Misplaced Pages

#154845

84-407: "Good Times Roll" was released as the third single from the album in 1979, charting at number 41 in the United States. It has since received positive critical reception and has appeared on many of the Cars' compilation albums. Written and sung by Cars lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek , "Good Times Roll" was released as the third single from the band's debut album. Ocasek wrote the song as

168-670: A cameo role as a beatnik painter in the John Waters film Hairspray (1988), and had a small part in the movie Made in Heaven (1987) in which he played a mechanic . Ocasek stated in a 2005 interview in Rockline that he hated touring and was unlikely to do so again. He also stated he would not be reuniting with the Cars again, but gave the okay to his former bandmates to do so, with Todd Rundgren replacing him on vocals, using

252-501: A heavy metal and rock-dominated format. In a December 1982 Gallup poll , 14% of teenagers rated new wave as their favorite type of music, making it the third-most-popular genre. New wave had its greatest popularity on the West Coast. Unlike other genres, race was not a factor in the popularity of new wave music, according to the poll. Urban contemporary radio stations were the first to play dance-oriented new wave bands such as

336-465: A book of poetry in 1993 titled Negative Theatre . It was at one time expected to be incorporated into an album and multimedia incarnation of the same name, but those plans were dropped abruptly. For many years Ocasek had a hobby of making drawings, photo collages, and mixed-media art works which, in 2009, were shown at a gallery in Columbus, Ohio, as an exhibition called "Teahead Scraps". Ocasek had

420-813: A career in music. Ocasek met future Cars bassist Benjamin Orr in Cleveland in 1965 after Ocasek saw Orr performing with his band the Grasshoppers on the Big 5 Show , a local musical variety program. He reconnected with Orr a few years later in Columbus, Ohio , and the two began performing in and booking bands together. They formed a band called ID Nirvana in 1968 and performed in and around Ohio State University . After performing in various bands in Columbus and Ann Arbor, Michigan , Ocasek and Orr relocated to Boston in

504-870: A distinctive visual style in music videos and fashion. According to Simon Reynolds , new wave music had a twitchy, agitated feel. New wave musicians often played choppy rhythm guitars with fast tempos; keyboards, and stop-start song structures and melodies are common. Reynolds noted new-wave vocalists sound high-pitched, geeky, and suburban. As new wave originated in Britain, many of the first new wave artists were British. These bands became popular in America, in part, because of channels like MTV, which would play British new wave music videos because most American hit records did not have music videos to play. British videos, according to head of S-Curve Records and music producer Steve Greenberg , "were easy to come by since they'd been

588-413: A new pop group. That's all." According to Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy, authors of Popular Music Genres: an Introduction , the "height of popularity for new wave" coincided with the election of Margaret Thatcher in spring 1979. In the early 1980s, new wave gradually lost its associations with punk in popular perception among some Americans. Writing in 1989, music critic Bill Flanagan said; "Bit by bit

672-483: A sarcastic commentary on the good times in rock music, saying, "That was my song about what the good times in rock 'n' roll really mean, instead of what they're supposed to be. It was kind of a parody of good times, really. It was kinda like not about good times at all." "Good Times Roll," like the rest of the album, was produced by Roy Thomas Baker , who was responsible for the recording's layered harmonies. Ocasek recalled, "I just remember when we did 'Good Times Roll' in

756-718: A six-year-old Richard T Otcasek was living in Baltimore, Maryland, with his parents. New wave music New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop -oriented styles from the 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture ". It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock . Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many contemporary popular music styles, including synth-pop , alternative dance and post-punk . The main new wave movement coincided with late 1970s punk and continued into

840-468: A staple of UK pop music TV programs like Top of the Pops since the mid-70s." This rise in technology made the visual style of new wave musicians important for their success. A nervous, nerdy persona was a common characteristic of new wave fans, and acts such as Talking Heads , Devo , and Elvis Costello . This took the forms of robotic dancing, jittery high-pitched vocals, and clothing fashions that hid

924-670: A stigma—especially in the United States—that made the music virtually unmarketable. At the same time, a number of bands, such as the Cars , the Police and Elvis Costello and the Attractions , soon emerged who combined the energy and rebellious attitude of punk with a more accessible and sophisticated radio-friendly sound. These groups were lumped together and marketed exclusively under the label of new wave. As early as 1973, critics including Nick Kent and Dave Marsh were using

