Let’s Make A Record: The Results!

Back in April I launched a fun little challenge for fans to create their own ‘new’ Cars album using only songs that the band performed but did not release on one of their six studio albums. We had a total of fifteen official contributions (those that came in before the voting started). From there, I organized the entries and set up a poll so readers could vote for their favorite submissions in four categories:

• Best Album Title
• Best Track List
• Best Cover Art
• Most Likely to Become a Bootleg (overall favorite)

Before I announce the winners, I’d like to share a couple of last-minute entries that came in. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive them in time to include them in the voting, but we can still enjoy them. Check out these cool compilations below:

I do have a little treat for everyone who sent in a submission: this badass 3″ Cars album sticker designed, printed, and donated by our very own Kurt Gaber! How cool is that???

If I haven’t already contacted you about getting your sticker to you, please send me a note, either through the blog or on Messenger. I’ll get them out ASAP!

And now to announce the results and winners in each category:

Best Album Title WINNER: Entry #01: Abandoned Cars by Steven Manson

Best Track List WINNER: Entry #04: Detour by Katherine Fendley

Best Cover Art WINNER: Entry #01: Abandoned Cars by Steven Manson

Likely Bootleg/Overall Favorite WINNER: Entry #04: Detour by Katherine Fendley

Congratulations to our winners! Wow, Steven and Katherine’s albums really battled it out. An Honorable Mention goes to Entry #08: Impound Lot by Becky Broderick for sticking close to the lead in all categories. And guess what? I have special prizes for them, too! These cool Cars logo decals were also printed and donated by Kurt Gaber, and will be sent out to Steven, Katherine, and Becky with their participation stickers. Woot woot!

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A few random follow-ups:

I had originally presented the submissions without using names in order to help keep the voting objective, but for those who are curious, here’s the list of all of the participants by entry number:

1. Abandoned Cars: Steven Manson
2. Breakaway: Harold Strassler
3. Cool Fool: Craig McGuire
4. Detour: Katherine Fendley
5. The Edge: Brandon Billings
6. Hybrids: Chuck Walker
7. Ignition: Silver Sunday
8. Impound Lot: Becky Broderick
9. In Deep: Michelle Turner
10. The Novelty Knock: me!
11. Sharp Subtle Flavor: David Curry
12. Sleep Wasted Afternoon: Mary Theresa
13. Untitled: Paul Sampson Fish
14. You Can Have ‘Em: Beki Hampton Garland
15. You Got It: Tina Megahey

After I had published the original article, I discovered that a couple of qualifying songs had slipped past me. Aargh! Two of them, “I Don’t Want To” and “Something Else,” were just total brain blunders. How could I have overlooked these fan favorites, and with Elliot on vocals? Jeez Louise. (Note: I will say that I did purposefully stay away from cover songs that the band just appeared to use to round out their sets, like “Gimme Little Sign” by Brenton Woods, etc.)

The third, “Jezebel,” was a new discovery for me. Of course, I knew that the song had been around with Cap’n Swing (and possibly before that), but I was in the dark that The Cars had performed it, too, until Jon M. gave me a heads up about it. Coincidentally, I received an audio from another source a few weeks later that included The Cars singing “Jezebel” during a weekend gig at The Rat. New to me!

I’m going to edit the original “Let’s Make A Record” article and update my graphic to keep things accurate. Sorry about the goof up!

This was a lot of fun for me — thank you to everyone who read the articles, submitted their ideas, or voted. And another big thank you to Kurt Gaber for providing the prize giveaways! What other fun things can we do, Fanorama? Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Let’s Make A Record: The Vinyl Voting!

A couple of weeks ago I put out a call for fans to create their own ‘new’ Cars album using only the songs the band recorded but that didn’t make it on one of the original six studio albums. I’m so happy that people responded! It’s been really fun to go through everyone’s playlists, to see the cool artwork, and to hear of the creative titles you’ve all come up with.

I do apologize for taking so long to get my butt in gear and post the submissions. Things have been a bit rough around here. Plus, I wanted to find a way to ‘display’ all of the albums in a consistent format, and I needed to figure out how to set up a friendly way to vote. I think I’ve got it. 

