On that evening, Greg Hawkes, performed as a member of Todd Rundgren's touring band as a keyboardist, but of course, my history with Hawkes' overall sound was during his tenure as a primary member of The Cars. As he approached me, slowly yet with purpose, I decided to take my chance to simply speak to the man and offer my gratitude for a lifetime's worth of beloved, treasured music.
"Excuse me," I began. "I don't wish to take up your time but I just wanted to tell you that your sound has been in my life ever since I was nine years old, when the first Cars' album came out. I loved that sound so very much and I want you to know that you have been with me ever since. Thank you."
Hawkes then thanked me in return with a warmth that I had not expected. We shook hands and I went upon my way that night, amazed that for a brief moment, I made a connection with a rock and roll hero. And as I think about that experience right now as I write, I furthermore acknowledge without hyperbole and with complete reverence that the sound I fell in love with at age nine, the musical universe of The Cars, would never have existed if not for
Ric Ocasek.
It surprised, shocked and saddened me tremendously to read the news on the evening of Sunday, September 15th, that Ric Ocasek, singer, songwriter, rhythm guitarist, producer, solo artist and frontman for The Cars, had passed away as his body was found in his Manhattan home. News reports shortly thereafter the initial announcement revealed that he had died in his sleep from cardiac arrest, and as he was recovering from a recent surgical procedure. He was 75 years old.
If there was anything beyond the news itself that upended me, it was the revelation of his age. I guess I never knew how old Ric Ocasek was, especially since his appearance, which suggested something akin to a bespectacled praying mantis, seemed to be ageless, as if he existed outside of time itself. And in many ways, that feeling is apt to me now as it also described the music he created.
For me, the music of The Cars, and therefore, the entirety of Ric Ocasek's body of work, is one that is precisely a product of the times in which it was all created and simultaneously, all of it is timeless. Yes, we could easily categorize The Cars as being part of the "New Wave" era but beyond that description, it is easy to hear Ocasek's music as capturing and combining classic 1950's rock and roll merged alongside 1970's power pop and hard rock, plus healthy dashes of prog and art rock. With Ocasek's songwriting, the past and present merged brilliantly and beautifully, detailing a newfound NOW that truly existed firmly inside of the musical universe he was building. Ric Ocasek was
Chuck Berry and
David Bowie and something completely new and unique altogether, there fore making the music itself feel alien and accessible, warmly familiar while also being audaciously innovative.
I remember when The Cars were first unveiled or at least, I remember the time when I first heard them. As previously stated, in 1978, I was nine years old and already a music obsessive already purchasing albums with allowance money and having my ears glued to the radio, most notably Chicago's
WLS-AM. It was on that very station where I initially heard The Cars and I was swept away.
"Just What I Needed," "Good Times Roll," and
"My Best Friend's Girl" rapidly solidified themselves within the soundtrack of the lives of myself and my friends in 4th grade and soon, I was heading into JR'S Music Shop, located inside of the Evergreen Plaza shopping mall (both now and long defunct) to make my purchase of the band's debut album, which I was soon to love from top to bottom.
Working superbly alongside his perfectly chosen bandmates,
Elliot Easton (guitars/vocals), David Robinson (drums/vocals), the aforementioned
Greg Hawkes (keyboards/sax/vocals) and
the late Benjamin Orr (lead vocals, bass guitar), Ric Ocasek created a wealth of music that surrounded me and followed me through my Lower and Middle school years as closely as a cherished friend.
And I do not think it would be a stretch to suggest that this music followed you in precisely the exact same way.
Just think of these songs!!! In addition to the first three I referenced earlier, we have
"Moving In Stereo," "Don't Cha Stop," "Bye Bye Love," "You're All I've Got Tonight," "Let's Go," "Double Life,""It's All I Can Do," "Dangerous Type," "Candy-O," "Touch And Go," "Panorama,""Don't Tell Me No," "A Dream Away," "Shake It Up," "Since You're Gone"...do I really need to keep going with this list?
All of these and so, so much more all contained within those first four albums, which easily rubbed shoulder to shoulder with their contemporaries on AM pop and AOR FM radio and to think, Ric Ocasek was the mastermind of them ALL! It is staggering to me to try and wrap my consciousness about this man's artistic abilities, and again the deceptive ease at which he was able to forge these priceless, and now, eternal connection with listeners of a variety of stripes, background and personal tastes.
Yet, by 1984, when I was 15 years old, Ric Ocasek, with The Cars, burst through his own self-made glass ceiling with an absolute masterpiece.
For me, The Cars' fifth album,
"Heartbeat City" (released March 13, 1984), is anthemic. Taking everything accomplished from those brilliant first four albums and then, extending their reach into something so definitive, emotionally complex and delivered with a superlative sonic sheen that only
enhanced Ocasek's songwriting, the album became somewhat of a mission statement for me.
