Ric Ocasek died yesterday at the age of 75, and it made me very sad. The Cars are a quintessential American rock band from an era that is long gone- with short singable songs and good guitar with a nice mix of synth, and when I listen to them it always brings me back to a good place when I was a kid and listening to them on the jukebox at the college inn or listening to their albums while lying on the floor of the college radio station. They are probably best known for their 1984 album Heartbeat City which featured the song Drive, among others, but for me The Cars, Candy-O, Panorama, and Shake it Up are a pretty amazing four album stretch, and there is literally not a bad song on their debut self-titled album The Cars.
I’ve always considered myself a closet Cars fan, as I have all their albums and frequently have them on my iphone rotation. When I say “secret,” I don’t mean out of embarrassment, but because no one ever comes out and says “OH MAN I LOVE THE FUCKING CARS THEY ARE THE BEST BAND IN THE WORLD” because everyone, including me, will look at you and say “No, they’re not.” But what they were was a GREAT band that really fit the time and the zeitgeist, and after listening to five albums from The Cars (1978) to 1984’s Heartbeat City, it is a timeless sound that will still be worth a listen in another 30-40 years. That’s something pretty impressive, and there is something to be said for music like the Cars, which is very accessible to the masses (Marshall Crenshaw comes to mind). You don’t have to be a pretentious music snob to like the Cars- you just have to have ears.
RIP, Ric. Thanks.
Kristine
Love The Cars. Undergrad memories.
My favorite song is “Dangerous Type.” I have the Candy-O LP and really need to get the old turntable going one of these days.
MJS
RIP, indeed. He was very talented. And I generally agree with your take, except I like the earlier albums much better than “Heartbeat City”, which in my opinion was typical of the time – come up with the video premise, then slap a song together to get it on MTV. Every single song on “The Cars” was outstanding.
Baud
Agree. Good music.
Nicole
My husband, back when he was in college in Oklahoma and writing for the college paper, got to interview him after a concert (late ā80s). Said he was incredibly nice and Paulina was the most beautiful woman heād ever seen.
A friend here in NYC said he was in Tower Records (back when there was still a Tower Records) and recognized Ocasek. He promptly grabbed a Cars album, asked him to sign it. Ocasek did and then chatted a good 15 minutes with him.
Iāll be putting a lot of The Cars on my running mix this week, I think.
(((CassandraLeo)))
Good writeup, and I pretty much agree. No oneās going to call them the best band in history, because they werenāt. But they were a workmanlike group with solid songwriting and pleasant melodies that get stuck in your head for days. Pretty much everyone knows some of the Carsā songs, and pretty much everyone likes some of them. That canāt actually be said for too many groups these days! My favourites are probably āJust What I Neededā and āDriveā. Pretty conventional choices, and Ocasek doesnāt even sing on the latter, but theyāre classics.
I had no idea Ric Ocasek was as old as he was until his death was announced. He was 40 years old when they put out their debut album! Thatās nuts. And actually kind of inspiring in a way, given Iām not too many years from that age myself.
Ceterum censeo factionem Republicanam esse delendam.
PaulWartenberg
As a Gen Xer I hail from that era, and indeed the Cars played often on the soundtrack of my teen years. The early stuff was the best – Heartbeat City to my young ears was mostly pop nonsense (save for Drive a moody bittersweet song that probably sounds better A Capella) – but I was never into the band the way my twin brother was. He thrilled at seeing them perform at the RnR Hall of Fame last year.
Mikeindublin
Still got the cars cassette which I just posted a pic of on my fb.
Aleta
johnnybuck
Candy-O man. Maybe not a all timer band, but those first two albums are just timeless.
Lots of memories long forgotten today.
Omnes Omnibus
I’ll be the pretentious music snob and say that the quality tailed off after The Cars and Candy-O. Also, I am not sure that the advent of MTV did them any favors; they had some great videos, but I think that success there took them in a more conventional pop direction. That said, I get where you are coming from with the “closet fan” thing. To me, they are a band that many people like and very, very few dislike. They weren’t often great, but they were never bad. If you have a group of people in their 40s and 50s, Cars’ songs are always a good bet for a DJ. Tom Petty achieved the same thing although his music was quite different.*
I believe it is mandatory to note that Ocasek was married to Paulina Porzikova. RIP, Ric. We’ll miss you.
*Nothing I am saying here is meant as a dig at Ocasek and The Cars or Tom Petty. In the words of Mick/Keith: I said i know it’s only rock’n’roll but i like it, like it, yes, i do.
dexwood
.Right there with you, Cole, though, like MJS, I thought the earlier albums were better than Heartbeat City. One Friday night, the week Panorama was released, my girlfriend and I were tripping on some pretty great LSD. We had reached the point where we could no longer operate the turntable so switched to the local college station which always had a kickass Friday night rock and roll show. Our switch was just in time to hear the new Cars album in it’s entirety uninterrupted. Wonderful. A few months later we saw them touring in support of the album. The Motels opened and they were damn good, too.
Lee Hartmann
Geez that’s sad. RIP.
Enjoyable music is what you enjoy. and I enjoyed the Cars for what they did. Especialliy from my time in Boston.
Aleta
E Warren live in Wash Sq
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLOmBE6cQB4
Dr. Fungus
I remember when their debut came out in 1978. People were saying the exact same thing then.
