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The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek (rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), and David Robinson (drums). Ocasek and Orr shared lead vocals, and Ocasek was the band's principal ...
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the Cars, American rock band that merged 1960s power pop, 1970s glam rock, and music video innovation to become one of the iconic acts in new wave music. The Cars was formed in 1976 in Boston, Massachusetts, by vocalist and guitarist Ric Ocasek (byname of Richard Otcasek; b. March 23, 1944, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.—d. September 15, 2019, New York ...
Orr and Ocasek played in several bands together during the early 1970s, with some projects featuring musicians who would eventually join them in the Cars—namely, Hawkes, who played keyboards with the duo in the folk band Milkwood in 1972, and Easton, who played guitar with them in the band Cap’n Swing in 1974. Orr, Ocasek, Hawkes, and Easton formed the Cars with Robinson in 1976. The band’s big break occurred after they sent a demo of “Just What I Needed” to the Boston radio stations WBCN and WCOZ in early 1977, and news of the song’s overwhelming listener response attracted the attention of Elektra Records, which signed them to a record contract.
The band’s first album, The Cars (1978), was one of the best-selling albums of the 1970s, and it is considered one of the best albums in rock history. With Orr and Ocasek taking turns on lead vocals, the record featured a mix of guitar-driven songs that spanned 50s rockabilly (“My Best Friend’s Girl”), power pop (“Doncha Stop,” “Good Times Roll,” and “Bye Bye Love”), electronically drenched new wave (“Moving in Stereo”), and 70s rock (“You’re All I’ve Got Tonight”). The common threads cutting through each song were Hawkes’ elegant, but sometimes quirky, synthesizer and the band’s signature backing-vocal harmonies, the latter of which earned favourable comparisons to those of British rock band Queen among music critics.
The Cars achieved rock stardom with the release of Heartbeat City (1984). The album was the Cars’ highest-charting album, reaching number 3 on the Billboard album chart, and it featured numerous singles. Whereas the singles “Hello Again,” “Why Can’t I Have You,” and the title track, “Heartbeat City,” all received substantial airplay, Heartbeat City is known for producing the band’s three extremely successful songs. The most notable was “You Might Think,” a song featuring Ocasek on lead vocals that became the band’s first number 1 single on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The music video for “You Might Think,” with its creative use of computer graphics that contributed greatly to its popularity, was recognized by American cable television network MTV as video of the year in 1984. The single “Magic,” which again spotlighted Ocasek, also reached number 1 on Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The single “Drive,” which featured Orr on lead vocals, reached number 3 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Mainstream Rock charts. The Cars performed “Drive” at the Live Aid benefit concert in 1985 at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, and it was featured as part of a clip montage about Ethiopian famine relief shown at the London show at Wembley Stadium.
Owing in part to Ocasek, Orr, and Easton spending much of their time on side projects in the wake of Heartbeat City’s success and tour, the band’s subsequent albums are generally regarded by fans and critics as inferior to their earlier work. Although Greatest Hits (1985) was a substantial commercial success, selling more than 6 million copies, it spawned only one new hit, “Tonight She Comes,” which reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Door to Door (1987), by comparison, sold fewer than one-tenth of the number of copies that Greatest Hits had, and it produced three singles, the most successful being “You Are the Girl,” which peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. By the mid-to-late 1980s, fan enthusiasm for new material and the band’s enthusiasm for one another had fallen, and the Cars disbanded in early 1988.
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After the Cars, Ocasek became well known as a musical producer, working with several popular acts, including Hole, No Doubt, and Bad Religion. After Orr died in 2000 from pancreatic cancer, Ocasek and Robinson declined an invitation to reunite with their former bandmates; however, during the mid-2000s Hawkes and Easton joined American musician Todd...
- John P. Rafferty
Jul 20, 2024 · Led by singer/guitarist/songwriter Ric Ocasek, The Cars were the prototypical new wave band. Scoring a string of hit singles during the late 70s/early 80s, selling out arena tours and becoming darlings of MTV, it appeared the band could do no wrong.
Oct 19, 2023 · Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr formed the Cars in 1976, having played together in a number of failed bands. Once they found guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes, and drummer David Robinson, the band that would one day perform "Magic" had found just what they needed.
- “Just What I Needed” (The Cars, 1978) Yes, The Cars wrote countless Perfect Pop Songs. But there’s Perfect Pop Songs, and there’s pop songs that deserve a Nobel prize.
- “Drive” (Heartbeat City, 1984) The first big ballad for The Cars, a risk that paid off with their biggest chart success, a No. 3 hit in September 1984.
- “Since You’re Gone” (Shake It Up, 1981) The Cars almost always went for the kill with their singles, but for whatever reason — maybe exhaustion after four albums in four years — they let off the throttle a little with Shake It Up‘s “Since You’re Gone.”
- “Moving in Stereo” (The Cars, 1978) It never needed Phoebe Cates. I mean, it certainly never hurts a song to soundtrack one of the most famous scenes in teen movie history, but “Moving in Stereo” made the Fast Times at Ridgemont High sequence eternal, just as much as the other way around.
Named Best New Artist by Rolling Stone in 1978, The Cars went on to have 4 top 10 albums and 13 top 40 singles. The were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
Sep 11, 2023 · 'Drive' was released as the third single from The Cars' fifth studio album Heartbeat City in 1985. Upon its initial release, it became the band's highest-charting single reaching number three on the US Billboard charts and number five in the UK charts, as well as the top ten in various others.
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