YOU'D LIKE TO COME IN COLORS NOT SURE WHICH ONE....SOME THOUGHTS ON THE MUSIC OF THE CARS

One is tempted to write off the music of The Cars as pop fodder….Their first album was certainly overplayed on the radio….Ric Ocasek has to be one of the worst lyricists I’ve ever come across….His alliterations and metaphors aren’t clever and a lot of his language is the worst sort of obvious clichés….The music of The Cars was always a battle between slickness and rock and roll and slickness finally won out in the 80’s on the last two Cars albums.

However, the battle made for engaging music on the first four cars albums especially their second one my favorite of theirs CANDY-O….Theirs is the template for much of American new wave music with synths fighting it out with guitars and detached vocals….Was it just me or was the late Benjamin Orr a much better singer than Roc Ocasek? More emotive, with more range….The drums were also real and in fact a key indicator of their slide downhill was when David Robinson began to use electronic drums.

I know for a lot of people in my age range early to mid 40’s The Cars’ music holds a lot of nostalgic value….I always felt The Cars had a professionalism about their music that was at least on the first four albums not just for the sake of being commercial just five guys making great music.

Here’s my favorite Cars song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s6OmepnqDk