That first album was near perfection. Might as well have been a greatest hits. They never topped or matched it, though they had a few good songs afterward. Looking at you, “Since You’re Gone.”
Loved the beatnik scene in Hairspray.
geg6
@Omnes Omnibus:
I totally agree with everything you said. And even as they went the MTV route, I still liked them a lot. You just canāt find much to dislike. A rock band you can dance to. Like actual dancing, not just jumping around. I gravitated toward punk but the Cars had a cool enough vibe that even my crowd liked them. They are a big part of the soundtrack to my early 20s.
Mike S
My favorites were these two. Especially the way they toggled the beginning of Moving in Stereo between speakers.
https://youtu.be/BZhfFXEMMI4
Mike in DC
I think that they are a near perfect 80s pop group. RIP.
TenguPhule
I have to keep reminding myself some days that this is 2019.
Baud
@TenguPhule:
Maybe take that downstairs.
Wag
The pair of songs that close the first Cars album, Moving In Stereo followed by the segue into All Mixed Up, is one of the most perfect pairs of songs ever. Brings me back to late nights driving home on country roads after dropping off my high school girlfriend after a date.
Patricia Kayden
And Ric did a great job playing a beatnik in the original āHairsprayā movie.
Mary G
I never bought any of their music, but I liked them on the radio and they almost always gave me an hours-long earworm.
Half the obits say he was 70 and the other half say he was 75. Wikipedia says his DOB is disputed. Strange that he kept it a mystery in this day and age.
He and Paulina were estranged, but she and their sons were staying with him to help him recover from a surgery. She found that he had passed in the night when she brought his morning coffee. I want to die like that.
Omnes Omnibus
@geg6: I mentioned this last night, but one of the things they had that gave them cachet with the college radio crowd was David Robinson on drums.
JWR
@Omnes Omnibus:
Count me as one of those “very, very few” who never really cared for The Cars, though I certainly get why they were so popular. But to me, they were just another run of the mlll Pop band. From that same era, I’ll take Gang Of Four, or Television. (I love me some Television!), and maybe even Blondie, (who were also a sometimes run of the mill pop band.) Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never said anything bad about The Cars. Just not my cuppa.
OGLiberal
@(((CassandraLeo))): I didn’t know he was that old either. He was only a year or two younger than George Harrison. Atrios noted today that when the Cars were a hip MTV band, Led Zeppelin was “classic rock”. Robert Plant was born in 1948, Ocasek in ’44. (although I’ve seen 1949 thrown around as well) He first met Ben Orr in 1965 and they were in their first band together in 1968.
I listened to the Cars before there was MTV. (my dad bought a cap for his pickup from a friend…it had an 8-track player with two tapes – The Cars first album and Led Zeppelin II) By the time their videos were on MTV, it was Ocasek as the featured vocalist, with Orr doing the big hit “Drive”. Didn’t realize until later the Orr was the lead vocalist on some of my favorite earlier Cars songs. Their voices were similar – I think Orr’s was a bit better and a little more “traditional”. But Ric wrote the songs.
He produced a lot of bands as well. Saw him at a Possum Dixon show – he produced their first album – at the Mercury Lounge in NYC in the late ’90s. My friend saw him and said, “Hey, Ric!” Ric replied, “Hey, how’ve you been?” As he walked away my friend said to us, “Since when?” Seemed like a nice guy – just hanging in a small club watching a band he produced…looked like he may have been there by himself.
Elizabelle
The Dangerous Type. Love it. The Cars will be on heavy rotation; I’ve only listened to their first three albums.
And, bringing Alberto Vargas out of retirement to draw your Candy-O album cover. That was brilliant. Wiki:
Someone mentioned that adding David Robinson (previously of The Modern Lovers) upped the Cars’ cool quotient considerably. Maybe Omnes? Anyway, I love their first two albums and Panorama.
Sad that Ric Ocasek’s gone. He sounds like a very good guy, who guarded his private life but was approachable.
I celebrate that Elvis Costello still breathes, and tours, apparently.
Google Doodle today is BB King, who would be 94.
NotMax
Have to admit I’ve only vaguely heard of them, in passing . Stopped paying attention to rock music sometime during the early to mid-1970s.
Mart
@dexwood: I plumb forgot about the Motels. Been playing a few of their songs on YouTube, Thanks.
ETA: Always happy when a Cars song is played on the radio.
piratedan
All I can say is that the music could be danced to, sung loudly in the car and had enough of a range of emotional content that allowed a lot of folks to identify… as a musician or a composer you’d have to say mission accomplished… ty Ric and Ben for being part of the soundtrack of my youth
Omnes Omnibus
@JWR: For dislike, I am talking about the appropriate reaction to REO Speedwagon from that time. Or Creed from a few years later. You know, diving for the radio controls in the car if one of the group’s songs comes on and things like that.
ETA: You would never hear a Gang of Four song on pop radio. And not everyone spent their summers at jobs with access to college radio. The Cars were about the best you could get – except for two songs off of Combat Rock.
Wag
@Elizabelle:
I saw him in Denver earlier this year, and he and the original attractions still rock very hard. Great show
Elizabelle
Youtube, The Dangerous Type, Ric’s live vocal; he looking tall and gangly. Like this one a lot.
When dressed in black, he reminds me of a real tall New Wave Roy Orbison, kinda. (He’s in red and white in the video.)
