Ric Ocasek & Some More New Wave & Punk Figures

The Cars were (along with Blondie) the first American New Wave group to score hits. They were founded by Ohio natives Ric Ocasek (singer, guitarist & main songwriter) and Benjamin Orr (bass & vocals) who started out as a nameless folk duo as early as 1970 before moving to Boston after a few years where they slowly expanded to include Greg Hawkes (keys & sax) and guitarist Elliot Easton as a folk rock group Milkwood. Around 1977 they added drummer David Robinson who was already fairly well known in the Boston underground scene having drummed with Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers, DMZ and The Pop. By this time the band was embracing the New Wave sounds of Blondie and Roxy Music and Robinson suggested a name change from Milkwood (a Dylan Thomas reference) to the more modern sounding The Cars.

THE CARS ~ "JUST WHAT I NEEDED";


The first album came out in 1978 and was an immediate smash with it's icy, spacey sound and tightly constructed songs. The entire album sounds like a greatest hits collection and fired off a series instant classics; "My Best Friend's Girl", "Just What I Needed", "Moving In Stereo", "Don't Ya Stop" keeping the album on the charts for the next two years. The next three albums carried on in the same vein with 1984's "Heartbeat City" being their last major hit album with hits in; "Hello Again", "You Might Think", "Magic" and the ballad "Drive". It also was the first time the Cars paid any real attention to videos in a collaboration with Andy Warhol to make some splashy videos that dominated MTV and Much Music for the next few years. This would be Warhol's last major project.

THE CARS ~ "LET'S GO";


By this time the Cars had long been considered as a mainstream band, albeit a likable one, and not associated with the underground scene and the next album 1987's "Door To Door" stiffed and that was basically it. The band broke up somewhat acrimoniously. Ocasek would have some minor solo success (as would Orr) but would be better known as a producer with notable alternative and underground bands like Suicide, Bad Brains, Romeo Void, Hole, Nada Surf, Bad Religion, Black 47, Guided by Voices, Weezer, Bebe Buell, No Doubt, Johnny Bravo, D Generation, Possum Dixon, Martin Rev and going full circle, Jonathan Richman.

Ben Orr died in 2000 and Ocasek shunned any band reunions saying he had no desire to perform live and was especially not interested in touring. The Cars did do a reunion tour without him in 2005-06 with Todd Rundgren on vocals which Ocasek at first gave legal permission for but then mocked, as did most fans. There would finally be a proper reunion (without Orr of course) in 2016 with a new album and tour. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2018 which would be their last gig. Ric Ocasek was found dead of heart disease in his New York townhouse this September 15 aged 74.

THE CARS ~ "SHAKE IT UP";



Roy Loney ~ 72 ~ Singer/guitarist with 1970's San Francisco Proto-Punk band The Flamin' Groovies and the Phantom Movers. The Flamin Groovies were one of the handful of Proto-Punk bands cited as one of the founders of the later Punk scene. Starting in San Francisco as early as 1965 as a garage band and recorded several influential near hits like "Teenage Head", "Slow Death" and "Shake Some Action" which have been covered by many punk bands while the Hamilton band Teenage Head obviously took their name from the Groovies song. Loney later left the band and formed his own band the Phantom Movers.

THE FLAMING GROOVIES ~ "SLOW DEATH";


Kim Shattuck ~ 56 ~ American singer, songwriter and guitarist with punk bands The Muffs, The Pandoras, Pixies

THE PANDORAS ~ "STOP PRETENDING";


THE MUFFS ~ "WEIRD BOY NEXT DOOR";



Frank Stumpo ~ Singer/guitarist with 1980's NY Psyche Garage band Plan 9

PLAN 9 ~ "KEEP YOUR COOL";


PLAN 9 ~ "FRUSTRATION";



Tim Gassen ~ Singer for 1980's Garage Psych band The Marshmallow Overcoat;

THE MARSHMALLOW OVERCOAT ~ "13 GHOSTS";


THE MARSHMALLOW OVERCOAT ~ "THE MUMMY";


Hans Ingemansson ~ Organist for 1980's Swedish Garage Rockers The Creeps, not to be confused wit the various other bands with the same name.


THE CREEPS ~ "DON'T GO AWAY";



Dave Riley ~ 59 ~ Bassist for Chicago Noise Bands Big Black and Alegbra Suicide, bassist and engineer for George Clinton

BIG BLACK ~ "BAD PENNY";


BIG BLACK ~ "KEROSENE";



Gilles Bertin ~ 58 ~ Singer/bassist with 1980's French punk band Camera Silens

CAMERA SILENS ~ 58 ~ "REALITE";


CAMERA SILENS ~ "POUR LA GLORIE";


Marie Fredriksson ~ 61 ~ Swedish singer-songwriter with 1980's New Wave band Strul and 1990's pop band Roxette ("Joy Ride", "Must Have Been Love")

STRUL;


ROXETTE ~ "JOYRIDE";


ROXETTE ~ "THE LOOK";


ROXETTE ~ "MUST HAVE BEEN LOVE";



Ivan Maksimović ~ 57 ~ Guitarist with Serbian bands Metro, The No Smoking Orchestra

METRO ~ "ONA JE KAO ZVER";


NO SMOKING ORCH ~ "UNZA UNZA TIME";


Alexandr Vasilyev ~ Drummer with 1980's Russian New Wave bands Center and Joanna Stingray

STINGRAY;


STINGRAY ~ "DANGER";




Daniel Johnston ~ 58 ~ American 1990's underground singer-songwriter and artist

DANIEL JOHNSON ~ "TRUE LOVE WILL FIND YOU IN THE END";


DANIEL JOHNSON & THE SWELL SEASON ~ "LIFE IN VAIN";