{"id":2054508,"date":"2025-09-27T18:45:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T18:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2054508"},"modified":"2025-09-27T18:45:56","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T18:45:56","slug":"nobody-is-painted-any-worse-than-they-actually-were-new-book-tells-the-true-story-of-the-cars-pop-and-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/nobody-is-painted-any-worse-than-they-actually-were-new-book-tells-the-true-story-of-the-cars-pop-and-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Nobody is painted any worse than they actually were\u2019: new book tells the true story of the Cars | Pop and rock"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I<\/span>n 1984, at the peak of the Cars\u2019 power as a hit-making band, drummer David Robinson was the one who always made the greatest effort to meet and greet their fans. In several telling encounters, however, things went quickly south after it became clear many of those fans didn\u2019t have the slightest idea who he was. \u201cWhat makes you think I\u2019m not in the band?\u201d he would ask them, with increasing frustration. \u201cIf you\u2019re in the Cars, then why aren\u2019t you in the videos?\u201d they\u2019d say.<\/p>\n

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Even ardent followers of the Cars could be forgiven for not noticing that he actually was. In the clip for their 1984 smash single Magic, for instance, Robinson, as well as most of the other band members, appear for just 30 seconds, squeezed into a small corner of the screen. In the video for the Cars\u2019 biggest hit, the worldwide smash Drive, Robinson and most of the others, only appear towards the end \u2013 as lifeless mannequins. Meanwhile, in the Magic clip the camera dotes on leader Ric Ocasek obsessively, while in Drive, Ocasek gets a whole backstory despite the fact that bassist\/vocalist Ben Orr is the guy who actually sings the song.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Cars, Ric always had to be the one out front, calling the shots,\u201d said Bill Janovitz, who has written the first authoritative book on the band, aptly titled Let the Stories Be Told. \u201cOne reason I wrote the book was so people could understand everything the other guys did to make the Cars the great band that it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the process, Janovitz not only revealed the imbalanced dynamics that mar many major bands, but also the troubling mix of fear and insecurity that defined Ocasek\u2019s darker side. Janovitz did so with the full cooperation of the surviving three members, including guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and Robinson who, besides playing drums, also designed much of the band\u2019s visual presentation. Janovitz never had the chance to speak to the two members who have died, one under tragic circumstances, the other under a cloud of bitterness. Orr, the group\u2019s sex symbol and most flexible singer, died of pancreatic cancer at 53 in 2000. Ocasek, who wrote and sang the vast majority of the band\u2019s songs, died in 2019 at 75 from heart-related issues. The latter\u2019s death made tabloid headlines when it came to light that he had cut out of his will some of his children as well as his famous wife, the model Paulina Porizkova. Though the division of funds in Ocasek\u2019s will was actually a bit more nuanced than that, the last-minute changes he made to his estate had a vindictive edge that left a rancid taste in the mouths of some key survivors.<\/p>\n

In his book, Janovitz worked hard to balance the brilliance of the band\u2019s music with the issues that sparked rancor in their ranks. Easton and Robinson think he achieved that. \u201cThere are some rough parts to it,\u201d Easton admitted, \u201cbut I think he told a true story.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>The Cars at the US festival in 1982.<\/span> Photograph: Photo by Elaine Hawkes, courtesy of Greg Hawkes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just say that nobody is painted any worse they actually were,\u201d Robinson said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

The most positive legacy of the band is the music itself. During their imperial years, between 1978 and 84, the Cars sold nearly 25m albums in the US alone, driven by eight top 20 hits, including top five smashes like Shake It Up and Drive. Their debut single, My Best Friend\u2019s Girl, broke the British top five with a fresh and clever style that presaged what would become a signature electro-pop sound of the 80s. To Janovitz, \u201cit was a sound that seemed both old and new at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key parts of the older aspects came from Easton\u2019s guitar. \u201cI added a lot of the rock\u2019n\u2019roll elements,\u201d Easton said. \u201cEvery song had a hook, a little solo break and an interesting intro and outro.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, the Cars\u2019 records drew on the arty drones of the Velvet Underground and the sinister sputter of the art-synth band Suicide. Other parts of the Cars\u2019 music had an incredibly specific influence \u2013 namely, the mid-section breakdown in Roxy Music\u2019s debut single from 1971, Virginia Plain. Even so, they updated it with their own quirky hooks and the unique sheen of Roy Thomas Baker\u2019s production. \u201cRoy didn\u2019t mess with the music or add parts to the songs,\u201d Easton said. \u201cHe was more into the sonics, which made us sound great in the studio and gave us that massive background vocal sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janovitz provides forensic detail on the construction of those songs, but he\u2019s just as thorough in covering the personal demons the members faced, especially their controlling, self-involved and secretive leader. Many of Ocasek\u2019s issues can be traced to his troubled childhood in Cleveland. His mother was an alcoholic, and his father would beat him. A gawky kid, he was also taunted and often excluded by his peers. \u201cRic himself often said in interviews that he needed to be in such control because he was bullied not only by his parents but by other kids,\u201d Janovitz said. \u201cIn every band he was in, you see him taking control as opposed to letting things happen with the other members.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA large component of Ric\u2019s personality was insecurity,\u201d Easton said. \u201cIt was like he believed someone was trying to take something from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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