Very much like
The Police's "Synchronicity" (released June 17, 1983), The Cars' "Heartbeat City" spoke to the masses without losing an iota of its sophistication. It was the album of the entire Spring and Summer of 1984--that is before my head was blown apart by
Prince and the Revolution's "Purple Rain" (released June 25, 1984), itself a towering, iconic work of accessibility, innovation, sophistication and artistic triumph. (What was in the water that year??)
Yes, on "Heartbeat City" we had those pop song smashes in
"Hello Again" and
"You Might Think," but in its entirety, the album was a turbulent, moody, enveloping, atmospheric escapade into a world of dark romance, implied eroticism, emphatic longing, emotional restlessness and all seemingly designed to be best listened to deep in the nightime hours.
The haunting ballad
"Drive," so elegantly sung by Benjamin Orr, and further augmented by a stark, dramatic music video
directed by Timothy Hutton and co-starring
Paulina Porizkova and Ocasek (who would later share a 28 year marriage), firmly cemented that album for me with its soul deep synthetic wash with waves of keyboards and slow, electronic drums providing that song's pulsating lament.
And through it all, I have Ric Ocasek to eternally thank for his creation that so often soothed my lonely teenage heart at just exactly the right time I needed to hear it. And as I listen to it now, over three decades later, I remain amazed with the work's emotional pull, especially once the album reaches its astonishing final track, that album's title song, as the mystery of Jacki combined with those hypnotizing synthesizers sends me into another realm and when Ocasek sings, when the song fades into the cosmos,
"Heartbeat City...it's my life..."
Indeed...and full disclosure, I wore that album OUT...so much so, I had to return to JR's Music Shop in Evergreen Plaza and purchase another copy.
For as much as I deeply loved "Heartbeat City," I truly felt that Ric Ocasek outdid himself two years later when he arrived with his second solo album entitled
"This Side Of Paradise" (released September 15, 1986). While members of The Cars appeared throughout the album, here was Ocasek's musical vision even more unfiltered, singular and possessing an even greater emotional
and romantic reach. While possibly designed to being even more of a nocturnal album, I again wore the work OUT as my cassette tape lived inside of my Walkman as well as my family's stereo system.
The swoon of
"Emotion In Motion" and
"True Love" combined with the gleaming pop of
"True To You," the art funk of
"P.F.J.," and the
metallic, creeping doom of the sledgehammering
"Coming For You" starring
guitarist Steve Stevens' six string fireworks which often sounded like a video game in overdrive, were already more than enough to keep my synesthesia dazzled. But to have those songs surrounded by the gorgeously lush and richly, propulsive rhythms of
"Hello Darkness," "Mystery," "Look In Your Eyes," the stunning eight minute finale title track and the album's opener,
"Keep On Laughin'" made the album another definitive, anthemic release but one that also contained a newfound sense of lyrical and sonic poetry that ensured the work sounded like no other album released before or since.
Ric Ocasek's "This Side Of Paradise" was unquestionably one of the finest albums released during my high school years. It was an album that ranked near the top of my personal favorites as it also became a treasured friend to me, a musical work that understood my heart, especially when it was confused, wanting, misunderstood or when it was breaking.
This album was
always there to catch my fall.
It never really occurred to me until now but Ric Ocasek was an artist very much cut from a similar cloth as
Tom Petty, who passed away nearly two years ago, as Ocasek seemed to posses that same, inexplicable ability to harbor an uncommonly high level of songcraft.
Or perhaps, and also like Petty, it was seemingly effortless, when I would think it absolutely certain that Ric Ocasek went to the woodshed for his songs, working them over and again until they were absolutely bulletproof as well as able to withstand the competition of their peers plus the test of time. From grade school to all the way into my 20's, Ric Ocasek's music remained firmly with me...and you know, as I reminisce further, and while it is always about the work and the diligence, there is the fact that Ric Ocasek possessed an honest gift, one that set him apart from just anyone who ever wishes to write even one good song. He had decades of great songs.
Admittedly, I did lose track of Ocasek once I graduated from college and long expanded my own musical horizons. While my love for his music never waned, I did not keep up with his solo releases and as for The Cars, they had long since broken up. Yet, it was due to the activities of representatives from my own generation, who at last were of the age and ability to begin making albums where Ric Ocasek and I found each other again.
Ric Ocasek's work as a Producer led me to the musical world of
Weezer, as Ocasek produced their first and third albums. But it was
Billy Corgan of
The Smashing Pumpkins, a visionary singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and self-admitted lifelong fan of Ocasek and The Cars, who re-confirmed what generations of music fans already knew but perhaps had possibly taken for granted.
With a guitar silver sheen that reflected the alternative music era of the 1990's, Ric Ocasek's
"Troublizing" (released September 9, 1997), certainly showcased precisely how perfectly this artist could insert himself into essentially any musical era. It was a loud, swaggering album. One that showcased my generation's reverence for Ocasek while also displaying Ocasek's continued relevance and vitality.