NotMax
OT.
Back to too hot and muggy. Yesterday’s high temp broke the record for the day and today feels like the same. Yuck.
Rob
The first two Cars albums helped get me through the end of my senior year in college and the rather traumatic year that followed (there were a handful of other albums helping as well). Panorama was good, too, but I lost interest in the group after that record. I still love love love those first two records though. RIP Ric.
geg6
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, exactly. Modern Lovers!
John Revolta
They’re very “of their time”………………….I don’t know anybody who likes them who wasn’t there when they were happening. I was there but I wasn’t really a fan. However, ignoring the guy’s goofy voice, and the utter lack of funk, and the boring mid-tempos, there was something about them that I didn’t hate. I think it was the production. They had a certain sound that was interesting……………..also they had a way with a catchy lyric.
OTOH the guy discovered Black 47 and produced their first album. I gotta definite ambivalence about that.
chopper
@JWR:
never was into the cars, but their songs are catchy as all fuck and ocasek was a hell of a producer.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Wow, a Naismith Award and a rock&roll drummer? didn’t know he was so talented.
Rob
@dexwood: That’s a great story!
dexwood
@piratedan:
The Cars were in heavy rotation in all the bars in this town in 78 and 79. Local bands covered them faithfully. Yup, dance floors were crowded.
Kent
Food for thought from Atrios today. I’m the original MTV generation and was rather taken back by this. Would never had guessed.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
Heartbeat City was one of the first albums I bough. Got it on cassette tape the summer it came out and played it for a week straight on my Walkman. Agree that some of their other albums we’re better but I was in 7th grade and newer was better at that age. They are indeed a band I’ve always really liked though that’s the only album I had. A friend had greatest hits and their hits are really great hits.
Miss Bianca
@Kristine:
Oh, you and me both!
MomSense
The Cars were part of the soundtrack of my teen and young adult years. I was in Boston for college and they were much loved there. The rock, alternative, punk, and college stations all played them. I donāt think I ever went to a dance or party in those years that didnāt have some Cars songs in the mix.
Ric was quite an artist, too. His kids did a sweet tribute to him, posting the last doodle he drew.
RIP Ric and thanks for all the fun times.
Rileys Enabler
Oh man. Wagās got it right – Moving in stereo/ segue into All Mixed Up – best pair of songs from that entire decade. I loved The Cars – loved them, and mourned deep the day Ben Orr died because I knew it was the end of all hopes of one more song, one more tour. I also saw them with The Motels. So good. My first concert.
RIP, Ric. What a glorious noise you made.
Blake
They were a great band. Ric Also was a great producer.
JWR
@Omnes Omnibus:
REO. Now there’s a band I really disliked. (And don’t get me started on Creed!) But my musical tastes are on the odd side. For instance, I really liked the first Cheap Trick album, and disliked all the rest. (Go figure.) I also liked Uriah Heep, one of the cheesiest rock bands ever, but also loved bands like Gong and Gentle Giant. But to each, his or her own, I always say.
khead
@Elizabelle:
Fun fact: Toto, Elvis Costello AND The Cars came up short for the “Best New Artist” Grammy in 1979. Losing to….. A Taste of Honey. The Cars are right in my wheelhouse though. I’m in the age group that has them on vinyl, cassette, and CD.
JWR
@chopper:
I totally, wholeheartedly agree.
MomSense
@JWR:
Creed is the worst – and thatās saying something considering how much I much I hated REO Speedwagon. Man that was singer loved to close his mouth and hold those consonant sounds with that nasally hum of his. My middle son and I used to do this whole spoof of Creedās song With Arms Wide Open where we changed the lyrics to āIāve got toothpaste in my mouth and I need to spitā. It went on from there with both of us improvising. If you listen to him, it does sound like heās singing with a mouth full of toothpaste.
Elizabelle
@khead: The Grammy strikes again. LOL. Boogie Oogie Oogie OMG.
Elizabelle
@Mike S: Yeah, that’s brilliant. Loved the instrumentation.
I loved how we could just pick up the arm and put it back just where we wanted to hear again, with vinyl and [the now infamous] record players.
But how convenient for you to put up that link and it’s right on the laptop. Listening to it without having to move many muscles.
JWR
@MomSense:
Ha ha! Look Ma! I got Cweed toofpashte in mah mouf! (There are times I wish I’d had kids.)
raven
@MomSense: Their one-time promoter, Bob Nutt, died recently and there is a big memorial show for him in Champaign coming up.
rikyrah
RIP ? ?
Mike in NC
A blast from the past. R.I.P. Mister O.
Keith P.
@MomSense: Creed and REO are station-changers but I’ll throw Fleetwood Mac in there too….I haaaaate Fleetwood. Even Stevie Nick’s solo stuff f’n sucks IMO
Ohio Mom
@Aleta: Thanks for the link. I caught the tail end of Warrenās speech.
I apologize because this is off-topic and petty, but I just realized this and itās eating at me.
Warren has got to branch out fashion-wise.
She looks comfortable and ready to spring into action in her uniform of black spandex and a solid, bright colored jacket ā itās sort of a superhero costume.
But it doesnāt read as āpresidential.ā Itās too casual. Is that what she is going to wear to her inauguration? A state dinner? To meet Queen Elizabeth and the Pope?
I realize what to wear is problematic for women politicians. Men definitely have it easier, thereās only a couple of real options, rolled up short sleeves or suit and tie.