So here’s what I’ve decided to do. I created a graphic for each of the entries, keeping them anonymous by leaving the contributor’s name off. I included artwork (if it was submitted), along with the album title, track list, and any other extra notes that came with it. If the person created a playlist for his or her album, I’ve added it underneath that entry.

Let’s check out the submissions:

Playlist for Entry#01: Click here.

Playlist for Entry #04: Click here.

Playlist for Entry #09: Click here.

Playlist for Entry #12: Click here.

Playlist for Entry #15: Click here.

Now let’s get to the voting!

I chose four categories:

• Best Album Title
• Best Track List
• Best Cover Art
• Most Likely to Become a Bootleg

I wasn’t sure exactly where to go to do a quick free survey, but I think this one does the trick. Click on the link below and another window should pop open with the poll. This will enable you to toggle back and forth between the two screens if you need to. Unfortunately, it does not let you go backwards, so be careful to answer each question as it comes up. (That’s on me — I didn’t want to spend the $15 for that option. Haha!) In light of that flaw, my encouragement would be to spend some time exploring each album and take notes on your winning choices. This should hopefully eliminate any frustrations.

CAST YOUR VOTE HERE!

Just for kicks, I did a quick tally of how often each song was chosen. And, of course, I had to make a graph of it.

It’s no surprise to me that “Take What You Want” led the selection. It’s such an iconic jam! I was surprised that “Midnight Dancer” placed so high because it seems like no one ever posts that song in the Facebook groups. I didn’t expect it to have that much traction, I guess. 

I wish I had time to do more analysis from different angles, like what song was the most common album opener? The most popular closer? What percentage shunned the ballads? How many choices were Ben vocals and how many for Ric? Not hard stuff to noodle out, but I just can’t do it right now. If anyone else wants to take a crack at it, I’d love to hear more stats! 

Okay, so go ahead and scout out the albums, cast your votes, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments here or on Facebook. I’ll leave the poll open until Friday, May 7, and I’ll shoot to have the results published sometime during the next week. Oh, and I’ll try to figure out some cool Cars prizes to mail out to the participants and the winners. Can’t wait to see how it all shakes out!  

Let’s make a record!

The discovery of “Looking To See You” from The Cars’ April, 1977, show at The Rat brought to my mind again that the band had a whole cache of great songs that they could have cobbled together into another record. I’m not saying that I wish the debut album was any different — for heaven’s sake, it’s perfection! — but it would have been cool to somehow have my cake and eat it too. They could have done a “lost tracks” compilation, or “road to the record deal,” that kind of thing, don’t you think?

Anyway, that got me pondering which songs I would put on an additional album if I had a say, and in what order. I noodled out my choices, but I want to hear yours! So let’s play a little game: Let’s make a record! All you have to do is:

1. Look through the list of songs I compiled below. I think I’ve got all of the ones played by The Cars at some point in their career that did not end up on one of the seven studio albums. I’ve added YouTube links in case you need to revisit some of the tunes, and I included the dates in case… well, just because, I guess. Please let me know if I missed a song! (Also, you’re welcome to specify other versions of a song title if you have a favorite; I just grabbed one for each.)
2. From that list, choose no more than 11 titles that you would include on a whole ‘new’ Cars record. (I capped it at 11 because that is the highest number of tracks on any one of their original studio albums.) You can decide if you want to group them by a time period, or a specific style, or if you want to make a concept album using the songs to tell the story. Or you could compile a ‘greatest hits’-type group, or focus on one of the band members. There are tons of possibilities.
3. Now make your track list. Think carefully about sequencing. What song would really be a great opener to set the tone for the album? How about a great finisher? Don’t forget to split the list into Side A and Side B — remember, we’re playing with vinyl here!
4. Brainstorm a title for your record.
5. For extra bonus points, make a YouTube playlist to share with us!
6. Overachievers can even go the Robinson route and create some album art. What colors and images would you use? How about photographs? Fonts? Sleeves? Liner notes??? The sky’s the limit! [You can work with any format, but if you’d like to monkey around with graphics, try exploring Canva. It’s free and very user friendly.]
7. Share! Submit your track list (and/or your YouTube playlist, album art, liner notes, etc.) by posting in the comments below, sharing on Facebook, or by sending me an email through the blog if you don’t want to throw it all out there. 😉

