smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
From | Michael MacLauchlan <michaelmaclauchlan@gmail.com> |
Subject | Re: Story about the actual Sharona, from WSJ. |
Date | Mon, 29 Apr 2019 09:09:34 -0600 |
[Part 1 text/plain UTF-8 (7.1 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
One of my fav mash ups... CarPark North's Human and My Sharona.. Let's see
if this works:
https://tinyurl.com/y5gzjh8u
or
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ztg1lq93q4yj63/Best%20Of%20Monkey%20Business%20Bastard%20May%20-%2015%20-%20Carpark%20North%20Vs.%20The%20Knack%20-%20My%20Human%20Sharona.mp3?dl=0
Enjoy.
Michael Mac
Denver
On Sun, Apr 28, 2019 at 10:13 PM Mark London <mrl@psfc.mit.edu> wrote:
> By Don Steinberg
> April 24, 2019 9:52 a.m. ET
>
> Even now, approaching the 40th anniversary of the biggest single of
> 1979, Sharona Alperin canât escape it.
>
> âOh my God, almost daily, almost anytime someone hears my name,â Ms.
> Alperin says. âThey say âOh, like âMy Sharona?â And then they say, âOh,
> Iâm so sorry. I didnât mean to say that. You probably hear that all the
> time.â â
>
> They have no idea. Sheâs not just a Sharona. Sheâs the Sharona, the
> object of the Knackâs bopping 1979 hit âMy Sharona.â The bandâs lead
> singer, Doug Fieger, wrote the songâs lustful lyrics about her when she
> was 17 and he was 26.
>
> âHalf the time Iâll say thatâs me, and most of them donât believe it,â
> says Ms. Alperin, who today sells high-end real estate around Los
> Angeles. She tells people that was her in the revealing white undershirt
> on the sleeve of the âMy Sharonaâ 45. The single sold 500,000 copies,
> going gold within weeks of its June 1979 release.
>
> âMy Sharonaâ has never gone away. Ben Stiller built a memorable scene
> around the song in his 1994 directorial debut, âReality Bites,â claiming
> it for Generation X. Nirvana did a grunge version. The tune was reported
> to be on President George W. Bushâs iPod in 2005. These days hipster
> bands like Royal Blood play covers of the song. It still has life on
> classic rock radio stations, terrestrial and satellite, streaming
> services and with college pep bands and party DJs.
>
> Itâs an odd kind of fame, being the person in the song.
>
> âThere was a time where if I met anybody younger whose name was Sharona,
> Iâd say, âI just want you to know: You were named after me. Itâs no big
> deal, I just want you to know,â â Ms. Alperin says. âAnd theyâre like,
> âOh, my God, I totally was named after you.â â
>
> Capitol Records released the single âMy Sharona,â along with âGet the
> Knack,â the debut LP from the Los Angeles-based band. The photo on the
> back showed the four skinny-tied Knack members posed in front of
> old-school TV cameras, as if ready to perform for Ed Sullivan, in a nod
> to the Beatles, another Capitol act.
>
> Rock critics mostly forgave the Beatles comparison. Billboard was among
> the publications praising the energy of the music at a time when
> crisp-sounding new-wave rock was on the rise.
>
> âIt was just a great, utterly radio-friendly pop song that called back
> to the classic tunes of the British invasion,â says Simon Glickman,
> managing editor of music industry publication HITS magazine. âThe
> energy, that guitar attack.â
>
> The Knackâs lead guitarist, Berton Averre, came up with the choppy riff
> that has made listeners pogo for decades. âI was listening to Elvis
> Costelloâs second album, âThis Yearâs Model,â and the drum break in
> âPump It Upâ was so primal,â says Mr. Averre, whose soaring guitar solo
> also fills most of the songâs second half. âI picked up the guitar and
> played something as simplistic and staccato as I could.â
>
> âMy Sharonaâ reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart by August and
> stayed for six weeks.
>
> âIt was on every minute,â Ms. Alperin recalls. âIt was on the airplane.
> Iâd get off the airplane, and it was in the cab. Iâd get to the hotel,
> and the top 40 band in the lounge would be playing it.â
>
> âGet the Knackâ separately went platinum, with a million copies sold.
> The Knack on stage in Chicago in 1979. Their song âMy Sharonaâ became
> the No. 1 song of the year. PHOTO: PAUL NATKIN/GETTY IMAGES
>
> Mr. Fieger had a mad crush on Ms. Alperin, whoâd started attending Knack
> performances at L.A. clubs like the Troubadour and the Starwood before
> the band had a record deal. She says he chased her for a year, but she
> was happily in another relationship when the song came out.
>
> Mr. Fieger also wrote âFrustrated,â â(Sheâs So) Selfish,â and other
> songs on the debut album with her on his mind, Mr. Averre says. His
> lyrics were so suggestive that some of the lines feel inappropriate even
> to Google today. Mr. Fieger, who died in 2010, said he was writing from
> the perspective of a 14-year-old boy.
>
> âLyrically, it was a truly hormonal record,â Mr. Glickman says.
>
> Mr. Fieger eventually did woo Sharona. They were together for three or
> four years, she says. The Knack issued a second album in 1980, and
> others later, but remained famous mostly for just one song.
>
> Ms. Alperin posed for the âMy Sharonaâ single, and a photo of her became
> the cover of the Knackâs second album, titled ââ¦But the Little Girls
> Understand.â
>
> âI literally am a girl who went to yeshivaâand then was plastered
> everywhere,â she says. âThat was when a music store like Tower Records
> would have gigantic albums hung on the outside.â
>
> Her parents, she says, were cool about it. âAnd the band was accessible.
> They came over for Shabbat dinner.â
> Doug Fieger, lead singer of the Knack, backstage with Sharona Alperin,
> subject of many of his lyrics, in the early 1980s. PHOTO: SHARONA ALPERIN
>
> She enjoyed her time in the rock world. âI remember being at dinner with
> Cher and the Kiss guy [Gene Simmons]. I spoke Hebrew with him.â But she
> looks back with open eyes on those years dating an older rock star.
>
> âIs there a more possessive word than âmyâ?â she says now. âI mean,
> calling somebody âmine?â â
>
> She married someone else. Terri Nunn of the band Berlin sang âTake My
> Breath Awayâ at her wedding. Now Ms. Alperin is a single mom with a
> daughter, Eden, in college and a son, Adam, in high school. (Sharona is
> her middle name. Her given first name, which she never really used, is
> Eve.)
>
> Sheâs also a cancer survivor who kept working through 36 rounds of
> chemotherapy. âI didnât want people to feel bad for me,â she says. âI
> live and breathe real estate, no joke, seven days a week. Of course
> people want to see a house on a Saturday. Of course there are Sunday
> open houses.â
>
> In 2002, she set up her real estate website at mysharona.com. Her office
> receives a steady flow of fan mail, ranging from flattering to creepy.
> While she was showing a house the other day, a package arrived
> containing a six-page letter plus three versions of her famous photo and
> a white tank-top undershirt to autograph. She signed it all.
>
> She hasnât really tried to escape the song, just take control of what it
> means.
>
> âI remember people used to say, like, âWhy are you breaking up with
> Doug?â â Ms. Alperin says. âIâd tell them, because I want to be my
> Sharona now.â
>
>
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.