The 500 - #284 - The Cars (Debut) - The Cars

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

---

Album: #284

Album Title: The Cars (Debut)

Artist: The Cars

Genre: New Wave, Power Pop, Synth-Rock

Recorded: Boston, Mass.

Released: February, 1978

My age at release: 12

How familiar was I with it before this week: Very

Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, at 353, dropping 69 places since 2012

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Moving In Stereo

The genre of New Wave music is a nomenclature created by music critics, not the musicians themselves. Originally, the description appeared in New York publications about two Manhattan-based bands, The Velvet Underground and The New York Dolls. Interestingly, neither of those groups are now considered New Wave. The Velvet Underground are a well-regarded experimental Art Rock collective and the outrageous and gender-bending Dolls are considered Glam Rock or Glam Punk.

The term New Wave now refers, broadly, to a style of music that emerged in the seventies and had several of the following characteristics:

1. A reduced influence on the blues -- unlike their rock & roll contemporaries.
2. Punk rock sensibilities -- with intense energy and lyrics that could be sung or shouted.
3. Rhythmic experimentation -- often borrowing from beats inspired by Cuban, Jamaican or West African music.
4. The increased use of electronic keyboards -- a fairly new technology at the time.
5. Mainstream appeal -- unlike punk music, these songs and artists enjoyed wider appeal and greater commercial success.

New Wave crashed on my shores in late 1978 and this week's record, the debut by The Cars, was one of the first I heard from that emergent style. At the time, I was twelve, just about to enter high-school, and still trying to figure out my musical preferences. I loved "classic rock"  already dominating the fare of my go to entertainment sources – Detroit radio stations. There, I discovered and loved bands such as Cheap Trick, Styx, Van Halen and Foreigner. However, I was genuinely excited about being on the crest of a "new wave”. Bands such as Blondie, Devo, The Police and Joe Jackson were gaining more airplay and, even though I couldn't quantify it at that pre-teen age, I knew I wanted to be part of something "generational".

Blondie - Parallel Lines (1978) - at #140 on The 500

The Cars came out of Boston in 1976, comprising Ric Ocasek (guitar and co-lead vocals), Benjamin Orr (bass, guitar and co-lead vocals), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards) and David Robinson (drums). Ocasek and Orr had met in 1972 in Cleveland, Ohio, and were originally an acoustic duo called The Milkwoods, who played songs in the Americana-folk vein of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

It was as this Cleveland duo that Ocasek and Orr made connections with The Modern Lovers (#382 on The 500) and was how drummer David Robinson joined the band. Eventually, the trio migrated to Massachusetts, where they experimented with a number of musicians and sounds, mainly with graduates of the Berklee School of Music in Boston. By 1976, The Cars were formed with the addition of Easton and Hawkes, and the quintet began to gain a following in local clubs and through Boston radio.

Photos used on the back cover of the debut record

The group captured the musical zeitgeist of the time and they were rewarded handsomely by contemporary audiences. The debut record remained on the charts for 139 straight weeks and they were named "Best New Artist" in a Rolling Stone magazine readers’ poll. They had picked a moment in time, the late-seventies, and managed to blend a satisfying cocktail of sounds even though the overall result was minimalistic, borrowing from both punk trends and ‘50s rockabilly. They also eschewed complex guitar and keyboard solos that dominated mid-’70’s arena rock bands, but profited from their "pop-sensibilities". Every song on the debut record is short, interesting and effortlessly catchy.

Just What I Needed - the first of three singles released from
the debut record by The Cars

However, after seeing the 1982 teenage-coming-of-age film Fast Times At Ridgemont High, the track Moving In Stereo would entrench itself in my psyche. For Generation Xers, I need say no more. They were smitten for life. For the uninitiated, the song was used to electrifying effect in a titillating, but ultimately comedic, fantasy-dream sequence, featuring 19-year-old actress Phoebe Cates emerging from a swimming pool...in slow motion...in a red bikini. The PG version can be found here.

Although none sold as well as the debut record, The Cars continued to enjoy critical and commercial success with their next four releases - Candy O, Panorama, Shake It Up and Heartbeat City. During the early ‘80s and the era of music television, their clever, funny and creative videos were omnipresent. Their sixth release, Door to Door (1987), was a return to their ‘70 sound, but it also marked the end of the band's original line-up, with a final show at Cobo Hall in Detroit on December 12, 1987.

The Cars on stage - late 80s

There were side-projects, solo records and a Greatest Hits package was released as well as DVD videos of concert footage. Rumours of a reunion persisted until 2000, when Orr died of pancreatic cancer. In 2011, the four remaining members released their final record as a group, Move Like This, which was a modest success.

In 2018, the four surviving members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The next year Ocasek was found dead in his home. He was 75. With both founders and lead-singers gone, The Cars as a band are officially retired.

The Cars at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Induction

They are considered a forerunner in a genre to which they belong in name only, New Wave. As I re-listened to much of their catalogue this week, I was reminded that, despite the nomenclature assigned to them, they were really a power-pop, rock and roll collective, propelled more by guitars and drums than by the synthesizers that seemed to set them apart from their contemporaries.