The Cars, the #84 Artist of the Rock Era

"The Cars created some great music."

"They were an absolutely great band."

"The Cars are as iconic a band to me as there was in the late 70's to the mid 80's."

"I have loved this band for a long time--they're one of the best!"

"One of my favorite bands ever."

"They were just a brilliant group."

"A sound that defined a generation."

"One of the best bands ever!"

"Classic awesomeness."

"One of the best bands ever but very underrated."

This group had its roots in Cleveland Ohio, when rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek met bassist Benjamin Orr.  The two were in several bands before moving to Boston, Massachusetts early in the 1970's.  Ocasek and Orr formed a trio known as Milkwood and released an album on Paramount Records in 1973.  After that group split, Ocasek and Orr started the group Richard and the Rabbits, inviting keyboardist Greg Hawkes, who had studied at the prestigious Berklee School of music and had previously played saxophone on Milkwood's album.

Hawkes left to be part of a musical comedy act, so Ocasek and Orr performed an acoustic show at the Idler coffeehouse in nearby Cambridge.  Ocasek and Orr then hooked up with lead guitarist Elliot Easton and others in the band Cap'n Swing.  WBCN disc jockey Maxanne Sartori began playing songs from the group's demo tape, but record companies still rejected Cap'n Swing.

Ocasek fired the bassist and drummer and Orr began playing bass.  David Robinson was hired as the new drummer and shortly after Hawkes joined, that group became the Cars.

The band played live for the first time at the Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire on New Year's Eve, 1976.  After recording another demo tape, "Just What I Needed" began receiving airplay in Boston, and on the strength of that airplay, Elektra Records offered the Cars a recording contract.  

The group released their debut album in 1978, with the births of many of the songs occurring when Ocasek and Orr played as an acoustic duo years before.  "Just What I Needed" rolled off the recording room floor as the first single.  Although it stalled at #27 in the U.S., French ears appeared to be better as they took the song to #4.

"My Best Friend's Girl" caught on in the U.K. to land at #3, but once again, U.S. listeners were a little slow, as the song stopped at #35.

"Good Times Roll" gave the Cars another Top 5 French hit but only #41 in the United States.  

The album not only introduced the Cars to the public; it became one of the top debut albums in history, selling over six million units.  With huge sales like that, it is unfathomable that the group didn't have two or more Top 10 hits.  Without factoring album sales into their Singles charts, Billboard had no idea the songs were as good as we now know them to be.  We have all three of those singles spotlighted in our popular feature The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

But even more inexplicable is the group's loss at the Grammy Awards in 1979.  They were nominated for Best New Artist, but lost to A Taste of Honey.  We can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that A Taste of Honey is nowhere in the vicinity of this ranking, while the Cars are The #84 Artist of the last 60 years*. But this album is so much more than the three underrated singles. There are several Top Tracks* which make this one of the top debut albums in history.

 

Here is one--"You're All I've Got Tonight".

Another is this great song: "Don't 'Cha Stop".

 

This one is one of the best songs on the album--"Bye Bye Love"

   

The Cars released the album Candy-O the following year.  The single "Let's Go" rose to #5 in Canada, #6 in Australia and #14 in the U.S.

Candy-O went to #3 on the Album chart and has topped four million in sales.  The entire album was recognized at the Grammy Awards when the Cars were nominated for Best Rock Vocal performance by a Duo or Group.  "It's All I Can Do" received significant airplay on Rock stations.

 

The Cars were a major force on album-oriented rock stations in the '70's and '80's. "Dangerous Type" got a lot of airplay.

 
 

The band's third album, Panorama, was a bit of a disappointment. Initially, it climbed to #5 on the Album chart, but featured just one hit and sold just over one million copies, low for Cars' standards. "Touch And Go" jumped to #2 in France.

"Gimme Some Slack", however, received quite a bit of airplay as an album track.

 

The Cars bought Intermedia Studios in Boston, renaming it Syncro Sound and recording the album Shake It Up there.  Billboard finally acknowledged that the Cars were a pretty good group, ranking the title song at #2 on the Rock chart and #4 overall, with the song also reaching #7 in Canada and #10 in Australia.

Shake It Up has sold over two million copies.  "Since You're Gone" is another worthy song.

 

After a tour, Ocasek and Hawkes released solo albums.  But the Cars were not through--far from it.  In 1984, they released the album of their career, Heartbeat City.  "You Might Think" was a #1 Rock hit that peaked at #7 on the Popular chart in the United States and #8 in Canada.

 

"You Might Think" won Video of the Year and was nominated for Best Concept Video, Most Experimental Video and Viewer's Choice at the MTV Video Music Awards.  "Magic" repeated the success of its predecessor on the Rock chart but at #12 overall, is another of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

The blockbuster album has sold over four million copies.  The Cars were nominated at the Grammy Awards for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for Heartbeat City.  "Drive" rode to #3 in the United States and Switzerland, #4 in the U.K. and West Germany, #5 in New Zealand, #6 in Canada, #9 in France and #10 in Australia.

 

The Cars were also nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group at the Grammys for "Drive", and the video was nominated for Best Group Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.  The single "Hello Again" gave the group four Top 20 hits on the album, and another big hit (#4) in France.

 

In 1985, the Cars performed at the Live Aid concert before recording a new song, "Tonight She Comes" for their Greatest Hits package.

The Greatest Hits album has now sold over six million copies.  Members of the group again went outside the group, with Ocasek, Orr and Easton all releasing solo albums.  In 1987, the Cars released the album Door to Door, which went Gold.

In early 1988, the Cars announced their breakup.

In 1995, the Cars released Just What I Needed:  The Cars Anthology.  Orr released seven solo albums before his death of pancreatic cancer in 2000.  Ocasek also released seven solo albums.  Easton and Hawkes formed the New Cars with Todd Rundgren, among others.

In 2010, the four surviving members reunited, with Hawkes and producer Jacknife Lee playing the bass parts on the Cars album Move Like This, released the next year.  A short tour followed, but the group has not recorded or played concerts since.

The Cars scored 16 career hits, with four Top 10 songs.  They excelled on the Mainstream Rock chart, with 15 hits, 6 of those going Top 10 and 3 all the way to #1.

Six of their seven studio albums have gone Gold, five have sold over one million copies and four of them are Multi-Platinum.  

The Cars were nominated for four Grammy Awards in their career and won one MTV Video Music Award from five nominations.