The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

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Snarfyguy
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The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby Snarfyguy » 16 Sep 2019, 03:16

I only gave a fig about The Cars inasmuch as they were a respite from much more annoying acts that were jockeying for airwave supremacy at the time (Boston, Meatloaf, et al.). I harbored them no ill will and in fact respected Ocasek as a champion of the band Suicide, producing their second album. I was even lucky enough to see a one-off three-piece Suicide show with Ric O on guitar some time in the 90s. It wasn't their strongest material, but it was a pretty interesting show.

So I just sat through 40 minutes' worth of greatest hits in a car ride and was pretty damned impressed. It's a solid body of work, even if all he did as sing the songs.

Saw him and his supermodel wife on the street once (I think NYC was their home) and was laster chagrined that I spent the whole five seconds ogling that gangly rock star when I could have been ogling his wife!

I suppose his death makes me feel sad because it makes me feel old, but I'll pour some out for Ric.
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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby Charlie O. » 16 Sep 2019, 03:44

Snarfyguy wrote:It's a solid body of work, even if all he did was sing the songs.

He was the primary writer, if I'm not mistaken. He shared lead vocal chores with the late Benjamin Orr.

Snarfyguy wrote:Saw him and his supermodel wife on the street once (I think NYC was their home) and was later chagrined that I spent the whole five seconds ogling that gangly rock star when I could have been ogling his wife!

:) Sometime in the late '90s I was walking around NYC with some friends and one of them literally bumped into Ric without noticing it was him- just said "excuse me" and continued on with us and the rest of us were telling him "that was Ric Ocasek!"

R.I.P.
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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby Snarfyguy » 16 Sep 2019, 04:37

Thanks for that clarification on the writing credits, Charlie.

As I said, a solid body of work.
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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby GoogaMooga » 16 Sep 2019, 07:41

Yes, he co-wrote with Orr. But alone for the reunion album, as Orr had passed away before that. The Cars soundtracked my high school years, but my favorite came a little later than that, I think - Heartbeat City. RIP
Last edited by GoogaMooga on 16 Sep 2019, 16:51, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby robertff » 16 Sep 2019, 08:52

A shame, the Cars' first two were excellent albums.


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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby never/ever » 16 Sep 2019, 12:13

The Cars were a good band, Ocasek definitely had a good sound in mind - like Split Enz for the American market.

Somebody wrote 'another one of my favorite icons gone. The good thing is that I grew up in a time where there were many of them.'
Totally agree.

RIP.
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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby Jimbly » 16 Sep 2019, 13:50

Let's put the song writing myth to bed. On the first 5 albums Ric wrote everything bar three cowrites with Greg Hawkes the keyboard player. Not one credit for Orr.
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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby toomanyhatz » 16 Sep 2019, 16:33

Jeemo wrote:Let's put the song writing myth to bed. On the first 5 albums Ric wrote everything bar three cowrites with Greg Hawkes the keyboard player. Not one credit for Orr.


Better singer, though.

RIP to both of them.

I know some of the people in two of the bands he produced, Black 47 and Possum Dixon - both said he was a great guy - just the right blend of rock star and low-key "fun guy to hang out with."

And if he was 75 - some reports are saying 70, though I'm guessing that was management shaving 5 years off - good for him, I say. It means he struggled to find his way and became a big star past 35. That would never happen now.

I like the first album particularly - it may have been "designed by committee" to catch all the current trends at once - but there was a certain minimalism to it that has helped it date better than a lot of other "old guys on a new wave" bands of the time.
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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby Jimbly » 16 Sep 2019, 16:39

toomanyhatz wrote:
Jeemo wrote:Let's put the song writing myth to bed. On the first 5 albums Ric wrote everything bar three cowrites with Greg Hawkes the keyboard player. Not one credit for Orr.


Better singer, though.

RIP to both of them.

I know some of the people in two of the bands he produced, Black 47 and Possum Dixon - both said he was a great guy - just the right blend of rock star and low-key "fun guy to hang out with."

And if he was 75 - some reports are saying 70, though I'm guessing that was management shaving 5 years off - good for him, I say. It means he struggled to find his way and became a bit star past 35. That would never happen now.

I like the first album particularly - it may have been "designed by committee" to catch all the current trends at once - but there was a certain minimalism to it that has helped it date better than a lot of other "old guys on a new wave" bands of the time.


I agree Orr was the better singer. I like the first album but love Candy-O. They did tail off very quickly but there was a few gems on each album.
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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby Sneelock » 16 Sep 2019, 17:17

it was easy to take them for granted because they were so damned popular. I ended up with a copy of "Candy-O" for some reason and I always enjoyed it partially because the tunes are catchy and not as over familiar as the debut.

now that I've entered my Dad Rock phase, I like them more than ever.

R.O. got big brownie points from me for the people he decided to produce - an interesting batch. more brownie points for not letting Robert Pollard drink beer while record making. This very nearly resulted in a change of fortunes Pollard might have enjoyed. on the other hand he probably would have drank it all up.

I saw R.O. and his supermodel wife once myself but on the West Coast. I worked retail in Beverly Hills, one of the sales associates at the Fancy-Schmancy Fashion Botique next door ran over frantically, dragged me by the arm and pointed him out to me. "who is that guy!! I know he's somebody"

yeah, he was somebody. R.I.P.
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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby Matt Wilson » 16 Sep 2019, 17:27

I think you guys aren't praising that first album enough, it's great. Virtually every track got radio play at the time and you couldn't say that for any post-punk or new wave album in 1978. The Cars were the only band of that nature to be accepted by the rock kids that year. Candy O is almost as good and as has been mentioned there are scattered quality cuts on all of the LPs through 1984 after that.

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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby Jimbly » 16 Sep 2019, 20:30

They didn't make the same impression over here. They were seen as hyped as their record label issued their singles as picture discs and the label got caught stocking them in chart shops only. They also never toured the UK. I think they only played a few gigs in London. Which didnt help break them beyond their single hits.
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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby Matt Wilson » 16 Sep 2019, 20:53

To be honest, I like The Cars every bit as much as Are We Not Men, We Are Devo! from the same year.

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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby Sneelock » 16 Sep 2019, 22:43

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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby pcqgod » 17 Sep 2019, 04:21

The Cars' first several albums were in regular rotation at my home during the time I was discovering "New Wave" music, and then of course their music proved to have staying power on FM (and now satellite) radio. I've gone through phases of loving them and being burned out, but it's always seemed clear to me that 'The Cars' (78) is their best album by far. People always throw around phrases like "power pop" and "minimalist" when discussing their music, but there was plenty of arena rock bombast in there, too, which probably explains why their music is still a staple of classic rock stations. I drove from Texas to Ohio a couple weeks ago and I heard "My Best Friend's Girl Friend" and/or "Just What I Needed" on pretty much every classic rock station I tuned in to on the way.
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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby ChrisB » 17 Sep 2019, 08:58

Only own the debut and haven't played it for ages. However, from what I remember, it was pretty darn good.

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Re: The Cars' Ric Ocasek Found Dead at 75

Postby ` » 17 Sep 2019, 11:17

slightbreeze wrote:Only own the debut and haven't played it for ages. However, from what I remember, it was pretty darn good.


RIP, Mr. O!

Remember that when my then brother-in-law worked in the Middle East in the early 80s he used to bring me back loads of pirate tapes. One of the ones he gave me was RO's debut solo album. While has long since gone in landfill somewhere, I remember it as being pretty good.


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