"Frustrated", written by Fieger and Knack guitarist
Berton Averre, was the
B-side of "Good Girls Don't". Like a number of songs on
Get the Knack, such as "My Sharona", "Frustrated" was inspired by
Fieger's
girlfriend Sharona Alperin, and reflected Fieger's real life frustration at the fact that he had a crush on her, but she was keeping him at arm's length (they eventually had a relationship). The Knack also included "Frustrated" on the live
DVD On Stage at World Cafe Live released in 2007. Although not released as an A-side, the band made a promotional music video of the song. Ken Tucker of
Rolling Stone called "Frustrated" a "neck breaker" and considered the song an "artfully veiled metaphor for their leader's professional ambitions", which describes Fieger as "an ingenious overreacher just now closing in on his real goal of securing power by whipping up a pop-rock treat that'll have kids begging to rot their minds on it." Ira Robbins and Michael Sandlin of
Trouser Press described the song as a "tight guitar pop" song which described women as "prick-teases". Author John Borack described "Frustrated" like "Good Girls Don't" as a "mean pop tune" in which Fieger comes off "like a leering, sexist twit with hormones a-raging." Critic S. Victor Aaron of
Something Else! praised the song's "huge backbeat", "lively bass line" and "thick slab of guitar riffs" as well as Fieger's "impishly sung lyrics". Aaron summed up "Frustrated" as a "perfect danceable tough rocker for any party" and noted that it got significant airplay on
AOR radio stations. Tina Maples of the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel praised its "
hooky effervescence". Charla Wasel of
The Evening Independent described it as a song "with which we can all relate." The Knack
bassist Prescott Niles described the song as "catchy" and noted that it was "a big crowd favorite". ==References==