Then… let’s see… should we put everyone’s records up for a vote? I say YES! I’ll gather everyone’s ideas and then organize a little poll here and on social media. I’ll keep all the entries anonymous to avoid personal popularity votes; every record will stand on its own merits. Ooo, I can even have several categories, like Best Track List, Best Cover Art, Best Overall Album, that kind of thing… Oh man, I’m already getting carried away, I can tell.

I’m cooling my jets now, but let’s set a deadline of April 15 for entries if you want to be part of a vote. I’ll see if there’s enough interest in going further. Regardless of if we end up doing that part of it, I really want to hear everyone’s ideas! You can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. It’s your record!

Okay, here’s the list of titles (with links):

• Strawberry Moonlight 1977
• Come Back Down 1977
• Lover and A Holiday (See Through My Eyes) 1977
• Looking to See You 1977
• Wake Me Up 1977
• Take Me Now 1977
• Cool Fool 1977
• You Just Can’t Push Me 1977
• Hotel Queenie 1977
• Take What You Want 1977
• You Can Have ‘Em (Blue Moon Saloon/Sleepy Wasted Afternoon) 1977
• I Don’t Want To 1977
• Something Else (Looky Here) 1977
• Jezebel 1977
• They Won’t See You 1978
• That’s It 1979
• Slip Away 1979
• Don’t Go To Pieces 1980
• The Edge 1980ish
• Funtime 1981
• Little Black Egg 1981
• Shooting For You 1983
• Midnight Dancer 1983
• Breakaway 1984

Here’s a playlist of all of the songs together in the same order, if that’s easier:

Aaaaand…. GO!

Casting Cars?

With the official release of the parody biopic Turbocharge: The Unauthorized Story of The Cars just around the corner, my longing for a true and deep telling of The Cars’ history, which is never far below the surface, springs forth. An actual, factual, full-length documentary would be my first choice (to reduce room for inaccuracies justified by creative license and sensationalistic fabrications), but barring that, it would be so great to have a serious movie made about The Cars.

And that, of course, begs the question: who would play our boys?

Not too long ago this article was posted on Facebook (thank you, Michelle B!) that gives one website’s suggestions on who should be cast to play the members of The Cars if a biopic was made.

Here are their choices:

• Ric Ocasek: Nat Wolff
• Benjamin Orr: Liam Hemsworth
• Elliot Easton: Jonny Weston
• Greg Hawkes: Tyler Posey
• David Robinson: Daniel Radcliffe

Uh, these guys don’t look like they can fill the bill to me. Reading that article, they’ve got a bunch of reasons behind their choices in terms of each actor’s musical experience, acting background, and the potential chemistry of the cast as a whole. I get that, but still, I was like, “Really???” There just has to be visual compatibility between the actor and the person they are portraying. And of course, I know that Hollywood can do amazing things with makeup and stylists and whatever other theater hacks they have (Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury? Brilliant!), so I’m not saying those choices are impossible, but they were pretty unsatisfying to me.

So now I’m going to give my candidates (surprised?), but obviously, nothing so deep for me. Mine are pretty much all based on looks and my own two cents, and limited by my lack of extensive knowledge of today’s young stars. One disclaimer: My biggest challenge is height, I think. My actor choices don’t measure up (or down, as the case may be) to create an accurate lineup, so I’ve had to override that consideration.

Alright, here we go. My top picks:

Ric Ocasek: My mind immediately went to the early 80s comedian Richard Belzer, who looks a lot like Ric, and is even the same age. Of course… his age is the problem; he certainly wouldn’t be able to pull off those early years.  In light of that, my present-day choice would be Scott Mechlowicz. He doesn’t quite have the same eclectic overall look as Ric, but his eyes, though they’d be under shades most of the time, are amazing, and I think that when revealed in the right scenes, they would be dramatic and able to communicate the beauty and mystery of Ric’s inner self.

