The Cars Songs Ranked
The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, the line-up consisted of singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter Ric Ocasek, bassist and singer Benjamin Orr, lead guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes, and drummer David Robinson. The Cars were at the forefront of merging 1970s guitar-oriented rock with the new synthesizer-oriented pop that was then becoming popular and flourishing in the early 1980s. Robert Palmer, the music critic for The New York Times and Rolling Stone, described the Cars’ musical style: “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.” Here are all of The Cars songs ranked.
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20. Candy-O (Candy-O, 1979)
“Candy-O that capture the same pop highs as their debut while still sounding different in some important ways. Often described as a more democratic album, this release saw the band members reaching a consensus on the inclusion of every song.”
19. Don’t Cha Stop (The Cars, 1978)
“As with most of his best songs, Ric Ocasek slips in a little teasing, telling phrase to take the song out of the power-pop norm, I’m thinking about that line about biting your lip and just what are nuclear boots anyway. No need to answer, just go with the delicious groove here, a chorus that handclaps its way into the brain and those pulsing synth beats.”
18. It’s All I Can Do (Candy-O, 1979)
“Slightly less obvious than their earlier rifferama-laced hits, “It’s All I Can Do”, still reaches its aim of assimilation if by stealth, with another slightly out-there Ric Ocasek lyric, tension-creating guitars which just get louder as the song progresses and that love-it-or-hate-it so-80’s synth line leading the chorus.”
17. Tonight She Comes (Heartbeat City, 1984)
“The Cars always had that special elegance in new wave as you can hear perfectly on the A-Side. A song for the after hours, going out on weekend or cruising ’round with friends.”
See more: The Cars Albums Ranked
16. Hello Again (Heartbeat City, 1984)
“One of my favorites, without a doubt. This song is addicting. I could listen to it over and over. An amazing song by an amazing band. I love The Cars!
15. Since You’re Gone (Shake It Up, 1981)
“Criminally underrated. Though they have so many incredible rock ‘n’ roll songs, it’s ranking here is almost understandable. The Cars fell from grace after Panorama, but they still had their moments. This single was one of them – quite good actually. Shame nothing else on the album compared. I have a promotional copy of this single but I want the real thing. Not that the b-side is worth having, but still.
14. All Mixed Up (The Cars, 1978)
“For some reason, I generally prefer The Cars on album to the singles. Considering that a lot of the album tracks have ben released as singles, I guess they please me more when I get more at a time.”
13. Bye Bye Love (The Cars, 1978)
“Bye Bye Love” captures the exact essence of an emotion. It’s about the loss of affection, about the contempt that one can only feel for somebody that he or she has truly loved”
12. Dangerous Type (Candy-O, 1979)
“This is a great song. Pretty underrated. Sad that the cars do not get as much recognition as they should. This was my favorite cars songs and I think they were all good Was a big cars fan since the very beginning!”
11. Heartbeat City (Heartbeat City, 1984)
“Heartbeat City is a pop-rock record with a New Wave instrumental palette and a handful of power pop throwbacks. This shift is most obvious via the inclusion of a full-on pop ballad (the megahit “Drive”) and an additional pair of lovelorn ditties that are far sappier than the balladesque tracks on earlier Cars records (“Looking for Love”, “Why Can’t I Have You”).”
10. You’re All I’ve Got Tonight (The Cars, 1978)
“For some reason, I generally prefer The Cars on album to the singles. Considering that a lot of the album tracks have ben released as singles, I guess they please me more when I get more at a time.”
9. My Best Friend’s Girl (The Cars, 1978)
“This is an awesome song, it truly encapsulates exactly what The Cars are all about in one song. Everything is great, from the opening riff, to Ric’s vocals, to the backing vocals and Elliot’s solo. One of their best.”
8. Shake It Up (Shake It Up, 1981)
“A fun catchy single from the Cars which sees Ric Ocasek ditch the irony and just go pop for three and a half minutes. Everything’s playful here, the lyric, the synth backing and the guitar solo. This sounds like their answer to the new British synth-pop sound of the time, in fact the melody sounds like the Human League’s “Open Your Heart” slowed down, but with a transatlantic twist.”
7. Let’s Go (Candy-O, 1979)
“Always been my favorite…dangerous type, bye bye love and your all that I’ve got tonight are 3 others I like a lot as well. Outside of don’t cha stop, every song off of their first album was played on the radio religiously! They should be in the hall of fame.”
See more: Loverboy Albums Ranked
6. Good Times Roll (The Cars – Vanishing Point, 2015)
“The tempo is almost maddeningly draggy – I can only assume the band is mocking the whole concept of feel-good songs by keeping the tempo so measured. And then there are the lyrics – “Let them make you a clown”? “Let them brush your rock-and-roll hair”? But somehow, I still like the thing. Sorta. “
5. Magic (Heartbeat City, 1984)
“Magic is a fantastic song, it is written so well and has a fantastic blending of guitar, Ric’s vocals, and synthesizer! The effect of this song on you justifies the name of the song. Pure magic! It should be in the top 3 at least.”
4. Moving in Stereo (The Cars, 1978)
“The packaging and overall sound for the 180 gram double LP vinyl is fantastic, Ric was not fucking around when he personally remastered these songs. It’s a refreshing change from the old, worn out CD of the band’s previous greatest hits which I’ve inherited from my dad. This is highly recommended to anyone who loves this band’s singles as much as I do, however, what prevents this from being the perfect bundle is the glaring omission of Let the Good Times Roll which is probably the band’s second best song”
3. You Might Think (Heartbeat City, 1984)
“As far as ‘perfect’ pop songs go I think this beats out Just What I Needed. Sacrilegious, I know, but something about the cheese, the goofiness, and the undeniable catchiness combines in the way only the best pop songs do. It’s corny and silly as hell, but it’s corny and silly in the way pop music should always be.”
2. Drive (Heartbeat City, 1984)
“I love this band I don’t know why they are so underrated. They should be considered as one of the best bands and should be in the rock n roll hall of fame for sure. I love this band and I love all of their songs but this one is my favorite!”
1. Just What I Needed (The Cars, 1978)
“Everything about this song really WORKS. I don’t know why it seems so much better than some of their other stuff, but the overall effect is fantastic. Super catchy, and the guitar solo rocks! Never gets old, so grooving.”