Supersonic Time Machine: The Cars Last Interview With All Original Members!

The Cars are an odd band.

They were essentially built around the idiosyncratic songs of lanky frontman Ric Ocasek, yet many consider them a corproate rock band, or worse, an arena rock act. Truth be told, the band's iconic first album is held up as one of the hallmark musical moments of the '80s despite the fact that it was released in 1978.

More than 30 years later, the album still sounds as fresh and modern as it did on the day of its release, as indicated by the prevailing popularity of songs like "Just What I Needed" and "My Best Friend's Girl". Producer Roy Thomas Baker gets much of the credit for supposedly honing the band's sound, but when the deluxe version of the band's first album came out a decade or so ago, the group's demos of those same songs were included on a bonus disc and, while the production was certainly demo-quality, the arrangements were almost identical to the versions released on the proper album.


On a side note, much the same can be said for Ocasek's best known production work, on Weezer's self-titled debut album. In that case, however, engineer Chris Shaw played Ian Taylor to Ric Ocasek's Roy Thomas Baker.

When The Cars broke up in the late '80s, this writer honestly thought that the band had never been in the same room until after bassist/singer Benjamin Orr's death. Orr, of course, passed away in 2000, but not before he and the band reunited for an interview to promote The Cars Live DVD/video.

The full interview is viewable on Youtube and is refreshingly candid, shedding tons of new light upon the band's rise to stardom, their recording and touring experiences, and subsequent break-up.

It's an absolute must for anyone who has ever found themselves rocking along to any of the band's many timeless mega-hits.

Enjoy!

The Cars Final Interview Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6