Doug: Today we want to talk about one-hit wonders, but beyond the usual notion of a band that had one Top-40 single. Today I'd like to hear your thoughts about artists who had a debut album that was solid... and they were hardly (if ever) heard from again. My nominee is Get the Knack (Capitol Records, 1979) by The Knack.Doug: According to a quick Google search on the album, at the time of its release it was considered one of the greatest album debuts in history, selling over a million copies in about two months. Of course the two major hits spawned by this disc were the infectious My Sharona and the follow-up Good Girls Don't. And in both of those songs, you pretty much have a summary of the rest of the content -- bawdy, risque', and even arrogant. If you click this link, you'll be taken to the Wikipedia page that contains comments from critics who reviewed their work at the time. After reading that particular paragraph, it's little wonder why the band flamed out almost as quickly as they arrived. Personally, I think every cut on the album is a good one, and the four guys in the band seemed talented. I love the bass work on My Sharona! And yes, I know they had a second album, and there's also an album of live recordings from their bar-playing days of 1978. But c'mon... if you're thinking of The Knack, you're thinking of this record.
Doug: So, what about you? What albums did you have in your collection and, thinking back, you wonder why such-and-such an artist never caught the public's attention a second time?
