger of Davey Cretin, from CRETIN CLASSICS.

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

Oh Davey... haha

[@PetesCDVinylWorld]

Hey Grant, did you ever hear of Shoes or Pezband? If not I definately think you would especially Pezband. Also, not sure if you ever hears BK3 Bruce Kulick's last solo album he did. Doug sings a track on it and I believe it's his final released recording

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

I've got the Shoes catalog and have some Pezband on vinyl. I haven't heard the Bruce Kulick album. I'll have to check it out.

[@wolf1977]

Pezband = dumb name but good band. Their s/t, Laughing In The Dark, Cover To Cover & Dangerous People are very good albums. They actually go all the way back to 1972 - the collection United Technique 1972: The First Studio Demos features their earliest recordings...Shoes to me is one of those wonderful 'lost' 70's American (IL) power pop bands. Present Tense, Boomerang & Ignition are fine albums, their best of Black Vinyl Shoes (Anthology 1973-1978) is cool too... I have that Bk3 album but thought it was just OK. His Transformer & especially Audio Dog from 2000 are another story. Kulick's output has been pretty strong overall as part of Balance, Blackjack, Kkb & Union. That Esp/Eric Singer Project album Lost And Spaced isn't bad. Kulick played on the Good Rats' track "Julie" (Great American Music - 1981) that I liked a lot

[@PetesCDVinylWorld]

@@wolf1977 Balance was actually Bob Kulick. I likenthe first one, the second album is terrible

[@wolf1977]

@@PetesCDVinylWorld Oops you're right, cross-linked my Kulick playlists😒Balance was the Bob Kulick (Willie Weeks/Peppy Castro/Andy Newmark) band. I do like both of their albums though. Even their 3rd Equilibrium had a couple of good tracks on it

[@StephenSchnee]

LOVE Shoes. I also love Pezband and they need to have the rest of the catalog released here in the US on CD. Those Japanese discs are too expensive for me...

[@HankFrartung]

Unless I missed you guys alluding to it when going up to answer the door or something while watching this, the critical backlash against the Knack went a bit further than objections to the not-so-subtle Beatles references. Out of the box, the group did not want to give many interviews-“officially” because they thought they should wait until they were more established and had something more substantial to say. Whether that was sincere or not, it ticked off journalists who wanted to report on the hot new band and coupled with Fieget’s developing reputation for being kind of a smarmy dick with a perpetual smirk on his face, that ticked off the kingmakers. In retrospect, however, the biggest and most enduring reason for their quick fall from grace was the references to young girls. Sharona was a real person (that’s her on the picture sleeve of the single) and the admitted legend put forth at the time placed her at only 17 years old when Fieger became obsessed with her and began a fairly long relationship. “That’s What The Little Girls Do” and the title (and cover!) of the second album did not shy away from a certain creepy theme that some found to be. . .well, creepy. And “Baby Talks Dirty” was not only a shameless “Sharona” rewrite, but-well, read the lyrics. “She said ‘Hurt me! Hurt me!’” wasn’t exactly going to get the high school bands playing the song at halftime of their football games. I recall a certain degree of “atonement” when the band was promoting “Round Trip” the next year, but we all know how well that worked out commercially.

[@wolf1977]

