The Knack - But The Little Girls Understand

How do you follow-up a classic debut? For many bands that have pondered that question, the answer came as “Let’s try to repeat everything we did on the first album!”
Now honestly, there’s a good chance that, by doing so, you won’t pull the wool over anyone’s eyes and there’s an even better chance that you won’t build the fan base by much after doing so.
The Knack certainly didn’t need to build their audience after Get The Knack, an album of such epic power-pop greatness that critics (and some fans of the genre) needed to look for ways to dismantle the quartet’s smugness and ungratefulness after the success of their debut.
Yeah, their image was a problem, but their music certainly wasn’t. So what The Knack did was conveniently ignore this and make another album chock full of great power pop songs that, as expected, fell short of the batting average of the Get The Knack but was certainly nothing to kick out of bed for eating crackers.
Smart move? Not really. The Knack’s sophomore album not only fails to address their Achilles heel, it exposes it even more. Not only is the title of the album a direct swipe at would be detractors, …But The Little Girls Understand has the audacity to not only name check one of the great blues lyrics of all time (“Back Door Man”), it also suggests that only teenage girls would be equipped at “getting” The Knack.
Indeed, the original artwork depicts a girl looking innocently upwards to something off camera (Doug Fieger’s penis?) and the inner sleeve shows the boys in a limousine that’s overrun with girls trying to get through the windows of the vehicle.
The photo looks incredibly staged.
Now add to all of this that the producer of the record, Mike Chapman, wrote a comment to potential purchasers of …But The Little Girls Understand buy more than one copy because, no shit, it would help his bank account.
Count ‘em: you’ve got four reasons to absolutely hate this album before you’ve played note one.
And when you finally put the needle on the record (literally for me: this is a review of my original vinyl release with the old Capitol Records’ rainbow band label done up entirely in pink) you’re met with the band’s attempt at “My Sharona” (part two): “Baby Talks Dirty.” With any sequel, you’re bound to be disappointed and, if you allow yourself, you’ll certainly be disappointed in “Baby Talks Dirty.” Not because it’s a bad song, it’s just nowhere as good as “My Sharona.”
But what is?
And what’s as good as Get The Knack while we’re at it?
Certainly not …But The Little Girls Understand, but consider how The Knack’s second album is probably better than the vast majority of power pop albums out there anyway.
“The Feeling I Get” falls short with its ‘The Knack as produced by Phil Spector” impersonation and “How Can Love Hurt So Much” is barely believable as a tender retro ballad, particularly after already disclaiming how Doug likes it when his chick’s utter “Hurt Me! Hurt Me”
At the same time, there’s some gems scattered across the sophomore disc, some of which rival Get The Knack. A good cover of The Kinks’ “The Hard Way” followed by the originals “It’s You” and the slide-happy “End Of The Game” starts side two with three up-tempo tracks while late drummer Bruce Gary has his way over the kit on “I Want Ya.”
There are a few hints and trying to expand their sound, but primarily ...But The Little Girls Understand finds The Knack trying to mirror the pattern laid down on their first album. By the time The Knack eventually addressed their image problem on their third album (Round Trip), the band lost most of their humor and (surprise!) most of their fan base. I suffered through that mediocre release, however, I wouldn’t have even bothered with it if …But The Little Girls Understand wasn’t as good as it is.

The Knack's Doug Fieger celebrates his 55th birthday today.

Additional proof of The Knack's badassedness: 1979 footage of the track "The End Of The Game."