What If.....the Knack's debut Had Never Existed.

Dude, it's not like by beheading the Crue would have killed every other hair band. Those bands were all playing and recording at the same time.

IOW the world would be a perfect place and sheep and lions would lay together in pastures and meadows without blemish. Most people blame the fall of man on Original Sin, I blame it on the Knack.

Don't agree with this one at all.

The first Tubeway Army album (yes that's right, I'm talking about Gary Numan) was released in November 1978. It contained a song called "My Shadow In Vain". Raw punk rock, that record.

Meanwhile "Get The Knack" was released in April 1979, reportedly recorded "circa 1978"...hmm...My Sharona a coincidence?

It's been mentioned in more than one interview.

Well, I don't hear it. Can you cite an interview? I'd be curious to read it.

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Wasn't their first album on Elektra the same year?
-- Tim Ellison (timelliso...), June 12th, 2005.

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oops.
-- mike a (mik...), June 12th, 2005.

Yeah, but they could've been signed in the major-label power-pop feeding frenzy that accompanied/came after the Knack signing. Of course, their indie album the year before might've had something to do with it, too.

But I always thought The Plimsouls were a million miles away from The Knack!

Hardly anyone cared about The Plimsouls at the time when The Plimsouls did actually exist.

Which was partly The Knack's fault.

Ian OTM. The Knack were OK, but there were dozens of other bands in the same genre that were a lot better and would have deserved a lot more success than The Knack achieved.

To name but a few.

I did a track by track thing on the first Rhino Poptopia comp a while back:

1. The Raspberries, "Go All the Way" - I don't need to review this. This is some of the best music ever.
2. Todd Rundgren, "Couldn't I Just Tell You" - Heard this one twice just playing it in the Chamber while not paying strict attention, then had to sit down and play it twice. Now, I can hear that it's great. The chord change at the beginning of the verse is so unusual that it sounds like a bridge. Only got up to # 93 in the charts (this when Todd was having hits like "I Saw the Light"), so I guess everyone else was confused by it, too.
3. Blue Ash, "Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?)" - What the hell?!? Sounds like a great post-Roy Loney Flaming Groovies song, but played on an early '70s English heavy rock band's equipment! Three guitars, including a searing lead, double bass drum...And this was some band from Youngstown, Ohio? And no one ever hardly mentions these guys? (Have to look up Stigliano's old piece on them.) Well, how good is the whole album?
4. Big Star, "September Gurls" - I don't need to review this. This is some of the best music ever.
5. Badfinger, "Just a Chance" - From one of their later Warner Brothers albums circa 1974. Didn't know their later music was more pounding like this with some guitar roar. Song is OK -- this is a decent single.
6. Dwight Twilley Band, "I'm on Fire" - Boring rootsy...uh..."choogle?" The Beatle-esque bridge with the harmony vocal is a brief bit of niceness.
7. The Flamin' Groovies, "Shake Some Action" - Amazing that this was recorded in 1976. Could easily be from 1981. Much better than the Plimsouls' "A Million Miles Away," but, unlike that song, you're not going to hear it as an oldie on alterna-rock radio. Why? Because the only songs they play from 1976 are Ramones, Clash, and Sex Pistols. Great verse endings, great chorus.
8. Pezband, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" - Some group from Chicago. A little average, but a decent Raspberries-like sound. I'd buy this 45.
9. Cheap Trick, "Come on, Come on" - From the In Color LP from '77. Took a couple of listens, but good song. Good chorus with nice background vocals. 2:34 -- nice length!
10. Fotomaker, "Where Have You Been All My Life?" - Some later '70s band with Wally Bryson. Song's a little generic, but the ending is quite gorgeous. (That's due to Wally, yo.)
11. The Rubinoos, "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" - WTF?!?! This is a different mix! Hmmm...it's not terrible. Way more separation so you can really hear all the clever stuff like the fact that they put on an acoustic guitar and handclaps and a tambourine and an organ at the end. It works OK, though original album mix is tighter! More separation is not always better and this is a textbook case! You could hear all the instruments fine enough in the original (assuming that's what the album version is -- I don't know if this was remixed recently or if it's a different old mix from back in the day). The song itself? A freaking classic, of course!!!
12. The Records, "Starry Eyes" - I don't need to review this. This is some of the best music ever. (Hearing it on CD for the first time, I realized for the first time that this thing goes on for over four minutes!)
13. Bram Tchaikovsky, "Girl of My Dreams" - A classic. Impeccable. (Note the psuedo-"Born to Run" riff at the end of the choruses)
14. Nick Lowe, "Cruel to Be Kind" - Just as impeccable, but with much more involved chord sequences. No fricking mean feat. Backing track is driven all the way through with no electric guitars, only two acoustic guitars played by Dave Edmunds, one in the left channel and one in the right. Anthemic strumming: what a concept!
15. The Knack, "Good Girls Don't" - Forget the prejudices and listen to this now! One of the greatest lead guitar parts ever. Song is totally impeccable, but the bridge is particularly awesome: And it's a TEEN! AGE! sadness every ONE-HAS-GOT-TO-FACE! Kill drumming.
16. The Shoes, "Too Late" - Very great song. Only three chords (well, one more at the end). Song is impeccable, but the big moment is the chorus with its difficult (and gorgeous) vocal harmonies.
17. 20/20, "Yellow Pills" - Pretty decent power pop song with new wave keyboards, but made into something proto-Paisley Underground (record was produced by Earle Mankey) with the drug topic and the nice, harmonically contrasting bridge and instrumental closing.
18. The Beat, "Rock N Roll Girl" - I don't hate this song!

Which is partly why they were better. Good pop music doesn't "rock". good pop music has a nice tune, nice harmonies, and a polished, detailed and sophisticated production.

A generation of Jewish boys, deprived of such stellar role models, never pick up guitars or buy a drum kit, and go to rabbinical school instead, causing the Great Rabbi Glut of the late 90s.

OTMM