The Knack

The Knack are a Los Angeles-based rock band that rose to fame with their first single, "My Sharona", in 1979 (see 1979 in music) from their debut album, Get the Knack. "My Sharona" was an international hit

The Knack are a Los Angeles-based rock band that rose to fame with their first single, "My Sharona", in 1979 (see 1979 in music) from their debut album, Get the Knack. "My Sharona" was an international hit that earned the band comparisons to The Beatles. Music critics hated disco, which dominated the music industry at the time, and were, at best, coolly receptive to other developing trends like hip hop and heavy metal music. The Knack's power pop and hard rock influences earned them much critical credibility. After subsequent albums, though, the backlash against The Knack led to their break-up. They have since re-united and in 2001 put out their studio album Normal As The Next Guy and their live DVD Live From The Rock N'Roll Funhouse. They continue to tour and thrill fans with their high energy rock and roll performance.

The song "My Sharona" was later parodied by the Dead Kennedys with the song "Pull My Strings" which included lines such as "I'll make my music boring, I'll play my music slow, I ain't no artist, I'm a business man, No ideas of my own". Additionally, the chorus of "My Sharona" is parodied in the song, with the words "My Sharona" replaced with "My Payola". The song was also parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic as "My Bologna", replacing the chorus with "Never gonna stop, eat it up, such a tasty snack I always eat too much, then throw up, but I'll soon be back my-yi-yi-yi-yi oh! My Bologna!". In 2004, Michael Youn, from french tv M6, parodied it again to make the soundtrack of his movie, "Le 11e commandement" (the 11th commandment). The title was "Comme des connards" (like morons).