Actually three bands with that name, the first being the 60's UK psyche/pop band (aka The Londoners who at one time backed Gene Vincent - with Paul Gurvitz/this was pre-Gun. I only know of 6 singles, I have three of those) that started in 1963. Good tunes in that mid 60's beat/mod style...Then we have the 60's California garage/psyche band with ties to the Beach Boys. The only album I know of is the collection Time Waits For No One (also Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets contains some of their tracks)... This brings us to the 70's/80's US band with Doug Fieger, a band that broke up/reunited at least three times. 7 albums including the demos collection (recorded pre-debut but released after Fieger's death in 2012) plus a few live albums & several best of collections. The first album was a big commercial success (thanks to "My Sharona" & to a lesser extent "Good Girls Don't"). There's more to this band than their hits though, a really solid power pop band. My album ranking: 1. Get The Knack - an almost perfect pop album 2. Zoom - from 1998 after their 2nd (?) reunion. Excellent 3. Round Trip 4. ...But the Little Girls Understand, Serious Fun & Rock & Roll Is Good for You (early 1973-75 demo recordings) 5. Normal As The Next Guy Other random Knack records: Re-Zoom, Retrospective, Live Rock 'n' Roll Fun House, Proof: The Very Best Of, My Sharona (1992), Live At The House Of Blues (2001 - the live "Tequila- Break On Through (To The Other Side)" mashup is fun, also pretty good cover of "Last Train To Clarksville"), Havin' A Rave-Up! Live In Los Angeles 1978 (not the greatest sound - it'd be great to have a late 70's well-recorded live album!)... A pre-Knack Fieger band to check out is the Detroit trio Sky (two early 70's power pop-type albums called Sailor's Delight & Don't Hold Back, very good - Gary Wright produced the first one). There's also the one-and-done band The Sunset Bombers with a s/t album in 1979

[@MrMusic193]

You mentioned the knack from the 60s I used to have a single by them. One side was banana man and the other side was pretty daisy if you’ve ever heard these look them up on KZbin pretty good stuff.

[@wolf1977]

@@MrMusic193 Actually two bands from the 60's, one from the US & the other from the UK. The one with "Banana Man" is the US band with Eddie Cochran's nephew. I like their tune "Time Waits For No One" which sounds a bit like a softer version of The Yardbirds. Their drummer (Pug Baker) was also in a pretty good 2000's Southern Rock band called Ghost Riders (with ties to The Outlaws & Henry Paul Band). Baker was also in the 60's band Chariot which grew out of The Knack's breakup (their '68 s/t album is good)

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

Wolf, as always... thanks for the comment!

[@murreygellmann7708]

Bruce Gary was a BEAST

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

one of the best!

[@Dan-Gaucher]

Good thing the Spongetones never wanted more than Having Fun with Beatles style Music

[@peterotwaska8131]

Grant did you ever listen to Joe Jackson? They might be a good one to rank but they have a big catalog.

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

I've got most of Joe' catalog. That's a good idea!

[@wolf1977]

I don't like jazz (except fusion) that much but his Jumpin' Jive album in '81 made an impression on me. Good reminder of Jackson's real roots in jazz before he went jazz/pop the following year & scored big with "Steppin' Out" & ushered in the '2nd phase' of his career...TheJackson-produced 1981 record The Keys Album contains some good stuff (power pop/new wave along the lines of JJ's earlier 70's stuff). Actually goes pretty well with this feature on The Knack...

[@HankFrartung]

Unless I missed you guys alluding to it when going up to answer the door or something while watching this, the critical backlash against the Knack went a bit further than objections to the not-so-subtle Beatles references. Out of the box, the group did not want to give many interviews-“officially” because they thought they should wait until they were more established and had something more substantial to say. Whether that was sincere or not, it ticked off journalists who wanted to report on the hot new band and coupled with Fieget’s developing reputation for being kind of a smarmy dick with a perpetual smirk on his face, that ticked off the kingmakers. In retrospect, however, the biggest and most enduring reason for their quick fall from grace was the references to young girls. Sharona was a real person (that’s her on the picture sleeve of the single) and the admitted legend put forth at the time placed her at only 17 years old when Fieger became obsessed with her and began a fairly long relationship. “That’s What The Little Girls Do” and the title (and cover!) of the second album did not shy away from a certain creepy theme that some found to be. . .well, creepy. And “Baby Talks Dirty” was not only a shameless “Sharona” rewrite, but-well, read the lyrics. “She said ‘Hurt me! Hurt me!’” wasn’t exactly going to get the high school bands playing the song at halftime of their football games. I recall a certain degree of “atonement” when the band was promoting “Round Trip” the next year, but we all know how well that worked out.