Cameron Carpenter: Rock’n’Roll Rewind – Knack Knack – Who’s There?

This week we rewind to November 1979 and a story I wrote for Music Express. It was in the same issue where I had written the cover story about an artist by the name of Segarini. I certainly was in my “pure pop for now people” phase. Please pardon the grammar, I was young and needed a good copy editor.

JAIMIE VERNON – THE POWER OF POP

This week Paul Revere of 1960s pop band Paul Revere & The Raiders passed away at the age of 76. He and his band were one of the second generation of pop stars who took the post-Elvis world by storm on the back of Beatlemania.

Cameron Carpenter: The ABC’s Of Rock & Roll – K2

Getting The Knack

“My Sharona” was one of those first listen songs. Much like “Radar Love” or “Ballroom Blitz” it was all about the drums. It sounded great on a car radio. Still makes me smile when I hear it.

Although the Beatles hype was huge I still liked their debut album “Get The Knack” a nod to the 1965 British film “The Knack….And How To Get It”. Led by the late Doug Fieger the band was signed to Capitol Records after a bidding war in 1978. With their Beatles meets new wave sound they cut their debut with noted glam producer Mike Chapman and loosely recreated the cover as an update of “Meet The Beatles”. Capitol also agreed to use the old orange swirl logo on the vinyl. “My Sharona” rocketed up the charts and soon held the number one spot in Canada, the U.S. and Australia.

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