The pop/rock band from the late 70s/early-mid 80s. Not a type of motorized vehicle

I like this band. NC

That first record is pretty unfuckwithable

First record is completely unfuckwithable, almost every song on there is still a classic rock radio staple.

After that, not so much, and apparently they were boring crap live, but not crap for the debut alone.

S/T record is insanely good. I think Shake it Up and Candy-O are both excellent records as well. Even Panorama and Heartbeat City have some winners on them.

Solid not crap!

I'm only familiar with the debut LP.

ULTRA NOT CRAP.

And that drive song remains me of childhood memories, NC also.

The Cars were kind of like Tom Petty: everyone likes at least a couple of their tunes. They were New Wave but ended up defining the mainstream. They ripped off Suicide by they did it with class and some great hooks. They worked well conceptually as a band and wore cool clothes (for the time, anyway). Their secret weapon was lefty lead guitarist Elliot Easton, whose nifty solos and fills punctuate nearly every track. They managed to get a song in 5/4 (Touch And Go) played on the radio. I saw them live on their last tour in 1987 and none of them seemed real happy to be there. Unlike many of their contemporaries their stuff has dated really well. NC!

[Good Times Roll will always remind me of riding the Tilt-A-Whirl when I was a kid.]

Absolutely not ever crap. Just What I Needed is my favourite song ever.

My dad had 4 tapes in the car when I was young - The Cars Greatest Hits, Chicken Skin Music by Ry Cooder, 5 by JJ Cale and Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits. The songs are embedded in my DNA.

Not crap. Pound for pound the best band you will hear on classic rock radio, for what that's worth.

Like any good band better than the sum of their parts. And what parts they had:

Ric Ocasek, gawky charismatic genius. Took the best bits from "cooler" bands like Suicide and Roxy Music and repackaged them without watering them down. Knew when to hand lead vocals to:

Benjamin Orr. Unnecessarily good looking bass player with a fine voice.

Elliot Easton, hot shot shredder who I'm guessing spent a fair amount of time studying Chet Atkins (and other pioneers) and knew when to lay back.

Greg Hawkes, geeky synth mad scientist. The hooks!

Dave Robinson was a Modern Lover. That would be enough but man, he continued to kick ass.

The easiest, most emphatic “not crap” I’ve ever issued on this board.

They were my first ever “favorite band”. (And the first band that broke up while I was a fan of them. In fact, I remember being confused when my hesher cousin told me they’d broken up. Like, “What do you mean? Does that mean they’re never going to make any more albums? Like, ever?”) I think their music holds up as well today as that of any other band of their era. (Indeed, “Double Life” became a personal theme song / rallying cry for me when I rediscovered it during a rough period much later in life.)

Admittedly, I have heard they could be somewhat duff live. My aforementioned cousin saw them in a big stadium on the “Heartbeat City” tour, and said it was the worst show he’d ever seen. When pressed on how that could even be possible, he said they played unenthusiastically, at warp speed, for what seemed like 30 minutes or so, then vacated the stage and didn’t return for an encore. (Sounds like he could have been describing what FM tonybalzee experienced.) But even if I’d experienced that myself, I think it’d scarcely flutter the needle on the crapometer.

Ganz nicht kacke.