When I was in grade 8 I was in my early years as a music fan, taking in as much music as I could. This experience saw me actively pursuing artists and albums of the past as I heard songs and albums on the radio. Through local stations like Q107 and CHUM-FM (when it was a good radio station) I was able to stay moderately current. One of the biggest acts to come out in the late ‘70s was The Cars. Today’s feature song is ‘My Best Friend’s Girl’. It is a small tribute to Ric Ocasek of The Cars, who passed away last Sunday at the age of 75. Ocasek had been recovering from surgery related to hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
Ric Ocasek grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. When he was 16 his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio so his father could pursue his career as a systems analyst for NASA. I bring this up because it speaks to Ocasek’s obvious natural intelligence and because it was in Cleveland that Ric Ocasek met his friend Benjamin Orr, in 1965. By 1968 the pair initiated their own act called ID Nirvana and began performing around Ohio State University in Columbus. By the early ‘70s the pair moved along to form a base in Boston. It was here that they formed a Crosby Stills and Nash style band called Milkwood. They recorded one album called How’s the Weather? but it did not chart. They were able to form a meaningful friendship with future Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes, who played on the album. After the Milkwood experiment failed, Ocasek, Orr and Hawkes formed a group called Richard and the Rabbits. Ocasek and Orr also performed as an acoustic duo in the Boston area and wrote material that would later appear as early Cars songs. During this time the Orr, Hawkes and Ocasek trio merged with a lead guitarist named Elliot Easton, a bass player and drummer and called themselves Cap ‘n Swing. This act failed to grab the attention of record labels so Ocasek fired the drummer and bassist. Ben Orr moved to bass and former Modern Lovers drummer, David Robinson took over on drums. Along with Hawkes on keyboards, The Cars were formed in late 1976. The rest became music history and The Cars were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
The Cars were part of the soundtrack to my generation. When news of Ocasek’s death filtered through the newswire the memories came pouring out. It took me and my friends back to fun times and high school memories. That is always what The Cars will represent. They emerged as an eclectic mix of rock and post new wave. They bridged the gap between both movements. They blended guitar based rock riffs with the emerging new wave keyboard/synthesizer sound. Here is a great description by music critic Robert Palmer:
“They have taken some important but disparate contemporary trends—punk minimalism, the labyrinthine synthesizer and guitar textures of art rock, the ’50s rockabilly revival and the melodious terseness of power pop—and mixed them into a personal and appealing blend.”
Robert Palmer – Rolling Stone/New York Times
Two more points I want to raise. To quote April Wine; ‘Rock and Roll is a Viscious Game’. In the late ‘80s The Cars fizzled out as an act and broke up. As a result Benjamin Orr and Ric Ocasek’s friendship dissolved. When Orr died in October of 2000 Ric Ocasek was deeply affected. He wrote this song ‘Silver’ about their friendship.
When The Cars were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in early 2018 the performed “My Best Friend’s Girl’. Here is that performance that features Scott Shriner of Weezer in Benjamin Orr’s place.
This connection between Weezer and The Cars speaks volumes to The Cars influence.
For today’s covers I wanted to take you to another interesting connection. Remember earlier in the post I mentioned that one of Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr’s early acts was ID Nirvana? Well in 1994 during Nirvana’s final performance in Munich, Germany, Nirvana pulled out this gem of a tribute. Typical of Nirvana it is raunchy and edgy, but as I said before it speaks to influence.
To close, enjoy The Hayseed Dixies version of ‘My Best Friend’s Girl’ on their album; A Hillbilly Tribute to Mountain Love. This is great stuff.
Ted Tocks Covers 
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Originally posted September 24, 2019
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