Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Heartbeat City!
To all my fellow Cars fans…
This upbeat album was released on March 13, 1984.
This is the cover art for the album "Heartbeat City" by the Cars.
Numerous tracks from the album received airplay on modern rock and AOR stations, with the singles "Drive" and "You Might Think" reaching the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, while the album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200. "You Might Think" won the first MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year and was nominated for five more awards (Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, Viewer's Choice, Best Concept Video and Most Experimental Video) at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. Music critic Robert Christgau noted that "the glossy approach The Cars invented has made this the best year (1984) for pure pop in damn near twenty years, and it's only fair that they should return so confidently to form."
Source: Wikipedia.org
I’ve been a fan of the Cars ever since I first saw them on MTV. Hearing their upbeat songs still make me smile. My favorites include “Good Times Roll”, “Let’s Go”, “Dangerous Type”, and “Since You’re Gone”. The Cars held a unique position at the intersection of ‘50s Rockabilly, ‘70s Punk, and ‘80s New Wave; a bridge uniting two generations. It is said that the Cars’ founding member, the late Ric Ocasek, first started playing guitar after hearing the legendary Buddy Holly; Ric’s “hiccup” vocals were also strikingly reminiscent of Buddy Holly.
Fun fact: Ric Ocasek produced Weezer’s 1994 debut album which included the hit song “Buddy Holly”. Weezer co-foudner and Buddy Holly songwriter Rivers Cuomo originally planned to exclude the song from the album; he felt it was "cheesy" and perhaps did not represent the sound he was pursuing for Weezer. Ocasek persuaded him to include it. The rest is history…
The Cars helped my late mother become better acquainted with New Wave and the Big ‘80s. She loved many of the videos that were on heavy rotation during MTV’s early years, including “Shake It Up” and “Magic” by the Cars. While my late father appreciated the band’s ‘50s undertones, one of his (and my) favorite songs of the ‘80’s was “Drive”. Hearing that song brings back many memories and takes me right back to my first year of playing soccer.