Richard Belzer

Ric Ocasek

Scott Mechlowicz

Benjamin Orr: Did anyone else’s jaw drop when Ben Hardy showed up as Roger Taylor in Bohemian Rhapsody? He would have been the perfect Ben for OUR Ben! Of course, it wouldn’t be cool to have Hardy play another rock star, so I had to look elsewhere. Interestingly, I had recently stumbled across a great candidate in a clip from the show “The Carrie Diaries” that featured “Drive.” Austin Butler played the part of Sebastian Kydd, and his resemblance to Ben is striking. He’s got the right coloring, plus the sensuous mouth and beautiful blue eyes. We might have to pluck those eyebrows a little, though. Haha! Somewhat appropriately, this summer Butler was cast to play Elvis in a biographical Warner Brothers drama slated to begin filming next year. You’ll remember, I’m sure, that Benjamin has been referred to as ‘the Elvis of Cleveland.’

Ben Hardy

Benjamin Orr

Austin Butler

Elliot Easton:  Unlike Ben and Ric, no great options for Elliot jumped into my mind when I started considering my cast. I fished around for a bit with little success. I remembered Mark O’Brien from an episode of “City On A Hill” and thought he had potential. Not sure if his hair is thick enough, but he kind of has the right air about him; he would do. But then I discovered a better choice. I am really digging on Ellar Coltrane (without that thing in his face). He’s got great hair, the perfect mouth, those piercing eyes… and he just looks like our badass guitar player so much! He’d be perfect.

Mark O’Brien

Elliot Easton

Ellar Coltrane

Greg Hawkes: With such a sweet disposition and an inherently boyish air about him, I really want someone who can capture the essence of Greg. The speed bump? It seems that every viable choice is six feet tall! I had to discard Thomas Brodie Sangster for that very reason. Just when I was thinking I’d have to stall out with Seth Green (who is clearly too old), I remembered Alex Lawther from one of my favorite movies, The Imitation Game. He’s cute and thin and quirky, and looks like he could handle the nerd factor (in a good way!). And at 5’8″, I think he’s as short as I’m gonna find!

Thomas Brodie Sangster

Greg Hawkes

Alex Lawther

David Robinson: The choices I like for David are all too old, I think. Zachary Levi, John Krasinski (if I can stop seeing him as Jim Halpert), and the claymation Santa (!!) all bear a believable resemblance, but probably wouldn’t cut it when it comes to portraying David banging it out in DMZ. Combing the younger crowd has me coming back to Dylan O’Brien again and again. Not sure what it is about him… His mouth isn’t quite the same, and we’d have to change that eye color, but he seems to have that same intelligent, amused look on his face that David always has. I think with a few alterations he could pull it off.

Claymation Santa

David Robinson

Dylan O’Brien

Clearly, my actor choices aren’t the only options. I’ll bet you have some favorites, too, that you consider ringers for our beloved band members. Comment below or find me on Facebook and tell me your top picks!

The Cars in Commercials

Okay… this is just one of those ‘rabbit hole’ things I stumbled across. I was working on my obsession of clipping out Cars references in television and movies and I came to Circuit City.

From 2004-2006, Circuit City used “Just What I Needed” in their ad campaign to try to revive the suffering sales of their consumer electronics chain. As awesome as the song is, it couldn’t work any magic (groan) for Circuit City, and the company filed bankruptcy in 2008. Here are the deets on that advertising plan: 

Though The Cars had allowed their music to be used in many movies prior to this, I think this might be the first time that it was part of an ad campaign. I’m not positive on that, though, so if someone knows otherwise, please let me know. Of course, several other Cars songs have made there way to commercials since then. As you may or may not know, I’ve got a Youtube playlist where I’m trying to gather all those bits. Here’s a link to it, if you want to check it out. I’m continuing to add to it all the time, so be sure to subscribe to my channel to get notice of new additions (if you’re into that sort of thing). 

