New Wave Outpost Forum

This is something that has been bothering me for a while....
Back in '79 when "CARS" was new, it seemed to me, that "most" people familiar with the song ( at least that I interacted with at the time), "at that time" understood/knew that it was a homage or even "parody" (a-la "Wierd Al") of the sound of/to the "The Cars" (Rick Ocasek's cars!).
At that time there was virtually No other group being played on the radio the even remotely had the sound of The Cars.
.. Along comes Gary N's "Cars", (good song), with a sound that seemed to be exactly as if you put "Moving in Stereo & other Cars tracks thru a meat grinder, & he's singing "Cars", & it could have been a track on a Cars Album of the time!
Now, it seems no one "remembers" this anymore.
Like Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" - When that album 1st came out lots of people thougt it was a 4 seasons re-make, & Billy even went on many talk shows saying how he wanted to make a "Frankie Valli & the 4 seasons" song when comming up with it .... ( I would really love to see Frankie Valli actually do "uptown Girl" on a PBS special.. .."She Makes up her mi- i= ind>.."!!)
.. Today, just as with "CARS", many people just recognize it as a "Billy Joel" song, & don't "see" (hear) or remember the similarity anymore....
Does AnyOne remember back in '79 "CARS" the way I described???

No one around here (Minneapolis) made that connection. I for one really dislike The Cars (Rick Ocasek's band) and am a huge Gary Numan fan. I never put the two together. It's like saying that every country song written about a woman cheating on her man

Based on some MP3's I've seen out there, apparently it *was* The Cars that recorded "Cars".

I remember the references made as well at the time, but I remeber seeing Gary on Doug Kershners Rock Concert and new immediately that Gary was his own person. People used to think Billy Thorpe "Children of the Sun" was a type of contempory Christian Rock

I was very familiar with both acts back then and NEVER even made the connection. I really believe Numan was just doing his own thing, and was not making any commentary on the Cars - - they both just happened to use synths, exist in the same timeframe and

Numan's "Cars" a tribute to The Cars? Hillarious! Numan himself when asked on the influence of arguably his most popular track says it was simply about his love for his car, and being able to lock himself inside it away from the cares of the world. He's e