My Story of the Cars in Concert 1979

Their audience - concertgoers of the time.

 

Funny you mention that. Last night I watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High and it had a very naughty scene featuring Moving In Stereo.

 

It had that 'underwater' stoned sound - as illustrated somewhat in the movie.

 

I never saw them, but I moved to Boston in the Fall of 1977 (also saw one of the Elvis shows sbeaupre did) and started going to clubs and meeting people. When the Cars LP came out, I asked my friend who had been there for a few years "Hey, if this is a Boston band, how come they've never played anywhere around town, like the Rat?" He said "They tried, and everybody laughed at them and their stupid little coordinated suits". But the Boston club scene was oriented more towards loud, fast and energetic than the Cars were. They found their level.

 

I had two friends that saw them on the Panorama tour, one said, "They were great, it sounded just like the records!", the other said "They sucked, it was just like listening to the record!". Also, it was the first show I remember hearing that the baseball jersey, $17.00, was more expensive than the pavilion ticket,$15.00.

 

I think you just summed up the Steve Hoffman Forum.

 

I believe Fresca sponsored one of their tours before it was recalled due to massive reports of nausea.

 

Recalling some posts about the Knack here, it's interesting that Doug Fieger said pretty much the same thing about his own band: that before they were signed they had been playing My Sharona and Good Girls Don't in bars for quite a while and no one seemed to be very impressed; then they broke big time and he mused that they were the very same band that they had been.

 

Ric and Elliot talk about that in this segment of the Musikladen interview. Turns out that what was stolen in the bag was a notebook of songs, not demos. Either way it sucks. It reminds me of the story of when, right before Band on the Run was to be recorded, McCartney had a container with all his Band on the Run demos stolen at knifepoint, had no other copies of it and had to try to remember all the songs when he got into the studio.

 

They were ahead of their time with the red/black theme and coordinated suits (which White Stripes helped themselves to), and Robinson was responsible for much of their visual style (even though Elektra rejected the album cover he made for the first album). I thought they worked that angle quite nicely.

 

The problem with their live show isn't that they stand around, it's the sludgy corporate rock bass and drums that strip the electro fun from the records off and make it sound ordinary.

 

So The White Stripes took a page from The Cars?

 

White Stripes' visual theme is (or was, as they are defunct) red and black (white was also allowed), in their clothing and all of their album covers. The Cars, via Robinson's urging, onstage wore only red and black (and white) during their early days and tended to keep that color scheme going even through their mid period. Their album covers, however, were exempt from this rule.

 

Audrey sure had chutzpah and it paid off in spades. That would make an incredible Youtube video.

 

Apologies in advance for hijacking this Cars convo with Elvis Costello content, but in the spirit late 70s, short sets, here's a gem.

 

No way. The Cure is amazing live!

 

The first 3 albums were pure and for me, the corporate rock didn't start until they started programming everything including all the drums (Heartbeat City). They still had good songs, but they were ruined in the production and those albums haven't aged well, they sound dated with that awful '80s drum sound.

 

I saw them in 1978 with Cheap Trick opening. This was years before MTV, and they only had their debut released, so I didn't know what to expect. Cheap Trick hadn't broken yet--they had top 40 albums but no multi-platinum blockbusters like Budokan as of yet. They came out and busted their a$$es--you came away knowing it was only a matter of time before they were huge. They reminded me of The Who. What a study in contrast when the Cars came on.

 

Now that's the performance from the Cars I expected to see. I'm glad to know they had it in them even if it only came out infrequently.

 

I also saw The Cars in 1979. I wasn't the biggest fan, but I was receptive to being converted. They sucked.

 

I'm surprised they even had the nerve to follow Cheap Trick, circa '78.

 

Costello's Imperial Bedroom tour is amazing. Best Elvis shows since the 80's.

 

I think you misread that post.

 

I think one has to take into account that those big concrete block hockey/basketball monoliths of the 70s/80s/90s as venues were uniformly horrible as concert venues; isolated the band from the audience, usually had poor sound, and compounded by the fact that a high percentage of the audience would be zooted out of their minds well before entering the building.

Or, as some like to say, the good old days.