The Cars (1978)

I'm on the downhill side of a crazy Easter weekend, so it's time to do a little catch-up work!

There are a few albums out there that are lucky enough to have every single track played played on the radio. I can think of three offhand, all self-titled, and all debuts: Bad Company, Boston, and, of course, The Cars. I think the Cars struck at the right place at the right time. They had enough new wave sensibilities to not drown in the punk movement, but also enough rock 'n roll nostalgia to capture the hearts of the old guard.

Probably my biggest complaint about this album (and I secretly believe the band's biggest regret) is not kicking off with "Just What I Needed", which launches just about every Cars greatest hits compilation. You know what they say about hindsight though...

The band set the bar so high on this album that it was inevitable that the following albums would be somewhat underwhelming. However, they were able to convincingly reinvent themselves as an eighties band with Heartbeat City in 1984 (plus a couple hits on either side of that album) before packing it in after 1987's Door to Door. Of course, there was that reunion album...but that's another post altogether.