The Cars reunite

The Cars are an American rock/pop band who recently in 2010 reunited, They haven't made a album since 1987, although Ric Ocasek has proved to be a good Rock/New wave manager for popular 90's bands. One thing The Cars had was the ability to mix Pop songwriting sensibility with Rock instrumentation. Just about every single one of their songs had either a rememberable guitar riff or guitar solo.

The Cars formed in 1976 in Boston, MA. They signed to Elektra records around 1977, then the following year in 1978 they released their debut album titled The Cars. It represented a change in rock music, this album was a crazy mix of Rock, Hard rock, Rockabilly, New wave and Power pop. Not even Cheap Trick were that oriented, The Cars diversity could only be challenged by their inspirations The Beatles. The album spawned quite a few singles, but either way, they all were hits whether it was on the radio or on the Billboards. "Good Times Roll" had a Art rock thing going on while "My Best Friends Girl" had a Power pop and Rockabilly sound. Then came "Just What I Needed", having a Power pop and Hard rock punch, made it hit the charts at it's highest #27 on the Billboard. All 3 of them songs were Billboard hits and considered New wave Prototypes. Their radio hits include the Hard rock and Pop of "Bye Bye Love" and the New wave anthem "Moving in Stereo". One song that could of got more credit was "I'm In Touch With Your World" which sounded very Physedelic rock/pop like. The album was raved a Genuine rock masterpiece and even called one of rock's all-time classics by professional reviews.

Their next album Candy-O (1979) was polished and slick all at ounce, being a mix of Rock, Hard rock, Pop rock and New wave, it was one notch less then their debut. It spawned some great songs that just like the debut, either made it on the Billboard or made it on Rock radio. "Let's Go" had a clear cut Arena rock and Pop rock sound while "It's All I Can Do" was Synthpop layered with catchy Rock guitar riffs and a melodic guitar solo. "Double Life" and "Candy-O" both had loud hard rock guitar solos.

1980's Panorama was more experimental, although didn't spawn many singles or radio hits, it helped find The Cars later Pop-rock and New wave sound.

1982's Shake It Up had a new formula, having a mix of Pop rock, Dance-pop, Soft rock and New wave, It spawned one of The Cars most popular hits, "Shake It Up".  "I'm Not The One" proved to be one of their greatest New wave Soft rock ballads ever. And "Cruiser" had a fun New wave and Hard rock thing going on.

1984 was when Heartbeat City came out. It spawned some of The Cars greatest Pop-rock songs and Ballad's, including the Arena rock of "Magic" and the Ballad rock/pop of "Drive". "Heartbeat City" was catchy and had It's New wave punches, but also had some excellent violin sounding guitar lines from Easton, which made it have Class and traditional Rock.
1987's Door to Door was a disappointment to some critics, but spawned some great rock and pop songs, including the Hard rock of "Double Trouble" and the punk rock of "Door to Door", and just about the only Billboard single "You Are The Girl", which proved to be almost peer pop, except then Elliot Easton corked a fine melodic guitar solo.

Then, they broke up in 1988...


1990's, Ric Ocasek becomes a popular manager.

2000, Sadly, the bass guitarist and occasional lead vocalist Benjamin Orr dies from Pancreatic cancer. He sang some of their Greatest songs such as Drive, Just What I Needed, Bye Bye Love, Candy-O, Let's Go and Moving in Stereo-All Mixed Up.

2005, Todd Rundgren, Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes join The New Cars, which failed to acclomplish anything more then a album with no charting.

2010, The Cars reunite

2011, They release their New album Move Like This, which at the core is Alternative rock, but is layered with some Punk rock/pop, Art rock and Power pop. So far "Sad Song" has charted at #25 on The Rock Songs charts. (will be updated)

My opinon: it's pretty good, never as good as there old stuff, but may have a music impact, and we might not see as much C-rap on the charts.