I do remember an interview where Ric Ocasek felt sure that he would NOT permit his songs to be used in such a way. He was speaking with the late Bob Coburn on Rockline in 1987. Here’s the clip: 

When asked about licensing “Just What I Needed” to Circuit City, Ric told Tom Lanham of Magnet Magazine, “Well, a lot of that money goes to the band, too. And maybe I’m a little bit better off than the band, financially, because I do a lot of other things in my life. But I got a little bit of, ‘Oh, could you please? We could really use it!’ I kind of fell to that, even though philosophically, I really never wanted to do that. But after Dylan did Victoria’s Secret, I thought, ‘If Dylan’s gonna do it and Lou Reed’s gonna do it, maybe I’ll just forget about what I said 30 years ago and do this.’ So I did it. Plus, Ben’s estate gets a cut.”

Well, that’s some pretty great motivation there, then. Since ALL the guys benefited from it, including Ben’s estate, I think that’s a worthwhile reason for Ric to let go of his long-held personal rule. I wouldn’t really be complaining about him changing his mind in any case; I love it when I see commercials featuring the music of my favorites. Not only does it make me happy and hyper because I dig the song, but I think it’s an important part of continuing a band’s legacy, and it is instrumental in introducing classic music to a new generation of listeners. And this current generation needs to hear The Cars!

Anyway, here is a compilation of all of the Circuit City commercials that I could find, and now I can cross this one off my list. Haha! 

[Thank you for reminding me about the Magnet Magazine article, Rebecca! ❤ ]

The Cars and the RRHOF: Who Cares?

Quite a few people (translation: Cars fans) are pretty upset about The Cars not getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF) this year. I’ve been asked my thoughts about it a couple of times, and personally, I swing back and forth between frustration and apathy. Since I am SO crazy about this band, it is hard for me to be objective about what they ‘deserve’ with relation to achieving induction; I am completely driven by my love for those five guys and their incredible music. Even so, I am able to form an opinion based on concrete evidence. But before stating my honest (and hopefully, rational) thoughts on the subject, let me try to give a basic factual framework to build on.

First I had to understand just how the Rock Hall worked. I am very grateful to the posts on the Iconic Rock Talk Show blog for giving me the rundown in concise, humorous, educational articles.

In a nutshell, the artists that make the official ballot are chosen by a nominating committee made up of 28 members from the music industry (musicians, executives, managers, journalists, etc.). Once the nominees are chosen the ballot goes out for votes in two ways: first, 800+ ballots are mailed out to more music industry professionals, including the living members already inducted into the Rock Hall. They get to vote for their top five artists to get in.

Secondly, a fan poll is set up where any Tom, Dick and Harry can vote for their faves to be inducted. The top five vote-getters in the fan poll get ONE additional ballot vote, to be counted with the other 800+ ballots from the industry. Does that make sense? It’s important that it does, because as fans we need to understand that placing in the top five of the fan poll does NOT mean our band will earn automatic induction into the Hall of Fame.

Historically (since the fan poll was instituted in 2012) the band that finishes FIRST in the fan poll has been inducted, but finishing first is NOT a guarantee, nor is it inherently stated in the induction criteria.

The next question I had to tackle was: do The Cars deserve to be in? Now, things might get muddy here emotionally but I’m going to try to stay on track. For the record, here is what the Rock Hall website puts forth as the criteria for eligibility for the Hall of Fame:

“Artists—a group encompassing performers, composers and/or musicians—become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record. Besides demonstrating unquestionable musical excellence and talent, inductees will have had a significant impact on the development, evolution and preservation of rock & roll.”

Okay, the first one is easy: “25 years after the release of their first record.” Since The Cars released their debut album in 1978, they were eligible for induction in 2003. Whew.

Next up: “…demonstrating unquestionable musical excellence and talent…” I understand that this is a matter of opinion for each person casting a ballot. Of course, there is NO question in my book.

