CARS A GO GO!

CARS A GO GO!

Cars have been an important part of rock ’n’ roil ever since the music began over three decades ago. Chuck Berry wrote and sang about them in almost every song. Elvis Presley not only sang about pink Cadillacs, he owned a whole fleet of them. The Beach Boys idealized those four-wheeled American Dream chariots in songs like “409” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.” The Beatles turned “Drive My Car” into a very big hit. And to this day, Bruce Springsteen, the Boss himself, glorifies the automobile on a great many songs. After all, cars and girls. That’s basically what it’s always been about!

But perhaps no one has done more for the image of cars and rock ’n’ roll going hand-in-hand than Ric Ocasek, Benjamin Orr, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes and Dave Robinson, a group of guys know the hippest circles as the Cars!! Cars have come a long way sine they first formed in Boston back the early 70s. Still, the band seemed like an overnight succes when they released their first LP aptly named The Cars—back in 1978. The album went to the top the charts, and it gave the world single after hit single. The Cars have been on top ever since.

I Think back to the year 1978 if you can. The “punk” and new wave explosions were in full bloom. Here comes this band from Boston that no one’s ever heard of before. Were they “punk”? Were they “new wave”? All of a sudden, “My Best Friend’s Girl” is a big smash, and being played all over the airwaves. It’s the sort of song that immediately makes you feel happy, and one that you could hear over and over again without getting bored. Of course, there’s a Roxy Music-like quality to the band’s sound, and since so many new wave bands were basing their acts around Bryan Ferry & crew, the Cars must be “new wave,” right? After all, their cool detachment gives them away. But listen closer. There’s a pop sensibility in the song that almost recalls the innocence of someone like Buddy Holly. So you had space age music meeting innocent pop—not to mention some stunning guitar solos and instrumental breaks elsewhere. Immediately, people began dropping labels—and listening to the music.

If you happened to attend a Cars concert in ’78, you’d see every branch of rockdom represented, from Sex Pistols T-shirts to those hopping around with Ted Nugent pictured on their chest. And that was just the beginning!

Ric Ocasek kept pumping out those songs, proving himself to be a pure pop genius of our time, and the band kept developing them into pop-rock classics. Many other “power pop” bands like the Knack have come and gone in the Cars’ wake, but talent wins out—and the Cars have proven their staying power. Candy-0 followed the debut LP in 1979, after that first LP had exhausted nearly every possible single (shades of Born In The U.S.A.l)—and the new LP followed the same device.

By the-time of their third LP, it was obvious that the band’s success was no fluke. They had been playing huge arenas since the release of their second LP, but this time their American tour sold out arenas every place it stopped. Plus Panorama's first single, “Touch & Go” featured a single that had a chorus that was the closest thing to Buddy Holly yet! But as the pop fans continued singing the praises of Ric Ocasek and company, Mr. Ocasek himself kept flirting with the outer fringes of modern music. The Cars hosted a TV show where they picked their own guests—some of these including Iggy Pop and others that you generally never saw on television. Plus the show featured another strange act that Ocasek was also producing on record. The band was Suicide, which would later give the world Alan Vega’s solo career—not to mention Bruce Springsteen citing them as a major influence on his Nebraska LP.

Shake It Up followed in 1981, and the title track was another big hit, once again building on Ocasek’s stunning formula of old pop meets the new. Not only this, but one of the LP’s original songs was titled “Maybe Baby”...perhaps a humorous play on Ocasek’s Buddy Holly influence? Of course, borrowing old song titles for his own compositions was nothing new for Ocasek. He’d been doing this since the debut LP when he used titles like “Bye Bye Love” (the Everly Brothers?), “Good Times Roll” (Shirley & Lee?) and “All Mixed Up” (a play on Elvis’s “All Shook Up”?). An ingenious device!

Of course, the Cars made pop history again with the release of Heartbeat City early last year. Not only did it once again provide a substantial amount of hit singles, but Ocasek produced some of the most interesting rock videos yet, directed by such legendary people as Andy Warhol and Timothy Hutton. One of the videos even featured Ocasek walking on the water! Was he trying to tell us something?

After this string of hits, it only seemed natural that the Cars should release a Greatest Hits LP. (It should also be mentioned that several members of the band, including Ocasek himself, releai solo LPs during this time, show what diversive talents they rea are.) But once again, the Cars broke convention with their Grei Hits LP by not only including am extra unreleased track on the L but by turning that extra unrele track into another big hit single making the LP truly live up to title.

So it would seem when it cof to cars in rock ’n’ roll, it would seem that the Cars have done for the automobile than Lee lacocca! As Ric Ocasek is quol as saying in Toby Goldstein’s recent biography of the band:' are great. They go through all changes like musicians do, too, They all wear out. They all get broken parts. Some are better others, and some go to the junkyard.” Rest assured thattf one band that isn’t ready for th junkyard yet! Va-va-va-room"