SEPTEMBERalealealeatieleelleanzetellaleallehhelllelel 1979 133 030 The Cars: East Coast Surfin' Music by Toby Goldstein ...9 M i 1 14":,1j .... ;; .... l v . Still speeding: Ric Ocasek, Greg Hawkes, Dave Robinson, Ben Orr, Elliot Easton < < just go out like I'm normal." insists band would be the ones to crack AM ra- We didn't write any I Ric Ocasek. the Cars' towering., dio's resistance to New Wave rock & roll. reedy writer and mastermind. "I was sur- clearing the field for such others as the clone songs." prised by the Grammy nomination [for Police and Joe Jackson. And certainly no Best New Group]. I was surprised about one would have guessed that they would all the polls we won. Six months ago I do so via a basement demo tape of Oca- could walk down the street unnoticed. and sek's Just What 1 Needed. It was when that today. on the way over here. I had to sign tape became a top request item on two of four autographs. Yeah. I guess that's a Boston's FM stations that Elektra records change. but I can't say I mind it too much." got smart and signed the Cars. Prior to No one, least of all the Cars, expected that time. Ocasek supported himself by their eponymous first album. released in playing the bar circuit with Cars bassist May 1978, to cling tenaciously to the and friend of eight years. Ben Orr. Key- charts for over a year and sell more than 2 boardist / saxophonist /arranger Greg million copies. No one would have pre- Hawkes. of Martin Mull's Fabulous Furni dicted that this obscure Boston -based ture fame. had been working on experi- Circle 8 on Page 125 .