The Cars · Artists & Legends
The Cars are an American rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1976.
The Cars are an American rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1976. The classic lineup was singer and guitarist Ric Ocasek, singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes, and drummer David Robinson. Ocasek and Orr had worked together in earlier bands before forming the Cars with Easton, Hawkes, and Robinson.
The band’s debut album, The Cars (1978), released by Elektra Records, introduced a sound that mixed new wave energy with classic rock songwriting and polished studio production. Candy-O followed in 1979, Panorama in 1980, Shake It Up in 1981, and Heartbeat City in 1984. Across those records, Ocasek’s songwriting gave the band a steady supply of concise, hook-driven songs, while Orr’s voice provided a warmer counterpoint on several of the band’s best-known tracks.
The songs in this set trace that first run. “Just What I Needed” and “My Best Friend’s Girl” come from the 1978 debut, “Let’s Go” from Candy-O, “Shake It Up” from the 1981 album of the same name, and “Drive” from Heartbeat City. Together they show the band’s range: sharp guitar rock, synthesizer color, deadpan humor, and, in “Drive,” a slow, emotional ballad sung by Orr.
The Cars disbanded in 1988. Orr died in 2000, and the surviving members reformed in 2010 without him, releasing Move Like This in 2011. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 and reunited for the ceremony; Ocasek died the following year. What the Cars’ sound means is precision with personality: short songs, clean playing, memorable keyboards and guitar lines, and a cool surface that never quite hides the feeling underneath.