"Baby Talks Dirty" by The Knack

Song#:  0046
Date:  02/09/1980
Debut:  73
Peak:  38
Weeks:  8
Genre:  Rock, New Wave



Pop Bits:  Many artists over the years catch fire quickly and then slowly fizzle out, but probably the poster child for flash and burnout would be The Knack. They hit it huge out the gate with their #1 (for 5 weeks) debut album "Get the Knack" and #1 single (for 6 weeks) "My Sharona." At the time it was the fastest selling debut album in the US since 1964's "Meet the Beatles." This instant success usually has its share of backlash and The Knack practically got bludgeoned to death. There was talk of them being Beatles rip-offs, lyric content controversies, and accusations of being arrogant. A "Knuke the Knack" campaign even started. It was a heavy toll to pay for their success and the group basically imploded in 1982 after their third album. They are perceived as a one-hit wonder, but they did have a #11 follow-up with "Good Girls Don't" plus some middling chart entries like this first single from their second album.

ReduxReview:  Let's get real here. Even if the backlash didn't happen, The Knack probably would have lost popularity anyway. This song is basically a retread of "My Sharona" gone very wrong. Overall The Knack were just a fun retro-rock band with new wave attitude, but that can only carry you so far, as they found out. Although meant to be fun (and maybe funny), this song borders on self-parody and I don't think folks got the joke - at least I certainly didn't.

ReduxRating:  2/10

Trivia:  Lead singer Doug Fieger's brother is Michigan attorney Geoffrey Fieger who is best known as the defense attorney for Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

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