1. Ric was an amazing lyricist and visionary, and his vocal styling was unique and well-suited to the songs he sang.
2. Benjamin’s vocals were unfailingly beautiful and varying in range and delivery, and his bass playing was both melodic and powerful.
3. Elliot’s lead guitar contributions were non-egocentric, masterful and relevant to each song.
4. Greg was an incredible multi-instrumentalist, and his synthesizer sounds were bursting with creativity and style.
5. The edgy and intelligent rhythms that David maintained, in addition to his artistic and architectural contributions to the band, formed the scaffolding that all of the other elements relied on.
6. These five men consistently interlocked in live performances, recreating their studio sound with near perfection, often coming across better live than on vinyl.

Musical excellence and talent? Yeah, they’ve got that.

Third criteria: “…had a significant impact on the development, evolution and preservation of rock & roll…” I do think this can be a tricky one to measure, especially for the layman (namely ME) who doesn’t have a bunch of statistics to lean on (shocking, I know). But with all that I’ve read, I DO know that The Cars qualify in these ways:

EVOLUTION: The Cars are widely credited with a) infusing new sound into a stagnant roster of late seventies music — a fancy way of saying that no one sounded like they did; b) bridging the gap between traditional rock-and-roll and pop music; and c) paving the road for a whole new genre of music: New Wave. [Side note here: One afternoon my 17 year-old son, who is heavily into dubstep, was turning his nose up at my Cars music, and I sternly told him that he should send Greg Hawkes a thank you card for all that he did in pioneering the use of synthesizers and electronics in the music world! Of course, my son didn’t appreciate that very much. Haha!] They were also on the cutting edge of music video production and promotion.

DEVELOPMENT: Additionally, ALL of the members of the band have worked on numerous projects outside of The Cars, supporting and growing other artists in a wide variety of genres and through many methods (production, promotion, writing, background vocals, session instrumentation, etc.), not to mention their own solo work.

PRESERVATION: Further, music by The Cars shows up just about everywhere: in movies, children’s programs, commercials, and in 2016 as a constant presence in a new CBS television series called BrainDead. Their sound is as addictive, influential, and necessary to today’s culture as it ever was.

I know I painted with some broad strokes there — just trying to keep it simple when I could go on and on and ON… but that’s my case for eligibility and I’m standing firm on it.

So how have The Cars done so far? They were nominated for the first time in 2015 (for induction in 2016), finished third in the fan poll (less than a tenth of a percentage point behind second place) and failed to get inducted. There was some amount of controversy surrounding the voting process. Under poor management by the Rock Hall, the poll appeared to have been hacked allowing computer ‘bots’ to submit millions of votes unchecked. Though no one was accused outright, a shadow was cast on the five bands that benefited from the suspected activity (including The Cars) and the reputation of the RRHOF Fan Poll took a major blow.

The Cars made the nomination ballot again in 2016 (for induction in 2017), and again, questionable management and murky communication by the RRHOF threw the whole fan poll into chaos. This time the Rock Hall apparently held back a slew of votes while they were verifying the integrity of those votes, and then dumped them all into the poll in one day. This made the overall totals for a bunch of the nominees go crazy and changed the order of the leaders. While no band was knocked out of the top five, The Cars were the only ones negatively affected, dropping from #3 to #5 in the rankings. They were not chosen for induction. Which brings us to where we are today…

The question I can’t help but ask now is: how much do The Cars themselves really want it? The fan poll voting was open from October 18 through December 15, 2016. The official Cars’ Twitter and Facebook pages were largely silent, doing almost nothing to encourage the fans to vote. Even “The Cars Nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum” Facebook page (which is run by Les Steinberg, Elliot Easton’s brother, but not officially endorsed by The Cars) stopped promoting daily activity in the fan poll ten days before the voting closed. Is this indicative of the band members’ desire to get into the Rock Hall?

In 2011 Ric Ocasek was asked by Stephen Colbert, “Why aren’t you guys in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?” and Ric answered, “You know I really don’t know. I don’t know if I want to be in it.” (The Colbert Report) When the 2015 ballot was announced David Robinson said, “It is what it is, but actually I don’t pay any attention to that whatsoever. It isn’t anything we’ve strived for, let’s put it that way.” (The Boston Globe); and Elliot indicates in this 2014 RockSolid interview excerpt below that he’s not losing any sleep over whether The Cars are in the Rock Hall.

