Re: (TV) The cars?

["Michael Olcsvary" <olcsvary@icehouse.net>]

At the risk of making an ass of myself (again) and boring people with
stories of the good old days (again)...
I definitely saw and heard similarities between the two bands - sparseness,
the Roy Thomas Baker production notwithstanding (check out the first album
demos); simplicity (not a lot of m7b5 chords in either band's repertoire); a
certain ambiguity in the lyrics (seeing couples singing along to "You're All
I've Got Tonight" was unbelievably amusing), yada yada.  Were the Cars the
equal of Television?  I don't think so, but they had their own thing going,
and "unconventional" vocals or no, they sold like hotcakes.  I remember Ric
once said in an interview that you had to want the money and fame, because
if you were sucessful in rock'n'roll, you GOT money and fame.  And there's
the difference - Television didn't seem to be overly concerned with mass
appeal, though I'm sure they would have loved it if they got it.  The Cars
were.  And to me, shuttling between the NYC area and Boston in the
mid-to-late 70s as I did, the CBGB bands, the Rat scene, the stuff coming
out of Cleveland - it was all of a piece, as if one morning a number of
people, in a number of cities, woke up to "Peaceful Easy Feeling" and
decided they couldn't take it anymore.
I also want to point out that the Cars were incredibly supportive of the
scene they came from - a lot of bands, in and out of Boston, got their first
real break from the Cars - either opening for them, being produced by them,
or recording at their studio for ridiculously low rates.  Which has nothing
to do with music, but it's nice to know they were keeping it real, back in
the day.  I'll get me coat...
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