10FTW: The Cars

Forty years ago today, the debut album from The Cars was released to a world that was cozying up to the umbrella term we still refer to today as New Wave. Acts like Talking Heads, Blondie, The Clash, Elvis Costello, The Police, and our friends The Cars, all had songs that grabbed the attention of punkers and popsters alike in 1978. 

I was seven when The Cars was released. Suffice it to say, they weren't on my radar. In 1978, I was all about Andy Gibb, the Bee Gees, and the Village People (judge me all day; I loved disco then and still hold it close to my heart now). The first time I heard the Cars was a year or two later on a local rock station that played "Let's Go" from 1979's Candy-O. At the time, the airwaves were a veritable potpouri of musical styles. Various flavors of rock (soft, prog, and new wave) mingled with country and disco, which hadn't yet felt the backlash that was around the corner. "Let's Go" was fine, but I was more excited about Donna Summer having two songs in the top five simultaneously ("Bad Girls" and "Hot Stuff") and obssessing over when I would finally Get The Knack. Which I did around Christmas '79. 

I put the Cars out of my head until "Shake It Up" set up shop in my ears in late 1981. For the next couple of years, I heard the bigger  hits from their first four albums on the radio and relied on them as the gospel of The Cars as they weren't releasing any new material. Don't cry for me...I found all kinds of music to surround myself with between 1982 and 1984. Seriously, 1983 is up there with 1979 for one of the best years in music (in my lifetime, at least). Then, in the spring of 1984, "You Might Think" and its visually stunning for the time video turned me in to a Cars fan all over again. Just in time for them to break up after the release of their sixth album, Door to Door, a few years later. Win some, lose some.

I've always gravitated to The Cars' hits for the most part; their deeper tracks never really engaged me enough to consider them alongside their classics. Genres have come, gone, and returned over the past 40 years, but Ric Ocasek, Benjamin Orr, and the rest of the gang's songs still hold up. Many are sing-along worthy and continue to put a smile on my face when I randomly hear them on the radio now. In no particular order, here are my 10 tracks. By The Cars. For the win!