Pelosi manages to be both chic and business-like. Maybe she could be a good model for Warren? But how to segue from her established look to another? Has Warren painted herself into a corner? Now Iām worried about her political instincts.
Nicole
Excellent comments everyone, much appreciated, as Iām down here in Washington Square, Park in a mass crowd of people hoping for selfies and no one has any idea where the line is. Iām gonna try to last it out, but itās bedlam and I suspect I may be here for three hours if I try.
That said, the entertaining music opinions and memories are much appreciated as they help pass the time.
It was a good speech by the way. I couldnāt see any of it, but I could hear it. ?
Bobby Thomson
As an old, I learned one evening that the beginning of Side A of The Cars syncs up pretty well with the third act of the 1981 movie Ghost Story.
They were a fun band. I really hated Heartbeat City but their early stuff still holds up. By all accounts Ric was a good guy and it appears his end was peaceful.
MomSense
@JWR:
You donāt need kids to be silly! I still act silly half the time.
@raven: I didnāt realize he died. I always associated him with the college band sound.
@Keith P.: I liked early Fleetwood when Peter Green was in the band and they were more bluesy. But oh god Gypsy and Donāt stop Thinking About Tomorrow – all that stuff was such garbage.
Elizabelle
@Mike S: OK, that was so good I am listening to it again. Just found another desert island disc.
Like the yoots will know what that means.
@Nicole: Yea you, for being there.
NotMax
@Elizabelle
Don’t forget to pack the wind-up Victrola.
;)
Elizabelle
@NotMax: And the Depends. Sigh.
ETA: Meanwhile, you have a mother — parents — who went to Woodstock, right? For the actual concert?
John Revolta
@JWR: Man you hit the trifecta there. I saw Cheap Trick, Uriah Heep, and Gentle Giant all as opening acts for bands they really shouldn’a been. The worst case was when Gentle Giant opened up for J. Geils. My cousin Marty, who was a Chicago cop, was tripping and they freaked him out so bad he had to leave and missed Geils completely.
Mary G
@Ohio Mom: I have to disagree. She’s transitioned from $13 sweaters she whacked inches off herself to custom jackets from a designer who’s patronized by Pelosi and a lot of other female politicians. I like the casual; she does a lot of running through train stations and airports where a suit and heels wouldn’t work. She stands for three hours after every speech taking pictures with everyone who wants one – not sure she’ll be able to keep that up and it’d be impossible in heels except for Nancy SMASH. She’s relatable. I don’t want a Sarah Palin in $150,000 worth of clothes in four days. I’m sure she has plans for more formal occasions like her inauguration.
NotMax
@Elizabelle
Still have (somewhere) a quite attractive Lucite paperweight advertising Attends (Procter & Gamble’s version of Depends) given out to us who labored in the trenches at the ad agency.
Not as nice as the 10″ tall, 22-minute* brass and glass hourglass promoting ABC’s Nightline which remains on display in the living room.
*the length of the show sans commercials
Gin & Tonic
@Ohio Mom: You really think she’d dress like that to meet the Queen or the Pope? Really? Petty is right; you’d have to work overtime to come up with a worse take.
NotMax
@Elizabelle
Yup. Have never come across another of my generation who can say the same. I was busy working, in a different state entirely.
Ruckus
@Ohio Mom:
She dresses just fine. She should be comfortable, she’s traveling – a lot. And I know from traveling a lot, comfort is a lot better than style. Maybe it’s that clothes don’t really impress me and I owned my own tux for work award banquets. It’s not a fashion show, it’s a job. Sure she’ll have to dress better for occasions but the concept that only certain clothes are acceptable just rankles me. She’s not in tatters, she’s fully clothed, not grunged out, what’s important is what she says, what she means and does she understand the job/work. After that it’s all fluff. And it really doesn’t matter, someone is going to complain no matter what she wears, she doesn’t look presidential, she look old, she looks weak, she looks……. blah, blah, blah. Fuckem.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Now flashing back to the whole “Obama wears mom jeans” flap.
:)
Matt McIrvin
The most 80s pop of 80s pop bands. Even though they started in the 70s. Maybe BECAUSE they started in the 70s.
Matt McIrvin
@Ohio Mom:
She totally should. We should take the current moment as an opportunity to regard all conventions of what is “presidential” as officially obsolete and start over.
Cheryl Rofer
@Ohio Mom: I, for one, am pleased that Elizabeth Warren does not torture her feet with five-inch stilettos.
NotMax
@Matt McIrvin
Had to be better than the piece o’ crap actual cars being made in America during that time.
“K-cars. Buy ’em today, curse ’em tomorrow.”
;)
Steve in the ATL
@khead: and a few years later Madonna lost to Michael Penn
SiubhanDuinne
@Cheryl Rofer:
Cheryl, way O/T and I donāt want to hijack this thread, but are you planning to do a post later about this story?
https://thebulletin.org/2019/09/an-explosion-rocked-a-russian-research-facility-known-for-housing-the-smallpox-virus/
Steve in the ATL
@Matt McIrvin: Duran Duran is holding on line 2 for you
Yarrow
Always really liked The Cars. RIP, Ric. Thanks for all the great music.
Love Marshall Crenshaw. I’ve always loved You’re My Favorite Waste of Time.
