Sphinx's Music Blog - The Cars
Last Sunday we heard the news of the passing of The Cars frontman Ric Okasek. So I felt that it was right to diverge from my initial list of albums I wanted to discuss and bring their debut album up this week. The eponymous album has been in the discussion as one of the best debuts of all time, and is one of the most classic examples of new wave out there. For those that don’t know, new wave is a genre of pop/rock music that fuses together elements of punk, disco, electronic music into one. The album came out on June 6, 1978, and remained in the Billboard Top 200 for 139 weeks, topping out at #18. Even though 18th on the list may not seem that impressive, the tracks that are on this album receive constant airplay even today on the classic rock radio stations. My first experience with The Cars is definitely in high school when I (ironically enough) had my very first car and was jamming out to 106.7 FM The Drive in Metro Detroit. Many of these songs are also licensed out in many movies (Adam Sandler movies especially) and commercials that you may have seen in the past.
The album starts off with my favorite Cars song - “Good Times Roll”, and was a track I hunted down illegally back in the day when Napster/Morpheus/Kazaa/Limewire were changing the music scene for better or worse, depending on how you feel about how we access music today. Hearing it on classic rock radio, I just found it to have a very unique sound. The first verse is stripped down with just a simple guitar riff and an electronic metronome beat. Then the second verse brings in all the cool synthesizer sounds. I enjoy the final “let the good times roll” in each chorus where they sing in unison in a Queen-like style. The song sets up the recipe for the album - very simple, stripped down songs, with the incorporation of the modern electronic technology too.
Look at these boys. This came from the record sleeve.
“My Best Friends Girl”, another classic follows the formula just mentioned. A great homage to the songs of the 1950’s Buddy Holly style, especially with the guitar (including a great solo) and Okasek’s singing (and bringing up “suede blue eyes”). the track starts off like the previous with just guitar, then jumps right into Ric Okasek’s vocals. The song is a simple love song about how “my best friends girlfriend, used to be mine”.
The albums continues to just ride consecutively into the third great classic single on the album with “Just What I Needed”, probably their most famous song. A just so slightly heavier of a tune, it’s again the simple, stripped down arrangement that makes this song so damn catchy. And the synthesizer in between the verses and the one at the end is some of the most famous sounds in synthesizer history. Finally, I love the lyrics. It’s like you’re trying to play it cool inviting your girl over - “yeah, I guess you can come over and we can hang”, when in reality you are super into her and “she’s just what you needed”.
“I’m In Touch With Your World” tries to use every percussive instrument you can think of, trying to emulate a “Pet Sounds” like sound to it (I mentioned that album too during my Radiohead blog post. Maybe I should plan to do Pet Sounds soon…). The different sounds used throughout the track makes it a fun song, especially with the Atari-like sounds from the synthesizers.
The remaining songs I want to mention are what start side B of the record, which play almost as a suite as each song immediately moves right into the next one. The song “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” is another popular tune that gets airplay, and also one with a little heavier tone. It’s the lyrics I want to bring up in this song as they help represent overall the diction throughout the album. I’ve mentioned how stripped down the instruments are on this album, but the lyrics themselves act the same way. For most of the songs, Ocasek repeatedly uses over and over and over the same lines throughout a song. While you might think that would make things sound boring, it’s everything else going on in the song that grabs your attention throughout. And it’s that simplicity that makes these songs so easy to join in and sing to.
“Bye Bye Love” then moves right in and offers the most complex tune on the record. It’s also probably my second favorite Cars song. There’s emotion, tons of different sounds coming from the instruments and synthesizers, I just love it. The electronic piano here is awesome. And I love the neat word choice in the lyrics like “substitution mass confusion clouds inside your head” and “it’s an orangy sky, always it’s some other guy, just a broken lullaby, bye bye love”.
“Moving in Stereo” is such a cool song. I mean while singing the title of the song, his voice travels from one speaker to the other on your system (and is another reason why you should run out right now and buy yourself a real sound system to listen to this great music). This sound is very haunting, but continues the simplicity of lyrics, continuing to repeat the lines over and over of “life’s the same”, “it’s so easy” and “it’s so tough” with each different verse. Just with those statements, it sets the stage for a song talking about the struggles of everyday life for someone.
What stands out for me on this album are the super cool and massive use of different sounds throughout the album. This album is an overlooked sleeper of a terrific album. I think the famous singles (Good Times Roll, My Best Friends Girl, Just What I Needed) mentioned earlier separate the listener from the value you get listening to this record as a complete piece. 41 years later, you can hear in it how it has influenced both pop and rock music today. A true gem of a record - Ric, you will be missed.
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Sphinx