SECTION 10

#1732775305155

1008-694: Is a singer who formed the rock group Glamour Camp , which released one album in 1989, and appeared as a solo artist on the soundtrack to the film Pretty Woman (1990). His other children include Adam (b. 1970), Eron (b. 1973), Derek (b. 1981), Jonathan Raven (b. 1993), and Oliver (b. 1998). Ocasek was found dead on September 15, 2019, by his estranged wife, Paulina Porizkova, at his New York City townhouse, which they still shared following their separation in 2017. He had been recovering from surgery. The Chief Medical Examiner office reported that Ocasek died from natural causes. He suffered from both hypertensive heart and coronary artery disease . Ocasek

1092-518: Is buried at Nine Partners Cemetery in Millbrook, New York . Porizkova and Ocasek were still in the process of their divorce at the time of his death, but he had disinherited her in a new will, alleging that before his recent surgery she had abandoned him. This required a surrogate court judge rule on the veracity of the abandonment claims before the remaining estate could be divided. He also disinherited two of his six sons (Chris and Adam). In 2021,

1176-533: The New Romantic movement. In 1981, Rolling Stone contrasted the movement with the previous new wave era, writing that "the natty Anglo-dandies of Japan ", having been "reviled in the New Wave era", seemed "made to order for the age of the clothes-conscious New Romantic bands." MTV continued its heavy rotation of videos by "post-New Wave pop" acts "with a British orientation" until 1987, when it changed to

1260-501: The New York City Board of Elections did not routinely verify—also listed a March 23, 1949, birth date. According to The New York Times , Ocasek never corrected his age and birth year in later interviews or press releases, but a preponderance of other government records and his self-acknowledged 1963 high school graduation date indicate that he was born in 1944. Additionally, the 1950 United States census indicates that

1344-614: The music press as a "reaction against the opulence/corpulence of nouveau rich New Pop" and "part of the move back to guitar-driven music after the keyboard washes of the New Romantics". In the aftermath of grunge , the British music press launched a campaign to promote the new wave of new wave that involved overtly punk and new-wave-influenced acts such as Elastica , but it was eclipsed by Britpop , which took influences from both 1960s rock and 1970s punk and new wave. During

1428-545: The 1960s mod influences of the Jam . Paul Weller , who called new wave "the pop music of the Seventies", explained to Chas de Whalley in 1977: It's just pop music and that's why I like it. It's all about hooks and guitar riffs. That's what the new wave is all about. It's not heavy and negative like all that Iggy and New York stuff. The new wave is today's pop music for today's kids, it's as simple as that. And you can count

1512-439: The 1970s, Ocasek became the principal songwriter of the band, and wrote nearly all of the Cars' material, sharing credit on only a few songs with bandmate Greg Hawkes as co-writer. In 2010, Ocasek reunited with the surviving original members of the Cars to record their first album in 24 years. The album, entitled Move Like This , was released on May 10, 2011. Not long after the album's release and its supporting tour , however,

1596-528: The 1980s, rejecting potentially more lucrative careers from signing to a major label. In the UK, new wave "survived through the post-punk years, but after the turn of the decade found itself overwhelmed by the more outrageous style of the New Romantics." In response, many British indie bands adopted "the kind of jangling guitar work that had typified New Wave music", with the arrival of the Smiths characterised by

1680-513: The 1980s, said in a 2011 interview that by the time of British new pop acts' popularity on MTV, "New Wave had already been over by then. New wave was not synth music; it wasn't even this sort of funny-haircut music. It was the guy in the Boomtown Rats wearing pajamas." Similarly in Britain, journalists and music critics largely abandoned the term "new wave" with the rise of synth-pop. According to authors Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy, "After

1764-422: The 2000s, a number of acts that exploited a diversity of new wave and post-punk influences emerged. These acts were sometimes labeled "New New Wave". According to British music journalist Chris Nickson , Scottish band Franz Ferdinand revived both Britpop and the music of the late 1970s "with their New Wave influenced sound". AllMusic notes the emergence of these acts "led journalists and music fans to talk about

SECTION 20

#1732775305155

1848-616: The B-52's , Culture Club , Duran Duran, and ABC . New wave soundtracks were used in mainstream Brat Pack films such as Sixteen Candles , Pretty in Pink , and The Breakfast Club , as well as in the low-budget hit Valley Girl . John Hughes , the director of several of these films, was enthralled with British new wave music, and placed songs from acts such as the Psychedelic Furs , Simple Minds , Orchestral Manoeuvres in

1932-421: The Cars really couldn`t do. Weirder songs. More poetic." The Cars disbanded in 1988, and Ocasek disappeared from the public eye for a couple of years. He resurfaced in 1990 with his own album, Fireball Zone . One track, "Rockaway", enjoyed a brief stay on the charts, but his solo albums realized disappointing sales, especially compared to his success with the Cars. He subsequently released other solo works during