Ohio Mom
I guess I wasnāt clear. I worry that Mr. and Mrs. Average Donāt Pay All That Much Attention are going to look at Warren and have a vague feeling that this isnāt what a president looks like.
That a president looks formal and āfancy.ā And if she switched looks, theyāll take it that sheās fickle and phony.
Sheās my favorite. I donāt want anything getting in her way.
Amir Khalid
@Keith P.:
The quality of Fleetwood Mac’s classic repertoire varies: Christine McVie is simply not on Stevie Nicks’ or Lindsey Buckingham’s level of creativity as a songwriter or musician or singer, and her songs tend to MOR pop more than I would like. That said, their best stuff — at the level of The Chain, Gold Dust Woman, Silver Spring, Go Your Own Way — really is classic.
Cheryl Rofer
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m currently watching Twitter coverage of Trump’s visit to my state and the reaction.
Good turnout at Tiguex Park for speeches by two of our Democratic Representatives – Deb Haaland of Laguna Pueblo and Ben Ray Lujan of Espanola. Lots of empty seats at Trump’s arena. ACLU put up signs like “In New Mexico, we like red and green [referring to our chile]. Hold the white supremacy.”
Here’s what I wrote on Twitter about the explosion.
RAVEN
@Amir Khalid: Sheet, now when they were a blues band. . . oh well.
Amir Khalid
@MomSense:
Bill and Hillary love Donāt Stop Thinking About Tomorrow, and they used it in their campaigns for many years.
Just One More Canuck
I find it stunning that he was 75. Same age as Jimmy Page
RIP
Raven
@MomSense: Seems he ended up homeless and not in good shape. Did you know of the Finchley Boys?
Ohio Mom
@Cheryl Rofer: I hate the way stilletos look, and the awkward way women walk in them.
They are the opposite of everything Warren is about, I never expect to see her in them.
Zinsky
So true, Cole. Simple, straightforward, feel-good rock music. Fifty years from now, kids will still be getting high, drinking brewskis and listening to āMagicā by The Cars at full volume. Timeless.
piratedan
@Steve in the ATL: and U2 is on line 3…
Elizabelle
@Ohio Mom: Hugs. Don’t overworry.
I realize that a lot of what drives comments about any of the candidates is fear for our country (legitimate) and anxiety about the election.
In the meantime, back to The Cars and the late great Mr. O.
Ohio Mom
@Amir Khalid: Yes, I can never hear Donāt Stop Thinking About Tomorrow without seeing in my mindās eye candidate Bill Clinton walking up to a podium, smiling broadly and waving.
JWR
@John Revolta:
I never saw Cheap Trick or Heep, but I did see GG at one of those stadium shows headlined by Yes, (I have a friend who was really into Yes, so I ended up seeing them 5 times!), Peter Frampton was there as well, (I liked him way more when he was with Humble Pie), and that Dreamweaver guy, and many, many others. But GG really took the show.
BTW. I was at the first California Jam, which took place in April of 1974. ELP, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, BOA, Rare Earth….. etc etc and on an’ on… Fun Times, especially considering how young I was. (Ahem, 16.)
Another Scott
The Cars were good. Kinda simple, but there’s elegance in simplicity.
“Let the good times roll
Let them knock you around
Let the good times roll
Let them make you a clown”
RIP.
In other news, Maybe Vlad did it?:
Hmm…
Higher oil prices to help Mother Russia’s economy, and more weapons sales to help Mother Russia’s economy, and yet more gravel in the gears of US foreign relations.
What’s not to like??
Cheers,
Scott.
(“Who is only half kidding…”)
frosty
@Amir Khalid: And letās not forget everything on Then Play On and Kiln House. One of my favorite bands in any incarnation. They went through guitarists like Spinal Tap did with drummers.
RIP Ric. Lots of memories being brought up just from reading the names of their songs.
Amir Khalid
@Ohio Mom:
I myself have never worn stilettos, nor do I care to. When I see them on a woman, I don’t think, “Sexy!”; I think, “Ankle injury waiting to happen.”
Steve in the ATL
Almost 2.5 hours into this thread and no one has mentioned their best song, āLetās Goā, or second best, āMy Best Friendās Girlā. Lesser known from their earlier days, check out āAll I Can Doā.
piratedan
@Yarrow: his other albums post Field Day still hold up too… but the again I’m a power pop guy… so ymmv
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: Love that song. Marshall Crenshaw is so humane, and really likes women. Even the cynical girls.
NotMax
@piratedan
Francis Gary Powers?
:)
@JWR
Saw a concert at the Spectrum in Philly. Opening act for Emerson, Lake & Palmer was some then unknown group, so unknown they weren’t even mentioned on the posters – turned out to be Yes.
piratedan
@Steve in the ATL: I was always more partial to a couple of songs off a Panorama… Cruiser and Think It Over but as an overall effort their debut album simply smokes…
Mike in NC
@Cheryl Rofer: If Senator Warren showed up at some function in clothes designed by Ivanka Trump, wouldn’t it totally blow our minds?
JWR
@Just One More Canuck:
Hey now. No mentions of Jimmy Page in threads about rock stars dying, m’kay? ;-)
piratedan
@Elizabelle: well I never settle for The Usual Thing…
Mohagan
When the Cars first album came out, I had almost stopped listening to current music radio and was transitioning to the local NPR station (I graduated from college in 1973), but I remember really liking their songs and buying their first album, which was a rare thing for me to do by then. RIP Ric.
