Actors - My Sharona

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	Actors - My Sharona

"My Sharona" was The Knack's biggest hit. Produced by Mike Chapman and released June 18, 1979 the single went gold in eight weeks and, on August 25 it reached number one on the Billboard Charts. "My Sharona" remains a popular song and, definitive of early 1980s rock music. It is known for its slamming drums, driving guitar work, and simple, infectious beat.

Its easily recognizable riff that is the core of the song was written by the band's guitarist, Berton Averre, long before he ever joined The Knack. According to lead singer/guitarist Doug Fieger, he met a girl named Sharona (who was 17 at the time), and fell in love with her. Whenever he thought about her, he would think of Averre's riff. The two worked out the structure and melody from there. The girl who inspired the song is Sharona Alperin, now a real estate agent in Los Angeles, USA.

Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters has stated on more than one occasion that "My Sharona" is his favorite song. His earlier band Nirvana even did a rare cover of it. The original song gained some attention in 2005 when it appeared on the playlist of U.S. President George W. Bush's iPod player.

Alternate Versions

A parody on the internet titled "9 Coronas" was a popular song about ugly girls looking better after 9 Coronas. Some think that it was done by Weird Al Yankovic when he was with Dr. Demento. But, it was in fact done by John Mammoser.

Run DMC used a sample from the song for their hit, "It's Tricky".

One year after this song first came out, The Chipmunks covered this song as the final track on their 1980 comeback album, Chipmunk Punk.

"Weird Al" Yankovic
parodied this song as "My Bologna"
on his self-titled debut album
.

The song has also been covered by the hardcore group The Number Twelve Looks Like You.

Polysics, the electro-pop-punk group from Japan have also covered "My Sharona", releasing it on the album "For Young Electric Pop" and again on their best of "Polysics Or Die!!!!". They also performed it live on John Peel's Radio 1 show.

Australian TV Show 20 to 1: One Hit Wonders voted "My Sharona" as the greatest "One-Hit Wonder" in history.

The Simpsons episode Marge's Son Poisoning had "My Sharona" sung by bullies Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney at the end credits. Homer also refers to the song as a "pop music footnote".

Veruca Salt recorded a version of "My Sharona" which was released on their EP Victrola.

The Rogue Traders song "Watching You" (released in Australia on 30th January 2006 and climbing to the number 5 position in its second week in the ARIA Top 50 singles chart) is also based on the principal riff used in "My Sharona".

Alan Tam
sang this song in Cantonese entitled Love Until You Go Mad (愛到你發狂).

Dead Kennedys, the legendary political hardcore band group did a mock cover of this song to the same music called Pull My Strings. Although orginally intended as spoof when they were asked to appear at a music industry convention, it was released in 1987 on their rarities album Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death

Lee Harding did a cover version of My Sharona on Australian Idol

Eldritch, an italian metal band, did a well-received cover of it

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for My Sharona ]

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