Doug Fieger, R.I.P.

Lead singer of one of the greatest "Two hit wonder bands"ever died today. If you've only recently awoken from a 32 year long coma, here are the videos for "My Sharona" and "Good Girls Don't." If you were too young to be aware of The Knack in '79, you don't really have any frame of reference as to how Cool they were, and how massive their surrounding phenomena was. Before MP3's, before CD's(yeah, Youngbloods, there was a time before CD's), before MTV, before musical format fragmentation, Top 40 music was King, and if the radio was on in 1979, chances were good that the song coming from the speakers was "My Sharona."

Those relentless drums, that hypnotic bass line, the snotty, vaguely dangerous, I'm-gonna-fuck-you-girl-and-ain't nothin's-gonna-stop-me delivery by Doug Fieger.. Edgy enough to appeal to the Rockers, poppy enough for the masses (including wannabe-hipster parents), embracing New Wave/Power Pop energy at just that right time in musical history.. How could this song not be a monster hit? At the beginning of the 80's, The Knack looked like they would be the one of the biggest bands of the 80's. They drew comparisons to the Beatles(really for the way they looked, not their music), and the hype was huge, but so was the backlash (I forgot about "Nuke The Knack."). When their second, horrible album was released, it still sold two million copies, but with the exception of one minor hit (the awful "Baby Talks Dirty"), the band was done, their humiliating and indifferent decline as rapid as their explosive impact arrival had been two years before.

Doug Fieger was The Knack. He never achieved the success of "My Sharona" ever again, but the song did experience a resurgence in popularity through the movie "Reality Bites." And while The Knack's hits will never be confused with High Art, "My Sharona" still strums that timeless chord in a lot of people, not only conjuring up memories from their child or young adulthood, but, because there were no trendy synthesizers or dated gimmicks involved, the music stands apart from a set time, and just falls wherever the listener sets it. It's naughty, it's hyper, it's a great song to dance to in a crowd or in a frenzy all by yourself. It is Intangible, but damn it, "My Sharona" is still a great fuckin' song. And although, Doug Fieger did not give us much more than this one great song, he gave me and many, many people an anthem we will never forget.