The Cars
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Image:The Cars - Heartbeat City.jpg
The Cars were a popular American New Wave band that emerged out of the early punk scene in the late 1970s. They hailed from Boston, Massachusetts and were signed to Elektra Records in 1977 (1977 in music).
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Band history
The Cars successfully bridged the styles of 1970's guitar-oriented rock and the synth-oriented pop of the early 1980s. While most of the singles included an Elliot Easton guitar solo, The Cars' sound was defined much more by Greg Hawkes' synthesizers and the huge harmonies of Easton, David Robinson, and Hawkes behind Benjamin Orr's and Ric Ocasek's lead vocals.
The band's hits dominated the charts for over nine years; their most successful albums were 1978's The Cars, which featured hit "Just What I Needed," and 1984's Heartbeat City, which included four Top 20 singles: "Magic", "Drive", "Hello Again" and "You Might Think", which also won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year (see 1984 in music). "Drive" gained particular notability when it was used in a video of the Ethiopian famine prepared by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and introduced by David Bowie at the 1985 Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in London. Another extremely popular song from the Cars (but often not attributed to them) is "Moving in Stereo". It became infamous for its use during the Phoebe Cates pool scene in the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
After the resulting period of superstardom and another hit single ("Tonight She Comes"), the Cars released their last album Door to Door in 1987, but it failed to approach the success of their previous albums. The Cars announced the group's break-up in February 1988 (1988 in music). In the late 1990s, rumors circulated of a Cars reunion, but Orr's death of pancreatic cancer on October 3, 2000 put an end to them for a time.
The New Cars
In 2005, rumors began circulating that Easton and Hawkes would be teaming with Todd Rundgren in a new Cars lineup. As preposterous as the rumor seemed, it turned out to be true, with the revamped lineup calling itself The New Cars. Two regular Rundgren collaborators, bassist Kasim Sulton and drummer Prairie Prince, are replacing Orr and Robinson in the new lineup.
The band's first single, "Not Tonight", released on March 20, 2006, sounds uncannily like the original group.
According to a March 14, 2006 press release announcing The New Cars, a greatest hits collection, The New Cars: It's Alive, will be released May 9 on Eleven Seven Music. The album will include classic Cars songs recorded live plus never-before-released studio tracks.
A summer tour with Blondie kicks off May 12 in Mississippi.
Rundgren has referred to the project as "an opportunity ... for me to pay my bills, play to a larger audience, work with musicians I know and like, and ideally have some fun for a year." Ocasek—who has opted out of any possibilities of a reunion—has reportedly given his blessing to Hawkes and Easton, saying, "I want Elliot and Greg to be happy."
Discography
Albums
- The Cars (Elektra Records, 1978) (US sales: 6x platinum) #18 US, #29 UK
- Candy-O (Elektra, 1979) (US sales: 4x platinum) #3 US, #30 UK
- Panorama (Elektra, 1980) (US sales: platinum) #5 US
- Shake It Up (Elektra, 1981) (US sales: 2x platinum) #9 US
- Heartbeat City (Elektra, 1984) (US sales: 4x platinum) #3 US, #25 UK
- Greatest Hits (Elektra, 1985) (US sales: 6x platinum) #12 US, #27 UK
- Door to Door (Elektra, 1987) (US sales: gold) #26 US, #72 UK
- Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology (Rhino Records, 1995)
Hit singles
- from The Cars
- 1978 "Just What I Needed" #27 US, #17 UK
- 1978 "My Best Friend's Girl" #35 US, #3 UK
- 1979 "Good Times Roll" #41 US
- from Candy-O
- 1979 "Let's Go" #14 US, #51 UK
- 1979 "It's All I Can Do" #41 US
- from Panorama
- 1980 "Touch and Go" #37 US
- from Shake It Up
- 1981 "Shake It Up" #4 US
- 1982 "Since You're Gone" #41 US, #37 UK
- from Heartbeat City
- 1984 "You Might Think" #7 US
- 1984 "Magic" #12 US
- 1984 "Drive" #3 US, #5 UK
- 1984 "Hello Again" #20 US
- 1985 "Why Can't I Have You" #33 US
- from Greatest Hits
- 1985 "Tonight She Comes" #7 US
- 1986 "I'm Not the One" #32 US
- from Door to Door
- 1987 "You Are the Girl" #17 US
- 1987 "Strap Me In" #85 US
- 1988 "Coming Up You" #74 US
Other media
Starting in late 2004, The Cars hit song "Just What I Needed" was played in Circuit City television ads.
Trivia
- "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains Of Wayne - This 2003 smash hit very closely mimicks The Cars' sound.
- "Also in the video "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains Of Wayne - There is a quick shot of a car, and the rear license plate says "I ♥ RIC", a reference to Cars frontman Ric Ocasek.
- On an April 17, 2006 episode of The Colbert Report, Ric Ocasek put Todd Rundgren "On Notice".
- In the music video for "Get Free" by The Vines, lead singer Craig Nicholls wears the band's t-shirt.