Why The Band The Cars Were So Unique

Photo by Sourav Mishra from Pexels

Do you remember the first time you heard the band The Cars? It was probably “Just What I Needed” if you’re in your 50s or 60s. You probably also remember that you had never heard anything like that before. It wasn’t just the song, or the vocals, or the instrumentation, or the sound; it was everything about it that sounded unique. Most importantly, you probably remember loving it and wanting to know who that was. That usually doesn’t happen with new rock-and-roll bands.

It’s rare that new bands come along with a completely new sound that you never heard before. It happened with the band Boston and their unique guitar and vocal sounds; it happened with the group U2 and their unique guitar sound; and we could probably even count The Police because of Sting’s unique voice. But, with the band The Cars it was just everything about them that sounded unique. My friends and I, as well as many others, thought they were from England. They sounded British. Yet they were from Boston, which, anyway, sort of makes sense when you think about the history of our nation.

The Cars arrived on the scene in 1978 with their debut album, The Cars, and their hit single “Just What I Needed,” and they simply blew everyone’s minds. The musical introduction to the piece, and the way the guitars kept slamming in and out every couple of beats, was an instant turn-on. Elliot Easton had a powerful guitar sound that was perfectly tuned yet just dirty enough. Benjamin Orr had this sort of killer sexual groove going on in his bass playing. David Robinson on drums created a pocket that was so easy for all the musicians to land in. And of course, there was the unique keyboard sounds of Greg Hawkes filling in the empty spaces with just the perfect synthetic resonance.

The song “Just What I Needed” was written by Ric Ocasek. The brilliant songwriter has said in interviews that he drew inspiration for the song from the band The Velvet Underground and the funk group Ohio Express, which made perfect sense given what we were hearing. There was a sort of cross-genre punk-funk groove in the song that we didn’t really understand; we just knew we loved it. Because the song was so well written, it all just kind of went over my head, which I guess was the point.

It doesn’t matter how great a group of musicians is; if the songs aren’t incredibly well written, there’s nothing there at all. The Cars had it all. They had the brilliant songwriting talents of Ric Ocasek and a group of musicians who were all very unique in the way they played their instruments. What was even more interesting about The Cars was trying to distinguish between the lead vocals of Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr. For years, I had always thought that Ric Ocasek sang lead vocals on “Just What I Needed,” only to find out much later on that it was indeed Benjamin Orr. Now come on, you know you thought that too. There was no MTV in 1978, so there really was no way to see any of these bands on TV, except for a slot on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert on Saturday nights.

While some may have wondered after just hearing that song on the radio for the first time if The Cars were going to be just a one-hit wonder band, those of us who picked up the album right away quickly found out that The Cars were the real deal. The album’s opening song, “Let the Good Times Roll,” was another track that was simply outstanding on so many levels. Once again, The Cars’ unique sound played out from David Robinson’s drumming to Greg Hawkes’s new use of synthesizers, which had not been used like that before in pop music. “Let the Good Times Roll” was the perfect album opener.

It’s important to understand just how vital Greg Hawkes ‘ role was in The Cars. Synthesizers were not really being used in rock and pop music the way The Cars used them. Synthesizers were mostly a product of progressive rock music. We were all used to the sounds of synthesizers in the music of bands Emerson Lake and Palmer, Yes, The Moody Blues and Pink Floyd. Of course, there was also a backlash against them, with bands like Queen labeling their albums to say that no synthesizers were used. There were no synthesizers in punk music for the most part. The sound of the synthesizer and the way Greg Hawkes played it on those 70s Car songs was pretty groundbreaking. It also set the tone for 1980s music, in which everything centered on synthesizers.

As we all know, The Cars continued onward, releasing a follow-up album titled Candy-O, which further expanded on their unique sound and was incredibly successful on both the commercial and artistic fronts. They would become one of the most beloved rock-and-roll bands in classic rock history. For a period of nine straight years, The Cars released a steady flow of original-sounding studio albums, including their debut album, The Cars, in 1978, the follow-up, Candy-O, in 1979, Panorama in 1980, Shake It Up in 1981, Heartbeat City in 1984, and Door To Door in 1987.

Every one of those albums featured the same original five members of The Cars, including Ric Ocasek on lead vocals and guitar, Benjamin Orr on lead vocals and bass, Greg Hawkes on keyboards, Elliot Easton on guitar, and David Robinson on drums. Five unique musicians who, when they performed together, created an even more unique sound. It would not have been the same with any one of them missing. After the Door To Door album was released, the band broke up in 1988 and never recorded another album again as the original five members. Sadly, Benjamin Orr passed away in 2000.

The Cars made a comeback in 2011 with the release of their final album, Move Like This. It was a good album, but without Benjamin Orr,  it still just wasn’t the same, and they knew it. Two years ago, in 2019, Ric Ocasek passed away. The band that we knew as The Cars was sadly gone forever. Yet their unique sound and wonderful music will always live on, as will the memories we all have of the first time we ever heard this legendary band and the great joy they have brought us ever since.

Updated February 7, 2026

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