The Cars

The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976, central to the emergence of new wave music in the United States. The classic lineup — Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr trading lead vocals, Elliot Easton on lead guitar, Greg Hawkes on keyboards, and David Robinson on drums — fused the hooks of power pop and the sleekness of synth-driven new wave with a detached, art-school cool that set them apart from both punk and mainstream rock of the era.

Their 1978 self-titled debut, featuring «Just What I Needed» and «My Best Friend’s Girl», was an immediate commercial and critical success and helped define the sound of new wave radio. The band’s biggest commercial peak came with 1984’s Heartbeat City, produced by Mutt Lange, which spawned «Drive», «You Might Think», and «Magic»; «You Might Think» is also remembered for its pioneering, computer-effects-laden music video, one of the first winners of MTV’s Video Music Award for Video of the Year. «Drive» later gained renewed attention when used in Live Aid footage.

The Cars disbanded in 1988 after six studio albums, reuniting briefly for a 2011 album, Move Like This, without Orr, who had died in 2000. Ocasek passed away in 2019. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, recognized for their influence on new wave, alternative rock, and the broader sound of 1980s pop radio.