Elizabelle
@piratedan:
frosty
@RAVEN: Or before that, when they started out (sorry ābout the naked link): Dust My Broom
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UeYCXcJJU4M
Yarrow
@Steve in the ATL:
Love that song so much.
Jager
I’m so old I remember The Cars as a local bar band. We lived in the Back Bay and we’d see RIC and family all the time.
Another Scott
@Amir Khalid: I saw Fleetwood Mac two nights in Chicago – they opened the Rosemont Horizon stadium. (I went twice so that I could write about it for some class on community (“Community at Fleetwood Mac Concerts” or something – the crowds were quite different the 2 nights).)
They were touring to support Tusk. Lots of people didn’t know how to react to it after Rumo[u]rs was such a gigantic monster of a hit.
Rumo[u]rs is a fabulous album. It’s really not their fault that it was played to death. ;-)
It would have been a really good show, but the acoustics there were absolutely horrid. Every note echoed about 5 times. It was so bad that Springsteen later demanded that they fix it before he played there.
I still am amazed the The Green Manalishi is from the same band. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
JWR
@NotMax:
Oh wow! Very cool! I read somewhere that one of the first Yes shows was opening for some “Supergroup” called Cream.
Jay
@Cheryl Rofer:
Are all Government buildings in Russia built out of recycled WWII explosives?
MomSense
@Raven:
Yeah my parents had a record someone left at our house and it was kind of a mashup of garage band and psychedelic. I havenāt thought about it in a long time, but I used to play all the albums on my Fisher Price record player and crack my parents up singing to them. I think it was called Tribute.
They kept pushing Pete Seeger on me , which was fine, but I loved Woody Guthrie more. Not sure why. I also loved Hawaiian guitar music, Fiddler on the Roof, and my grandmother and mom playing piano and violin concertos. They were really good musicians.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cheryl Rofer:
Thanks, good point about broken windows not signifying security. But if you feel so inclined, Iād still welcome a FP about this event and its possible ramifications. (Maybe itās a nothing, but for my taste weāve had far too many explosions at geopolitically-sensitive locations recently.)
NotMax
@JWR
White Room had been a gargantuan hit for Cream.
NotMax
Linky fix.
@JWR
White Room had been a gargantuan hit for Cream.
raven
@MomSense: They are good friends. Michael Powell, the drummer just passed away. C-U was rockin in those days!
MoxieM
I was lucky to be from Boston in the ’70s, and have a fake ID. Oh! the shows you could go to!
Just the venues: The Paradise, Cantones, The Club (and other iterations), the Channel, the Performance space at the top of the garage, that weird mobbed up place in Saugus where the NY Dolls used to play, Landsdowne St (Avalon-Axis-Whatever) in all its incarnations, the Causeway near the old Garden. Then the Middle East in Cambridge, TT the Bears, even Bunratty’s and Green St. Station, as some of the other clubs went down… Golly, decades of joy. I’m surprised I can hear a damned thing. And the Cars were such an important early breakout band. Many thanks to them for much.
Raven
@MomSense: “Over the years, there have been several legitimate requests to re-release Everlasting Tributes, and these seeds finally bore fruit with the remastered 2010 vinyl release on ANAZITISI Records in Europe and a 2016 2-CD set by Parasol Records in the USA.”
MomSense
@raven:
Oh I didnāt know he passed. My parents were always having parties at our house for their college students. My mom worked in student affairs when I was little and my dad had campus ministry groups that morphed into anti war / social justice activist groups. The parties were fun, though. Lots of music and dancing.
James E Powell
@Ohio Mom:
Americans don’t really have an image or a look for a female president. That’s why some of them will vote for just about any man over just about any woman, irrespective of party, experience, policy proposals, etc.
J R in WV
We’re going to lose so many great, gifted performers over the next few years. When an early death like this one brings that to my mind, I get really sad. We’ve already lost quite a few, but some of them seem to be going on and on like the energizer bunny.
The Rolling Stones! Who could have imagined they would still be making good music in the 21st century? I guess all the exercise bounding around the stage really pays off!!
RIP, Ric. I had no idea he worked with Black 47!! Wife spent several months in NYC working for her union, came back a huge Black 47 fan, her union president was an Irish radical, loved them, they would to out to hear them after sessions with the company sucks. Rowdy marxist Irish R&R!!
piratedan
@MoxieM: I also liked The Atlantics from that same time frame but outside of Boston they couldn’t get much traction…. must have been wicked times with having both Boston and The Cars promoting the Boston scene (although Cleveland is where Ocasik and Orr hooked up IIRC)…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpTOfr5TeOQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjAmBgCGGzE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B4veJffPR4
Keith P.
Ric Ocasek and Eddie Money deaths got you down? Take a sip of Sean Spicer living his most fabulous life.
jk
@Omnes Omnibus:
Count me among those who deeply disliked the Cars almost as much as Aerosmith, Journey, Styx, Devo, The B52’s, and Blondie.
MomSense
@Raven:
Itās on Spotify! Wow, thatās the album I was thinking of.
NotMax
OT.
Ad just played announcing a limited series of new episodes with the original cast of the show Mad About You, one of those sitcoms which was popular for no discernible reason. All I remember of it (not at all a regular stop on my TV watching circuit at the time) is that the married couple who were the focus of the show displayed less physical and sexual chemistry than, say, husband and wife Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester.
raven
@MomSense: Red Herring?
