The Long Wait Has Finally Come to an End, or “Just What I Needed”

So, the day that I have waited to happen for 15 years and actively campaigned to happen for about 10 years is finally here – The Cars are about to take their rightful place alongside rock’s and popular music’s greats in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It is an injustice that bothered me for a long time.

The Cars have the credentials that should have made them, if not a first-ballot inductee, a band that should have been inducted within the first few years of eligibility. There are obvious biases against certain types of music, whether that is connected to Rock Hall overseer Jann Wenner or others. However, there appears to be some loosening of those biases, signified by The Cars and The Moody Blues getting in this year and the Electric Light Orchestra getting in last year.

That said, there is an obvious bias against new wave music – the genre that was popular from the late 1970s to mid 1980 – and the style of music I like best. By my count, including The Cars, which may be the band most associated with new wave music, there are now five new wave bands inducted into the R&RHoF: The Cars, Blondie, The Police, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, and the Talking Heads. Five! Now, I know that there are many new wave bands and singers that were one-hit wonders – maybe more so than any other genre save the British Invasion, but there are more than five that deserve a Hall of Fame nod. Just off the top of my head, some of the names that come to mind include Duran Duran, The Go-Gos, Devo, The Bangles, Robert Palmer, Eurythmics, Culture Club, Tears for Fears, and Billy Idol. In fact, I think my next focus is to get Duran Duran Hall-worthy, but that’s for another post.

I came kind of late to The Cars, probably around the time that “Panorama” was released in 1980. My foray into rock music was more mainstream, listening to acts like Foreigner (should be in the Hall of Fame), Styx (should be in the Hall of Fame), Bob Seger, ELO (finally in last year) and Cheap Trick (finally in two years ago). But, after moving to Texas, I got in with a group listening to punk and new wave. Punk was a little much for me, although I now number groups like The Clash and the Ramones as bands I can listen to and enjoy, with even an occasional song from the Dead Kennedys and Gang of Four hitting the playlist.

However, once I hear The Cars, I was hooked. I immediately bought cassettes (remember those?) of “The Cars,” “Candy-O,” and “Panorama” the same day and was hooked. I eventually bought the albums as well, which was the first band that I duplicated media of. Counting the “Move Like This” tour in 2011, I got to see them three times: the “Shake It Up” tour in 1982 (from the second row) at The Summit in Houston, in 1984 for the “Heartbeat City” tour, also at The Summit, and at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. in 2011.

I was supposed to see them for the “Door to Door” tour in 1987 but couldn’t get off work. A friend of mine said I might regret it because you might never get to see them again. As far as the entire band, he was right because they broke up the next year and never got back together until 2011. In the interim, bassist and co-lead singer Ben Orr passed away from pancreatic cancer in 200 at the age of 53. I enjoyed seeing them in D.C., but without Orr, it wasn’t the same.

I never could figure out why The Cars never got consideration for entrance to the Hall of Fame until the past three years. They had the album sales (more than 18 million in the United States alone) and a number of top 100 singles – 18 to be exact – but never hit No. 1. “Drive” was their biggest chart-topper, hitting No. 3 and “Shake It Up” at No. 4. In addition, The Cars were one of the premier bands when it came to the new thing that became popular in the 1980s: the music video. In fact, the video for “You Might Think” won the first MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year, besting such videos as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and The Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” Videos for “Drive,” “Shake It Up,” “Hello Again,” and “Magic” are often listed among the best videos made during the early years of MTV.

On top of that, there are many bands and artists that list The Cars as major influences. Just off the top of my head, I can think of Weezer, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Strokes, and The Killers. In fact, Weezer’s bassist Scott Shriner is filling in on the bass when The Cars play their set at the induction ceremony, and Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of The Killers, is handling induction duties for The Cars. Numerous bands have covered songs by The Cars, both on record and in concert. All things that point to an induction that should have taken place years ago.

Budgetary concerns, time constraints, and life in general are precluding me from attending the ceremony tonight, but I will be there in spirit when Ric Ocasek, Elliott Easton, Greg Hawkes, David Robinson and Ben Orr take their rightful place in the Hall of Fame and waiting with baited breath when the ceremonies are broadcast on HBO in May.

Let’s Go! Let the Good Times Roll!