Five MORE Things We Didn't Know About The Cars Until We Put Together This Tribute

We'll be living up to our motto this Thursday night at Martyrs’ in Chicago: Great songs. Great stories.

Come hear the full stories...and the songs that go with them!

1. When The Cars made their debut, synthesizers were found more often in prog rock bands and jazz fusion groups. And though synth bands eventually became all the rage in the ‘80s, The Cars pre-dated them by two years.

2. When The Cars released their debut album in 1978, singer Ric Ocasek was 34 years old…which may have seemed a bit late for starting a career. He was born the same year as Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, who at age 34 was easing back on his career, and Diana Ross, who already achieved fame with The Supremes and as a solo artist.

3. The Sex Pistols teased Roy Thomas Baker about the “over-produced” records he was making for Queen, and that inspired him to work with a band that had a more minimalist sound like The Cars. Their first record was produced by Baker and sold six million copies, remaining on the Billboard album chart for over two years.

4. Oddly, for a band named The Cars, none of the members was particularly interested in automobiles. Though according to Robinson, when MotorTrend magazine interviewed him in 2018, he told them, “It's fun that I'm finally being asked about cars. Nobody's ever asked me about my car or anybody's cars, from the beginning of the band.”

5. When The Cars recorded “Shake It Up,” they weren’t sure if that’s what they should call it since there were 26 other songs already copyrighted with that title. But they went with it, and clearly it was the right decision. Out of all those songs named “Shake It Up,” which one do you remember?