And all of those votes for The Cars in the fan poll this year? With little encouragement coming from the band’s official pages, the “Fanorama” stepped up and led a grassroots campaign that held The Cars solidly in the top 5 (in spite of the RRHOF’s voting mess). Twitter pages like @Night_Spots, @Tracey2063, and @JWINZombieGirl, along with Facebook fan groups like “The Cars” and “Benjamin Orr Remembered,” all contributed DAILY reminders and links to vote, which were shared and retweeted time and again, reminding people to make their voice heard. I am so proud of our dedicated fan base — how we love our boys!

So if it’s no big deal to them, why should I care one way or the other? Here are MY reasons I want The Cars inducted (in no particular order):

1. They are deserving of it (see paragraphs above) and I want their contribution to rock and roll history to be acknowledged and recognized by their peers.
2. I want Benjamin’s memory brought into the spotlight and honored all over the world.
3. I love them! Their music moves me in every mood and brings me joy daily.
4. I want an excuse to see the four remaining members together on stage again.
5. I want to be able to say “BOOYAH!” to those naysayers that look down on my love for The Cars.

My final thoughts? I’m disappointed but not devastated. They have proven their relevance over the years, influenced countless bands that came after them, and wrote a soundtrack for my life that will never change. Whether they ever get into the RRHOF or not, The Cars will always be number one with me!

[All Cars graphics courtesy of @Night_Spots; image of the RRHOF ballot from Twitter]

It’s just an automatic line…

The other day in the car I found myself answering this question from my 11-year-old: “What the heck is he saying???”

We were at the end of rocking out to Night Spots, and it was where Greg is repeating, “It’s just an automatic line…” I told my son what the words were, and then explained my take on the lyric choice: In a lot of songs the singer repeats a line over and over at the end, and I think it was The Cars’ quirky sense of humor that led them to use those lyrics in kind of a teasing way; maybe poking fun at that habit of singers/songwriters (including themselves). Of course, as I’m telling him this, my own speculation makes me love the song and the band more than ever.

Whether my explanation is accurate or not, there is no denying that Night Spots is a damn fine song, with a heavy, pulsing bass line, a fantastic Elliot guitar solo, and bad-ass lyrics. And of course, Greg’s masterful synthesizer work! The song was written by Ric Ocasek (of course!) for The Cars’ first album, but ended up being used as the seventh track on Candy-O instead. It became a staple of their live sets in 1978 and was played in concerts all the way through 1987.

There are two studio versions published and both seem to exude power, though in different ways. The first one released, of course, is the track on Candy-O. It starts out with a little introduction of the synthesizer melody that hooks you for the entire song, and then the other boys are all in, churning away on that rocking beat. Every instrument is so present in this recording. Put on some headphones and get away by yourself for a few minutes — SO many audio delights here! Ric sings the lyrics perfectly; in fact this is one in a handful of songs where I would say I LOVE his vocals. His unconventional style is exactly what this song demands. Another favorite little tidbit about this tune is that in the live recordings Ric sometimes changes up the description of the woman’s hair: long blonde, blonde long, kinky, curly…

From Ric’s book, Lyrics and Prose

The demo version was recorded in 1978 while the band was in London working on their debut album. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, this unfinished take was apparently set aside at that time, and it wasn’t released to the world until it came out as part of 1995’s Just What I Needed: The Cars’ Anthology. Again, grab your headphones. This time we start out with an addictive beat, and then the layering begins: guitar, bass, guitar; building until the vocal jumps in, but with an almost entirely different set of lyrics. And here again, Ric’s singing is spot-on. In this version he comes across as rather amused and mocking of the woman in the song; as opposed to the bit of desperation, the awe for her that he portrays in the Candy-O cut. The biggest difference between the two tracks? There is no keyboard part in this early demo, and no blazing EE solo. Where the vinyl is poppish and danceable, this version is very bass-driven and very slinky… sexy. Quite a contrast.

