POP-A-LOOZA: THE EVERLASTING FIRST! Klaatu, the Knack, and the Knickerbockers

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is an Everlasting First! Quick Take recalling my introductions to Klaatu, the Knack, and the Knickerbockers.

I haven't written much about Klaatu (other than wishing that a 1999 Klaatu tribute album called Around The Universe In 80 Minutes had instead channeled The Day The Earth Stood Still and chosen the title KLAATU: Borrowed 'n' Nicked, Too). My CD collection includes better'n Klaatu representation, and debut album 3:47 E.S.T. track "California Jam" remains a favorite. I owe myself a deeper dive into my Klaatu library. But I've never had much to say about Klaatu.

I have had a little bit more to say about the Knack. These excerpts from my lengthy history of power pop The Kids Are Alright! sum it up:

"Even all these years after the fact, it’s difficult to articulate exactly what the problem was with the Knack. They really weren’t a bad group; their debut album, 1979’s Get The Knack, was a damn fine record, loaded with damn fine pop tunes like 'Good Girls Don’t,' 'Let Me Out,' 'That’s What The Little Girls Do,' the excellent 'Your Number Or Your Name,' and one much-maligned but still agreeable monster hit single ('M-m-m-m-m-m-m-my Sharona'). Sure, they weren’t the next Beatles, or the next Big Star, but what was so wrong about the Knack?

"The short answer: everything was wrong about the Knack. (Short answers are rude, disrespectful and have terrible personal grooming habits.) The long answer is a bit more complicated.

"The Knack’s own swift, gargantuan success was a large part of the problem many people had with the group. Much of this was due to simple jealousy. The Knack became so big so fast--a mere six months passed from the band’s formation to its signing with Capitol--that many were understandably chagrined by the group’s apparent paucity of dues-paying. Add in the general consensus that there were many acts more deserving of the kind of success the Knack enjoyed, and you’ve got fertile breeding ground for a backlash.

"The Knack’s Doug Feiger has claimed many times that if the Knack hadn’t hit big, if Get The Knack had only sold as many units as, say, Radio City, the Knack today would be revered as a visionary cult act. And there is probably some truth in Feiger’s claim...."

I like Klaatu. I really like the Knack. But although the Knickerbockers were a one-hit wonder with the fabulous "Lies," and in spite of the fact that I own more Klaatu tracks and more Knack tracks than I own Knickerbockers tracks, the Knickerbockers actually have a greater presence on my iPod than Klaatu and the Knack combined. "Lies" merits its own chapter in my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). When that chapter was reprised at Pop-A-Looza, the Knickerbockers' own Beau Charles wrote:

"Thank you Carl for an insightful view of our best effort 'Lies!' My brother [John Charles] and I have always been amazed by that performance by our band! BTW, a day or two before we recorded it our producer Jerry Fuller told me to get 'Lies' together for the session and make it about two and a half minutes! Our earlier demo was about half that! John and I worked on it and his bass part and I added the guitar break. Viola, 2:40! We showed [fellow Knickerbockers Jimmy Walker and Buddy Randell] the changes the next day in the studio and we did it! I love everything about it! The energy, the ad libs, the sound, and the love we had for playing rock 'n' roll! I think your analysis is spot on! Thank you!!!"

Thank YOU, Beau! Can't tell you how much it means to hear something like that from one of the architects of one of my all-time favorite tracks.

And let's add this one more thing I wrote separately about the fabulous Knickerbockers:

"...The Knickerbockers were one-hit wonders; they are remembered only for that one big record 'Lies,' if they are remembered at all. They deserve better. Both 'Lies' and a much lesser-known Knickerbockers track called 'They Ran For Their Lives' have permanent berths on the list of my all-time favorite songs, and I wish more folks knew additional Knickerbockers gems like 'One Track Mind,' 'My Feet Are Off The Ground,' 'I Must Be Doing Something Right,' 'Just One Girl,' 'High On Love," "Rumors, Gossip, Words Untrue," "I Can Do It Better," "She Said Goodbye," "Can't You See I'm Trying,' 'Please Don't Fight It,' 'Give A Little Bit,' and...well, that's a lot more great stuff than you'd expect from a one-hit wonder.

"I once had an editor (not at Goldmine!) who had inserted a reference to the Knickerbockers into a piece I'd written, and he was going over it with me to be sure I had no objection to the addition. He was a knowledgeable guy, and I had no issue with the (relevant) tangent he'd added to my piece. But giddy pop music wasn't his specialty. He had referred to the Knickerbockers as a California group; I wanted to correct that, as I knew they were from New Jersey. Are you sure?, the editor asked. I thought they were from California. I said that yeah, I was certain, but that I'd double-check the info in my Knickerbockers boxed set. He was flabbergasted. They have a BOXED SET...?!

"Yeah, they do. More than one, in fact. One-hit wonder? True, I guess. Only a one-hit wonder? No. Lies, man. Lies."

It's time to listen to some Knickerbockers, and maybe some Klaatu and Knack while I'm at it. My introductions to all three of these rockin' pop combos provide the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

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