Doug Fieger talking? To critics?

That's the first clue that things are different this time around.

The Knack went down five years ago, smothered under some of the nastiest verbal garbage ever slung at a pop band. It had become trendy to slog them in print.

In the beginning, that's the last thing you would have expected. The L.A. band ruled the world with its first single, "My Sharona." Its first album, Get the Knack, was made in 11 days for $18,000 and took only three days to go gold. It is said to have sold 5 million copies.

But the band got caught in the bitter crossfire of the post-punk shootout among music writers. They had the wholesome looks, attitudes and poppish sound of the early Beatles and that irritated some.

A lot of critics felt their success came too quickly, too easily, and thus was undeserved, Fieger said yesterday, "even though we were an eight-year overnight success."

The band's decision not to talk to the press hurt, he acknowledges. "We were trying to get away from the pompous attitudes of a lot of the bands at the time, let the music speak for itself. A lot of people saw us as being arrogant when we were exactly the opposite."

The band was called sexist, especially after its second album ...but the Little Girls Understand. The title referred to a headline in Creem magazine about the tenacity of the group's fans. thanks to PMRC blue noses, sexism has become an institutionalized subgenre of heavy metal and black pop. Try Motley Crue's newest, Girls, Girls, Girls, on for size.

In the end though, the fans are the ultimate critics. And they passionately embraced Fieger, Berton Averre, Bruce Gary and Prescott Niles.

The band lasted for three albums over three years before breaking up. "It wasn't very friendly," recalls Fieger.

The acrimony had as much to do with his drinking and drugs as it did with bad public relations, Fieger freely admits today. "I've got a disease, something I didn't know I had at the time," he says. "I was fueled by the belief in the rock 'n' roll ethic: Live fast, die young."

There are gaps in his life, days and months he literally can't recall.

Fieger's been back among the living for several years, dry, sober, lucid and taking life one day at a time. He has the attitude of one who has crawled out from under a horrendous wreck: glad to be alive, not sure why, but certain that he is meant for a higher purpose in life because of it.

"I'm not religious, but I feel that I've grown spiritually because of this," he says, adding that he is "aligned with the forces that promote the positive in life."

Rock 'n' roll used to be like that, too, "a positive force of hope."

And good entertainment.

Fieger firmly believes that. "If we can get you to let go of your problems, let go of your hassles, for a concert or a three-minute song, then we've succeeded. The world is sorely in need of that," he said.

"Rock 'n' roll is supposed to set you free!"

The four musicians got together a bit over a year ago to jam, test the waters. "It didn't feel right," says Fieger.

Then, last November, Prescott Niles invited Fieger to his wedding. And suggested they all try once again. This time something happened.

The band has been plying the coast, doing club dates. The Bacchanal was only their third stop after more than five years. Only four songs from the early days are included in their set. The rest are new, with lyrics that evidence a matured perspective, the exploration of relationships. Gone is the teen-age awe and angst of sexuality.

There's no album in the works, but the band will go into a studio next month to put some things on tape. their own way, open at Golden Hall for one of the longest-running bands in the business, the Kinks. They do two dates together. Fieger is a big admirer of Ray Davies and the Kinks. Their song "The Hard Way" was on the Knack's second album.

The job is not a big break, but a start.

Should success come around again, Fieger is confident he can handle it.

Fame, women, cars, cash, flash, drugs and booze once ruled. "Today, it's an inside job," he says. "The more hectic things become around me, the less hectic I am inside.

"I think I'm finally understanding who I am."

Rock 'n' roll is setting him free after all.

Caliente Racetrack and radio station 91-X have put together a powerful pop lineup for their first-ever Mexfest at the Tijuana track. Headlining the June 30 concert will be Oingo Boingo with the Bangles, the Fixx and Squeeze.

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