Cruising through high school with the Cars

The '80s band the Cars, from left are Greg Hawkes; David Robinson; Ric Ocasek; Benjamin Orr; and Elliot Easton.

Source: https://www.liveabout.com/8-cars-songs-of-the-80s-10158

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It was Grade 10 and I was in Materials 10, a woodworking, metal and clay class when I first really heard about The Cars. Devin Burr, one of my classmates, was singing, “You might think I’m crazy” and making, well, crazy eyes as he moved his head from side to side to the music.

That was the Fall of 1984 and I was just really getting into music. That song sounded familiar, as I had heard it before. However, it may have been that night, or soon after, that I actually paid attention to that song when it came on to the radio.

It was “You Might Think” by The Cars.

They appeared on my newsfeed earlier, reminding me of so much about the band.

The end is the beginning
What would turn out to be the last few albums by the Cars would be the first ones I heard.

Heartbeat City
It started with “Heartbeat City”, which came out in 1984 and yielded several hits. As it turns out, “You Might Think” was the first single from “Heartbeat City”. It went all the way to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100.

The second single was “Magic”, which is my favourite Cars’ song of all time. It has a special place in my heart because my cousin Carl used to play this song in his band, and I actually got to hear him perform it live at a bar in Lethbridge one night.

In the summer after Grade 11, so 1986, I started to put together a tape of my favourite songs from each tape in my case. I gave up, because there were just too many songs. Before I did, “Magic” was one of the songs I put on there.

It would go on to peak at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The third single was, by far, the most successful on “Hearbeat City”. Ric Ocasek was usually the lead singer for The Cars. However, for “Drive”, Benjamin Orr took over the singing duties, making it a powerful ballad that just goes right to the soul.

It would be used in a video played at Live Aid, the fundraising concert for African famine relief in 1985. “Drive” was set against footage of a starving child struggling to get to her feet. It brought the TV announcers to tears. Interestingly, it was actually created by some people from the CBC.

“Drive” was also the song one of my floormates played, in my second year of university, on repeat over and over with the volume cranked, after he was dumped by a girl.

“Drive” would go all the way to number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

The fourth single from “Heartbeat City” was “Hello Again”. I heard this on LA-107 FM, an album-oriented radio station in Lethbridge, that put more emphasis on albums than singles, and would often play more than one single from the same album. “Hello Again” did not quite have the magic – all pun intended – the first three singles had. It peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

I liked the fifth single quite a bit, because it was another ballad, but “Why Can’t I Have You” only peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The title track “Heartbeat City” was the sixth and final track released internationally, but not in the States. I recall hearing it, again on LA-107 FM as well as 1090 CHEC, an AM station in Lethbridge. It didn’t chart in the States because it was not released, but didn’t chart in Canada where it was.

Nevertheless, the album “Heartbeat City” had provided a lot of great music for over a year.

The Cars would be back right away, not with another album, but a compilation album with some new music.

Greatest Hits
In 1985, the Cars released a “Greatest Hits” album. That would be where I got to hear all their early stuff, some of it long before “Hearbeat City”.

However, the first song I heard from that album was one of two new songs, called “Tonight She Comes”. It was an excellent song that, next to “Magic”, is my favourite Cars’ song. “Tonight She Comes” went all the way to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. It’s funny. At the same time, Billy Joel released his own greatest hits album which had an original hit single of its own, “You’re Only Human”.

There was one other original single from the Cars Greatest Hits, called “I’m Not the One” that peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Door to Door
The Cars would release one more original album, in 1987, called “Door to Door”. It came out in August just as I was getting ready to head off to Edmonton for my first year of university.

The first single was “You Are the Girl”, which went all the way to number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number two on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

The second single was “Strap Me In”, which went to number 85 on the Billboard Hot 100, but to number four on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. There would be a third single “Coming Up With You”, which went to number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Door to Door” would be the final studio album for the Cars for the next 25 years, and the last album with the band’s five original members.

The years before

“Greatest Hits” showed me just how much good stuff the Cars had done before “Heartbeat City”.

When “Greatest Hits” came out in October of 1985, it is one of the only albums both my sister and I bought independently. Something kind of interesting happened. When my sister bought the greatest hits album, she recognized the first half of the songs, because she is nine years older than me, and had been listening to music a lot longer. I recognized the second half because they were all from “Heartbeat City”.

Playing that tape, which I bought through Columbia House, familiarized me with pretty much the entire catalogue of the Cars. Flipping through the Columbia House catalogue also familiarized me with the titles of their earlier albums – “The Cars” from 1978; “Candy-O” from 1979; “Panorama” from 1980; and “Shake it Up” from 1981.

Their first single was “Just What I Needed”, which went all the way to number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. “My Best Friend’s Girl”, another of my favourites, followed, peaking at number 35, then “Good Times Roll” peaked at number 41. These singles were all from their debut album.

“Candy-O” produced “Let’s Go”, the Cars first top 20 single, which peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. There was also “It’s All I Can Do”, which was not on “Greatest Hits”, but I heard it is as I got more into music. It went all the way to number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Panorama” produced “Touch and Go”, which peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Shake it Up” produced the title track “Shake it Up’, which was the Cars first top 10 hit, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as “Since You’re Gone”, which peaked at number 41.

Parting thoughts
The Cars always had a distinctive, yet quirky sound, except when Benjamin Orr took over vocals and brought this soulful balladeer sensibility.

From the time I first heard “You Might Think” and “Drive” to all the songs on “Greatest Hits” such as “My Best Friend’s Girl” and “Tonight She Comes”, they provided another part of the soundtrack of my high school years.

Whenever I hear any of their songs, I am transported back to Kate Andrews High School in Coaldale in 1984, 1985 and 1986.