On August 25, 1979, “My Sharona” by The Knack hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 just two months after debuting. It stayed in that spot for six weeks, eventually being dethroned on October 6. The single served as Capitol Records’ fastest-selling debut release in the U.S. since The Beatles’I Want To Hold Your Hand.
While the tune was inarguably catchy and fun, the lyrics themselves were rather controversial—or rather, the muse behind them.
The History of ‘My Sharona’
Singer and guitarist Doug Fieger evidently penned the career-defining track in a flurry of creative energy. The inspiration for the 24-year-old’s jam? His then 17-year-old girlfriend, Sharona Alperin. Though, the song was penned before the two officially got together. In the liner notes for the albumGet the Knack, Fieger wrote:
“It was like getting hit in the head with a baseball bat; I fell in love with her instantly. And when that happened, it sparked something and I started writing a lot of songs feverishly in a short amount of time.”
Louder Sound reporter Bill DeMain noted that Fieger confessed he left his girlfriend Judy to pursue Alperin, who made him feel “sixteen again.”
“It was a conscious effort for both me and Berton Averre, lead guitarist and co-writer, to come at it from the point of view of our remembered teenage selves,” Fieger recalled. “We wanted to tell the story from that place, where it’s more raw and direct.”
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Who Was the Real Sharona?
Alperin and Fieger dated for a while after the initial chase, but she once told NPR that she kept him at a distance.
“Doug made it very clear he was in love with me,” Alperin said. “It wasn’t like my boyfriend and the world didn’t know. I always say that he was my groupie, I wasn’t his.”
“I was about 16 or 17 at the time,” Alperin went on to tell host Guy Raz. “He was nine years older than me. And within a month or two later, he told me that, ‘I’m in love with you, you’re my soulmate, you’re my other half, we’re going to be together one day.’ And I was madly in love with my boyfriend at the time, so it took a year for me to leave my boyfriend.”
She ultimately ended up being the single’s cover girl and became a mini-celebrity alongside the band. Though they did date, they eventually separated and married other people. They remained close friends until Fieger died on Valentine’s Day in 2010.
The Biggest Controversy
The Knack faced a lot of backlash in their short time in the spotlight. The song itself was protested by female-led organizers citing the lyrics as misogynistic due to Fieger’s views on women, as well as criticism over her age, according to Loudwire.
They also received blowback for trying to imitate The Beatles in both looks and sound. Campaigns were even launched entitled “Nuke the Knack” due to the overhype surrounding their song.
However, the track reached popular heights again after being used in an iconic scene in the cult-classic film Reality Bites.
This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 22, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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