Cars sell out?stertayFebruary 20 2007, 05:39:53 UTC
OK, a 1978 fan checks in. I don't know, maybe there's somebody who would be upset by the Cars shilling for Burger King. But really, they were a Top 40, hit-making machine. Yes, Ric Ocasek was (and is) cool, but it was a hip, ironic-hipster kind of cool. The kind that allows you to make pop singles and hold on to indie cred (barely) at the same time.
I've tried to think of a modern figure who has some of the same feel. Maybe Gwen Stefani. Or anybody who has some indie cred but also makes hit records.
Anyway, if Patti Smith or the Gang of Four start licensing their early material to Burger King, I'll be heart-broken. But the Cars? Nah.
Normally, I don't care too much about genre labels, but as you'll see I did in this case. Others may dispute my "power pop" label, of course. But I'm pretty confident in my own mind that The Cars is not "post-punk" - or rather, it's only post-punk in the sense that, say, Rumours is post-punk, i.e. it was released after "Anarchy in the UK".
Oh and stertay is OTM on the licensing to BK point, which again struck me as a false note in your piece. In fact, to the extent that The Cars looked back to the 50s as portrayed in the movie American Graffiti for many of their pop influences, it seems only natural to me to associate them with hamburgers.
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I've tried to think of a modern figure who has some of the same feel. Maybe Gwen Stefani. Or anybody who has some indie cred but also makes hit records.
Anyway, if Patti Smith or the Gang of Four start licensing their early material to Burger King, I'll be heart-broken. But the Cars? Nah.
Reply
http://jeff-worrell.livejournal.com/19075.html
Normally, I don't care too much about genre labels, but as you'll see I did in this case. Others may dispute my "power pop" label, of course. But I'm pretty confident in my own mind that The Cars is not "post-punk" - or rather, it's only post-punk in the sense that, say, Rumours is post-punk, i.e. it was released after "Anarchy in the UK".
Oh and stertay is OTM on the licensing to BK point, which again struck me as a false note in your piece. In fact, to the extent that The Cars looked back to the 50s as portrayed in the movie American Graffiti for many of their pop influences, it seems only natural to me to associate them with hamburgers.
Reply
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