Gin & Tonic
@MoxieM: I was more a Pall’s Mall and Jazz Workshop kind of guy then; TT the Bear’s was for the chili and not the music.
NotMax
@J R in WV
Not sure I’d classify 75 as an early death. YMMV.
jk
@Just One More Canuck:
Behold the killing fields that lie before us: Bob Dylan (78 years old); Paul McCartney (77); Paul Simon (77) and Art Garfunkel (77); Carole King (77); Brian Wilson (77); Mick Jagger (76) and Keith Richards (75); Joni Mitchell (75); Jimmy Page (75) and Robert Plant (71); Ray Davies (75); Roger Daltrey (75) and Pete Townshend (74); Roger Waters (75) and David Gilmour (73); Rod Stewart (74); Eric Clapton (74); Debbie Harry (74); Neil Young (73); Van Morrison (73); Bryan Ferry (73); Elton John (72); Don Henley (72); James Taylor (71); Jackson Browne (70); Billy Joel (70); and Bruce Springsteen (69, but turning 70 next month).
h/t https://theweek.com/articles/861750/coming-death-just-about-every-rock-legend
Raven
@MomSense: You aren’t Sophie are you?
JWR
@NotMax:
Ah yes. Now I remember! Good choice, too. Disraeli Gears was a great album, but as a guitarist, I’ve always found EC, post that album, to be rather, well, boring. (Drops head, runs away!)
(Also, the show where Yes opened for Cream was at the Royal Albert Hall.)
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: In their post-Greene days, Buckingham was the creative force in the band. His stuff didn’t always work (Tusk, anyone?), but he was trying things.
Amir Khalid
@jk:
Springsteen turns 70 next week, on the 23rd.
MomSense
@Raven:
No, but there was a Sophie who was also a preacherās kid. Our parents were friends but we only saw them in the summer.
RAVEN
@MomSense: I worked at the Urbana Park District from 78-84. Is that where you live (d)? Did I know this?
Raven
@MomSense: Off to beddy bye, I’ll check this in the am.
Shana
@Omnes Omnibus: I’d say that something else that gave them cred with the college radio crowd in the 80s was that they were cool but not pretty in the way that Duran Duran was during the early days of MTV. There was a point where it seemed you had to be photogenic to be a hit on MTV which was taking over as the arbiter of whether or not something was worthwhile. Of course there was the “I’m not selling out to MTV” attitude which was exemplified by REM until they realized it was useless to fight it and came out with Everybody Hurts and Losing My Religion. Saturday night rant/ramble over.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax:
Damn. That’s cold.
Another Scott
@J R in WV: It’s sad when great talents leave us. But there are great talents all around us all the time.
She’s pretty good. ;-)
In Zappa’s book he says what really matters about music is composing. Machines will eventually be better than any human at playing the notes, but what makes us special is coming up with new music. (And that anyone who brings their own interpretation to a piece is acting as a composer.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Jeffro
Wow, the Cars. I think (as some have already said upthread) that HEARTBEAT CITY was one of the earliest albums I bought on cassette way, waaay back in the day. The first being Journeyās FRONTIERS (which, sorry haters, I still love ;)
Motels. Men At Work. A lilā REO. Just a few Culture Club songs. I canāt wait to see The Legwarmers next month!
MomSense
@RAVEN:
No, we were in Ohio. Hmmm. My mom worked for Hiram and then Kent State and she traveled to colleges and high schools, mostly in the Midwest.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
It was all right as 1990s sitcoms go. But the great fictional small-screen couple of those times was Mulder and Scully.
Omnes Omnibus
@Shana: If you want anti-MTV videos, it is hard to do better than The ‘Mats.
Shana
@Rob: What were the other albums that got you through your tough time?
NotMax
@jk
Janis Ian (68), Ginger Baker (80), Steve Winwood (71), Dave Mason (73), Bonnie Raitt (70), Yoko Ono (86), Willie Nelson (86), Todd Rundgren (71), Bobby Vinton (84), Sly Stone (86). Tina Turner (80), Neil Sedaka (80), Peter Noone (71), Yusuf Islam [Cat Stevens] (71), Dave Clark (80?) and on and on and on.
Not meant to be a comprehensive list nor any comment one way or another on quality, just on being some more among widely known names.
trollhattan
@jk:
Lumping the B52s and Devo with the rest assures you no exit from purgatory.
Now you know.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
Don’t look up John Mayall.
jk
@NotMax:
The next 10 – 15 years will have a lot of major bummers.
Then there’s also actors like Gene Hackman (89), Donald Sutherland (84), Jack Nicholson (82), Al Pacino (79), Robert DeNiro (76)
jk
@trollhattan:
I’m ok with that.
Shana
@Yarrow: OMG, Marshall Crenshaw is criminally underappreciated by the world. Fabulous songwriting.
I’m seeing Billy Bragg doing songs from his first 3 albums on Friday with my daughter. Beyond excited.
NotMax
@trolhattan
Nor Little Richard.
