The Cars (#12) - Evan’s 111 Artists

They were a huge MTV band in the mid-’80s—the videos told stories that tied in with imagery from their album artwork. Remember Drive? This was new.

Ric Ocasek looked so cool—also really tall and awkward. I was too young when they came through at 12 or 13 to convince anyone to take me, but my brother and I definitely spun the first album and Candy-O a ton.

The songs were power-pop rock with guitar layers and keyboards that weren’t too ’80s. I LOVED the overall sound and the songs.

Ashley Pellagrino’s backyard party in 8th grade was our first performance, seems we didn’t coordinate the look.

Our first Quest show, after playing for a party in Matt’s basement, was Ashley Pellagrino’s backyard—8th grade or so. I think our best song at the time was Rainbow in the Dark by Dio—hilarious, but pre-pubescent Carl belted that out so strong. We had to play for more than an hour, so we had some filler… including a pretty uninspired cover of Shake It Up.

One summer day we moved band practice up from the basement and into Matt’s garage, with Brad Berman hanging out and absolutely killing the backup vocals to Just What I Needed… we had no idea he could sing. That track had a much stronger punch for us than Shake It Up (we were a few years older).

I lived in Gramercy Park for a few years when I was working at BMG, and I used to see Ric walking around the city. We never crossed paths in business, and I never saw them play live.

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“Dad, you always say this song is a F*CKING MASTERPIECE… make a list.”

The Cars masterpieces are listed below, and more on my 1k+ song Spotify Playlist — Evan’s 111 Artists

Drive, My Best Friend’s Girl, Bye Bye Love, Since You’re Gone, It’s All I Can Do, You Might Think, Just What I Needed, You’re All I Got Tonight