It should be no surprise that I love both recordings. Each one conveys its own mood and message; I easily think of them as two individual songs, rather than one being an early version of the other. I’m going to post links to both of them here. I’ve decided not to use fan vids, mostly because I want to encourage you to close your eyes and focus on this incredible music. Enjoy!

CANDY-O VERSION

 

DEMO VERSION:

Musical manipulation?

Even though  my kids are NOT Cars fans they are pretty good sports about my obsession (well, to the extent that they know about it). They laugh at my t-shirts, and listen to my little informational tidbits, and roll their eyes when they come home early and catch me blasting the stereo. And… they’ve pretty much figured out that they can manipulate their mama by quoting Cars’ lyrics to me.

I’ve had my 16yo daughter end a request with, “Please Mom, you know it’s just what I needed.” — many times! Or she’ll turn on The Cars station on Pandora and approach me with it playing as her lead-in to whatever she’s going to ask. And my 10yo son has gotten his way more than once by singing, “Don’t tell me no, don’t tell me… no!” while trying to get chocolate from me. They know just when to wink at me and say, “We’re sorry, Mom, it’s all mixed up!” or “C’mon Mom, gimme some slack!” Even my 18yo son, who practically breaks out in hives whenever he hears The Cars, is skilled at telling me to ‘shake it up’ when I’m being uptight.

Sprinkled in there are the standards: ‘Let’s go!’ ‘Uh-oh, it’s magic,’ ‘It’s all I can do,’ and ‘Bye bye love!’, all delivered with a little shoulder shake and the two-handed, index-finger-out-thumbs-up gesture (is there a name for that?). They’ll even say to my hubby, “Daddy-O… I need you!”

The funny (shameful?) thing is that, the majority of the time, it WORKS.

My most favorite quote, however, came not from one of the kids but from my hilarious, foxy husband. Last week we were driving home from a school event and he said something smart-alecky, looking at me like he was the funniest guy in the world. I was *not* amused, so of course, I gave him that look like ‘oh please.’ As he turned his eyes back to the road he chastised himself quietly, “You were trying to be cute and it didn’t work out.” I burst out laughing and my bad mood was broken.

I love that even though my family doesn’t see what the big deal is about The Cars they understand and respect that *I* think The Cars are awesome, and they enjoy teasing me about it, and are not afraid to use it to their advantage in harmless ways.

I also love that while my kids claim to HATE The Cars, they have all those terrific songs tucked inside their little brains, and someday they are going to be in a store and hear Benjamin’s beautiful voice singing on the Muzak and get all sorts of warm, fuzzy feelings about this amazing band and go, “Aaawww!” So who is really being manipulated?

[Well played, Mom. Hahaha!]

Raising them right.

I have four kids, ages 10-17,  and for the most part, they do not enjoy listening to the Cars. They tolerate it fairly quietly, although whenever we get in the car they beg, “Please, Mama, NOT the Cars!” But if they *have* to listen to anything Cars-related (and they often do) they prefer Benjamin’s solo stuff. As you can imagine, that is FINE with me!

So… a funny thing happened this weekend…  I had to give my 13yo daughter instructions on the proper time and place to ‘go deeper’ about the Cars. Hahaha!

We met another parent while we were at my youngest son’s soccer game and the subject of music came up. EG (my precocious one) asked him if he had ever heard of the Cars, because her mother was obsessed with them. Yep, of course he’d heard of them, he said. Sooo…  EG launched into a monologue on the merits of Benjamin’s voice on his solo work (she prefers the unreleased tracks over The Lace because, as she notes, “his voice sounds so much more mature and he seems to really believe in the lyrics he’s singing”), and she is really getting into her little speech when…

I notice the other parent’s eyes had glazed over (just before he turned his head to look anywhere else but at her), and he mumbled something about how he likes all genres of music… before he abruptly moved away.  So I gently told my daughter, “Honey, some people just listen to the Cars on the radio and they don’t really want to discuss it.” She just shook her head — foreign concept. We had a good laugh over it.

Here’s her “all-time favorite” Benjamin song (the one she says she’s going to sing if she ever gets on America’s Got Talent — LOL):