This hit me as well. And I was shocked at how old he was! So he was already 35 in 1979 when Candy-O came out.
Did some reading about the Cars after seeing Elliot Easton on someone's list of best guitarists ever. Was also surprised that half their songs were sung by the other guy (Ben Orr). He sounds just like Ocasek, except on "Drive" when he sounds completely different. I thought that was the only hit sung by him.
Favorites: "Heartbeat City", "Let's Go"
ha, I never noticed that Drive had a different singer.
One of the only two celebrities I've ever been socially introduced to. (The other is his wife -- a friend was her assistant for years, and they were close.) Not that I knew him in any sense at all, he was not into talking to randos.
I remember his widow more than I remember him.
String of 3 damn near perfect albums including their debut. They emerge fully formed and of the moment. Great producer, produced Suicide's second album, the Bad Brains and many others. Damn could he write a hook. This captures the astonishment of it
On Suicide, I love this little tidbit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNTtEntQ-oM
The original of this was the other guy too.
Folks see the new Ken Burns on PBS last night?
These PMJ videos remind me that in the Stephen Foster era, the revenue stream for songwriters was sales of sheet music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hi1jVceof8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UngXu2zwF9E
The best Cars song is "You Might Think," which is obviously the best because Weezer covered it for a Disney movie about animated cars.
One more here with a soft spot for this band, sorry to hear this news.
I like Kris Delmhorst's covers of their songs a lot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJZPPYnY6o4
Did you read the liner notes? Or was it one of those CDs with very little besides cover and track list?
A friend's sister who was way above my pay grade asked me to go see the Cars with her. I turned her down bc I only liked the Dead. Stupid me.
How much did you usually charge to take people to concerts?
11: I can't remember, but I would have definitely read all the liner notes because I liked doing that sort of thing, which makes me think that there weren't any.
All the songs listed are amazing, but I'll always consider "Just What I Needed" special because I went through a similar, not very deep Cars phase in high school, leading to a group of us ended up playing it (and Modern English's "I Melt With You") in a school talent show.
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