;)
apocalipstick
@geg6: Some years ago Elliot Easton mentioned (in a Guitar Player interview) that the Cars didn’t really fit in with the rest of the punk/post-punk/New Wave scene due to their “classic” ambitions. He had to hide the fact that he actually had a good amp (a Fender Twin) and either a Strat or Tele, since the scene was so “anti-muso”. Make me laugh.
hilts
@NotMax:
Roger McGuinn (77) Because I love the Byrds, I was disappointed to read on Wikipedia that Roger gave money to Ben Carson’s presidential campaign.
OGLiberal
@Amir Khalid: I love Lindsey’s guitar in “The Chain”. I thought the Christine/Lindsey harmonies were close to perfect. Better than Lindsey/Stevie, which were good. All three together was wonderful.
hilts
@trollhattan:
Remember to give John plenty of room to move
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLp0AsKXMEs
Elizabelle
Youtube: 1978: Live performance on The Midnight Special: The Cars with Just What I Needed. The late, great Benjamin Orr, in perfect voice.
It’s such a good single. Just perfect power pop.
Shana
@Omnes Omnibus: Classic FU. Thanks for reminding me.
apocalipstick
@Amir Khalid: Lindsey Buckingham lighting his amp on fire in “Go Your Own Way” is outstanding.
OGLiberal
@Elizabelle: By chance, I stumbled upon this the other day, pre-Ric’s death. Despite how great it was I had a hard time comprehending Larry Gatlin introducing The Cars. Ben is perfect and it’s actually live….we used to play this in my 7th grade class (on vinyl…on one of those public school turntables…the ones you could close up and latch closed) to make fun of our teacher (who loved the good-natured ribbing…my fave teacher of all time), who used to often ask, a la Mr. Hand, “Why are you wasting my time?”
burnspbesq
The Cars were an excellent band that had the great misfortune to come along at the same time as Talking Heads.
mvr
I completely get the sadness here even though I was never a fanatic. (The deaths of both Joe Strummer and Tom Petty each hit me harder than I would have expected for people I didn’t know.) And then you said Marshall Crenshaw and I thought, wow, it’s really cool that Cole likes MC and also the comparison is apt. I still have a guitar pick he threw out the the audience at a PDX show in the 80s at Key Largo, a music club.
Elizabelle
@burnspbesq: Hey there. There need not have been only one.
The Cars were more accessible. The Heads were critical favorites. They are both good in their own way.
The Cars kind of stayed in their time. They were over and out in 1988, except for a last album in 2011 that I would bet almost none of us have heard of. The members moved on to other things; sounds like drummer David Robinson (who still looks astonishingly good at the induction ceremony — a hipper version of the Most Interesting Man in the World) put his drums in storage in 1988 and is not recognized on the street now. He makes jewelry and lives in a smallish Massachusetts town.
Learned from the induction ceremony that keyboardist Greg Hawkes married around the time the group got together, raised two kids, still together with his wife. That is way cool.
mvr
@raven: You mean coffeehouse? I used to work there in 1977.
Nicole
I did it! Three and a half hours and one selfie later. I had a lovely chat with two women waiting in front of me; it ended up being pretty fun. The transit gods are kind; the train is running local for me tonight so Iāll be home soon.
(Note: Thanks to the sheer number of people, itās less a selfie than someone taking a pic on your phone for you, but itās all good.)
Another Scott
@Nicole: Excellent. Thanks for the report!
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
Good Rolling Stone article: Why Ric Ocasek Was the Ultimate New Wave Voice
Remembering the pop poet of teen-geek angst
J. Squid
My Ric Ocasek story.
In the 80s there was a clothing store on W 8th St called Flip. Every year, for 3 or 5 years running, a couple of times each summer, either I would be walking past flip as Ric walked out of Flip or I would be walking out of Flip as Ric walked by. We’d physically bump into each other and both say, “Oh! Excuse me. I’m sorry,” and be on our way.
A couple of years after the last of those semi-regular meetings, I was crossing 8th Street on the east side of Broadway when a car came whipping around the corner and screeched to a stop. I froze, turned and there were Ric Ocasek and Paulina Porizkova sitting in this little sports car. I smiled and waved and he shrugged and smiled.
I never saw him again but I always wondered if he ever told that story from his point of view.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I was really saddened to hear of his death, too. I don’t like to see people whose music I grew up listening to die of old age. That’s just wrong. People like that should always be 25-35 years old, ācause that’s how old they were when I first began listening to them.
Tonight She Comes was always my favorite Cars song, followed by You Might Think and Hello, Again.
MoxieM
@Gin & Tonic: I saw Bob Marley at one or the other — sat about 10 feet away. Needless to say I went back for the second night! (Serious contact high). Still and now two of the best shows ever. This was just after Catch a Fire came out–the album cover was like a zippo lighter (the record, you know, for record players. heh.) Civilized clubs. You could sit down, and your feet didn’t stick to the floor!
MoxieM
@piratedan: I remember the Atlantics! They perennially opened for other bands, it seems. They almost made it national with Lonelyhearts, eh? I still hear the Cars in the context of all that.
NotoriousJRT
I will just say that I found the first album great fun to listen to and sing along with. Listened to it on a drive all the way from Maine to Florida for spring break and back again. Good times.
Rob
@Shana: I am just seeing your query now (good morning). The second and third Talking Heads albums (More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music), Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces, Planet Gong’s Floating Anarchy Live 1977 were all on my turntable a whole lot.
debbie
These many years later, life still stops for that first single.
Rob
@debbie: Poetic, and true.