QUIRKY Rock Band’s HIT was SO FAR Ahead of its TIME, They Started the 80s in 1978!-Professor of Rock

Skinny ties and mullets… A quirky band named the Cars with two singers (Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr) who split the difference between rock and new wave and power pop. They sabotaged radio with their 1978 song that seemed to start the 80s off two years early. Just What I Need became the ultimate Singalong classic. The character in the song is a little unhinged but the chorus is so catchy and relatable it was tailor-made for ad campaigns that would follow for decades after… The story of a song that opened the floodgates for a band every social circle loved but didn’t sound like anybody else… Next on Professor of Rock.

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The late Ric Ocasek, was such an interesting cat- starting with his gangly, yet charismatic appearance, and his unusual countenance.

We’re all still reeling from his untimely death in 2019.

He had a New Wave haircut that was one of the original mullets...before the style was even called a “mullet." with his quirky and stylish shades as well Ocasek’s songwriting was just as unique as his physical appearance.

He had a quirky style that mixed 60s pop simplicity, with provocative curve balls, and a heady turn of phrase. The Ocasek eccentricity was on display right out of the chute on The Cars debut single “Just What I Needed.”

“Just What I Needed” was heavily influenced by two songs that Ocasek loved from the 60s, and those two songs couldn’t have been more different. The intro of “Just What I Needed” was actually inspired by the #1 bubble Gum hit “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” by an assemblage of studio musicians that labeled themselves The Ohio Express.

You can definitely hear the melodic similarities of the intro on the Ohio Express tune, and on the opening riff of The Cars classic.

It’s OK to compare the two. Ocasek was very honest about lifting the intro of “Yummy Yummy Yummy” because he found the song to be deliciously infectious, as did everyone else who heard it on AM radio.

The 2nd song that played a major part in the stylings of “Just What I Needed” was “Sister Ray” by the Velvet Underground- the legendary avant-garde rock quartet from New York City that was one of Ocasek’s favorite bands: “Sister Ray” closes side two of The Velvet Underground’s momentous 1968 album White Light/ White Heat.

The lyrics were written by lead singer Lou Reed. He built the song’s narrative around a story he wrote about debauchery and decay. Reed liked to refer to the “Sister Ray” character the song is named after as a “transvestite smack dealer.” Ocasek was fascinated by Lou Reed's edgy eccentricity, and borrowed Reed’s “time time” repeat and found a place for it in “Just What I Needed”

The Cars were formed in Boston in 1976 after Ocasek abandoned some earlier projects that