In the late 70s and early 80s, The Cars enjoyed a string of US charting albums as they rode the wave of early synth-pop success.
They arrived at their name in 1976 after a few years of experimenting with names and line-ups. Having spent the winter of '76 honing their skills and setlist, they soon scored their first record contract and their debut album, The Cars, was released in 1977. Helped by singles including "My Best Friend's Girl", the album went platinum by the end of the year. They followed this with a Top 5 success, Candy-O, in 1979.
Their third album Panorama was more experimental but less well received, although they got back on track with the new wave sounds of Shake It Up which featured the Top 10 hit single of the same name. The band took a break in 1982 to pursue solo projects but got back together to release Heartbreak City in 1984. The album took the band back to the heights, helped by the video for "You Might Think" which was a success on the newly launched MTV channel, winning the award for Video of the Year.
Another single from the album was destined to be memorable for less obvious reasons. 1985 was the year that the era's biggest bands got together to play at the Live Aid events. As a televised event, the performances were punctuated by videos, one of which was a montage of images of hungry and destitute children shown to the accompaniment of The Cars track "Drive". The juxtaposition of the ballad with the bleak imagery provided those who saw it with a powerful and enduring memory.
After another break for solo projects, The Cars reunited for what was to be their last album. Door to Door was released in 1987 to commercial success, if not critical recognition,0 and the band finally announced their break-up in 1988.
In 2005 Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton took to the road with Todd Rundgren; performing as The New Cars, the group revisited material by The Cars and by Rundgren.
