The Cars “Heartbeat City” 1984. Today, March 23rd, is the birthday of Cars frontman Ric Ocasek (b. 1949). Honestly I’m not a big Cars fan but I’ve grown a bit nostalgically-fond of them over the years, mostly due to their omnipresence during the early/mid-80′s when I was glued to MTV. “You Might Think” (#7 on Billboard) and “Magic” (#12) in particular were fun and, for the times, innovative videos. I really didn’t like “Drive” (#3) and still don’t – too depressing – but the video is notable as it features model Paulina Porizkova who Ocasek would later marry, giving hope to awkward-looking men everywhere. “Hello Again” is pretty good and the video was directed by Andy Warhol, who makes a cameo appearance as a bartender.

Heartbeat City is The Cars fifth studio album and it reached #3 on the US charts, #25 in the UK. Most music critics place The Cars in the new wave category but I’ve always had a hard time with this description, despite the sleek and prominent use of synths typical to the new wave label. To me The Cars are fairly straight-forward 80′s rock-n-roll. For evidence, I’ll just cite the fact that the track “Stranger Eyes” was used in the trailer for Top Gun (though it did not make it on to the movie’s soundtrack).