"If you had to set up a fight between our fans and the people who hated us, the fans would win by far," lead singer-guitarist Doug Fieger said from a tour break last week. "The backlash came from people who think too much about something that can't be analyzed. Rock 'n' roll music is supposed to be below the belt. All we were doing in songs like the naughty 'Good Girls Don't' was reflecting the way 14-year-old boys feel. And there's a little 14-year-old boy in all of us. I think that's why the record did so well."

If anything made the Knack notorious, it was its members posing as the Beatles on the first album cover - the sign of a big ego, some thought. "If the record hadn't sold so many copies, more people would have gotten the tongue-in-cheek joke," Fieger said. "It was our little punk commentary: 'Here's the next big thing, and it looks just like the last big thing.' Just like the Clash using Elvis Presley's album cover on 'London Calling.' But, of course, they were from England, and they were cool. We were from L.A., and we weren't."

After a decade in the "where are they now?" files, the Knack is suddenly back, with a new album, "Zoom," on Rhino Records and a live show scheduled for Mama Kin Saturday. Original members Fieger, Berton Averre (lead guitar) and Prescott Niles (bass) are still aboard, with the surprising addition of ex-Frank Zappa-Missing Persons drummer Terry Bozzio. The new Knack sounds a lot like the old Knack, with a heavily retro, '60s pop style, though the new songs are a bit more grownup. If there's nothing quite as catchy as the old "My Sharona," there's still enough lowbrow fun for anyone's inner 14-year-old.

It's been a long road back for the band, which first re-formed back in 1991. But that year's comeback album, "Serious Fun," fizzled, and there was no tour behind it. The Knack got a reprieve three years later, when "My Sharona" was featured in the film "Reality Bites" and became a hit single all over again. But its current label still hedged its bets with the new album. The first single from "Zoom" was sent around to critics and radio stations minus the band's name.

"That wasn't our idea," says Fieger, who's sure the Knack could catch on one more time. "I've always thought we had a pretty classic sound. 'My Sharona' was a timeless rock 'n' roll record. We never changed what we do, and we never did anything based on what someone else thought we should do. That's why it's taken us so long to get another record deal."

Fieger isn't the only infamous member of his family. His brother, Geoffrey, was Dr. Jack Kevorkian's lawyer and is now running for governor of Michigan. Did Doug give his brother any pointers on dealing with the spotlight?

"He doesn't need any of my advice, and he wouldn't take it anyway. Part of me can't believe he wants to be governor, but if he does, more power to him. I'm sure he'd do a better job than whoever's in there now."

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