I am absolutely devastated by the death of Ric Ocasek. Gutted. Just so, so gutted.
The Cars debut album was one my parents had and since I was 2-3 years of age (I'm 43 now), has been played to death. Only a couple of months ago, I bought all their remastered CDs again. Not only that, he was a solo artist and a producer of a fantastic batch of albums and songs for bands like Motion City Soundtrack, Nada Surf, Weezer and Guided By Voices. My wife nearly shot me when I plumped $150 for an unopened mint CD of Beatitude, then left muso collecting friends aghast as I proceeded to open it and listen to it.
I'm actually crying. Real hot lump in the throat, snot salt tears of sadness as I try and warble along to You Might Think, Good Times Roll and Since You're Gone.
Ric Ocasek made everything cool. Guys like him wouldn't make it in pop now as he doesn't look like a pop star. But boy, could he play guitar.
This is one of my absolute fave Cars tracks...it is a typically quirky, bent pop song that has so many awesome elements that I can just leave it on repeat and sing along to it all day long.
RIP Ric Ocasek. Thanks for forty years of pop-tacular memories.