2016-817: The Cars resumed their hiatus, and reunited once again in April 2018 for a performance at the ceremony of their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . During his time with the Cars, Ocasek developed a reputation as a producer, and took this role for many up-and-coming bands of differing genres including Bad Brains ' Rock for Light and Guided by Voices ' Do the Collapse . His other production credits include Weezer 's Blue Album and Green Album (both multi-platinum), Suicide , Romeo Void , Hole , Bebe Buell , No Doubt , Nada Surf , American folk -punk band Black 47 , Bad Religion , Johnny Bravo, D Generation ,

2100-635: The Dark , and Echo and the Bunnymen in his films, helping to keep new wave in the mainstream. Several of these songs remain standards of the era. Critics described the MTV acts of the period as shallow or vapid. Homophobic slurs were used to describe some of the new wave musicians. Despite the criticism, the danceable quality of the music and the quirky fashion sense associated with new wave musicians appealed to audiences. Peter Ivers , who started his career in

2184-448: The Jam as "British New Wave at its most quintessential and successful", remarked that the band broke up "just as British pop was being overrun by the preposterous leisurewear and over-budgeted videos of Culture Club, Duran Duran and ABC, all of which were anathema to the puritanical Weller ." Scholar Russ Bestley noted that while punk, new wave, and post-punk songs had featured on the Top of

2268-548: The Modern Lovers debuted even earlier. CBGB owner Hilly Kristal , referring to the first show by Television at his club in March 1974, said; "I think of that as the beginning of new wave". Many musicians who would have originally been classified as punk were also termed new wave. A 1977 Phonogram Records compilation album of the same name ( New Wave ) includes American bands Dead Boys , Ramones , Talking Heads , and

2352-433: The Modern Lovers , became the drummer. Hawkes returned to play keyboards and the band became " the Cars " in late 1976. Ocasek was a founding member of the Cars, recording numerous hit songs from 1978 to 1988. He played rhythm guitar and sang lead vocals for a majority of songs (bassist Benjamin Orr was lead vocalist on the remaining tracks). Ocasek was the oldest member of the band. After splitting writing duty with Orr in

2436-533: The Police, and the Cars charted during this period. " My Sharona ", a single from the Knack , was Billboard magazine's number-one single of 1979; its success, combined with new wave albums being much cheaper to produce during the music industry's worst slump in decades, prompted record companies to sign new wave groups. At the end of 1979, Dave Marsh wrote in Time that the Knack's success confirmed rather than began

2520-496: The Pops album series between mid-1977 and early 1982, by the time of the first Now That's What I Call Music! compilation in 1983 punk and new wave was "largely dead and buried as a commercial force". New wave was closely tied to punk, and came and went more quickly in the UK and Western Europe than in the US. At the time punk began, it was a major phenomenon in the UK and a minor one in the US. When new wave acts started being noticed in

2604-631: The Runaways . Between 1976 and 1977, the terms "new wave" and "punk" were used somewhat interchangeably. Music historian Vernon Joynson said new wave emerged in the UK in late 1976, when many bands began disassociating themselves from punk. That year, the term gained currency when it appeared in UK punk fanzines such as Sniffin' Glue , and music weeklies such as Melody Maker and New Musical Express . In November 1976, Caroline Coon used Malcolm McLaren's term "new wave" to designate music by bands that were not exactly punk but were related to

Good Times Roll - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-405: The UK. In early 1978, XTC released the single " This Is Pop " as a direct response to tags such as "new wave". Songwriter Andy Partridge later stated of bands such as themselves who were given those labels; "Let's be honest about this. This is pop, what we're playing ... don't try to give it any fancy new names, or any words that you've made up, because it's blatantly just pop music. We were

2772-454: The US, the term "punk" meant little to mainstream audiences, and it was common for rock clubs and discos to play British dance mixes and videos between live sets by American guitar acts. Illustrating the varied meanings of "new wave" in the UK and the US, Collins recalled how growing up in the 1970s he considered the Photos , who released one album in 1980 before splitting up a year later, as

2856-620: The Wannadies , Possum Dixon , Martin Rev , Jonathan Richman , and the 2006 album by the Pink Spiders titled Teenage Graffiti . He also produced a portion of the third Motion City Soundtrack album, Even If It Kills Me . In 2014, Ocasek produced Everything Will Be Alright in the End , the ninth studio album by Weezer and his third collaboration with the band, and For All My Sisters ,

2940-403: The acts on which reflected a wide variety of stylistic influences. New wave's legacy remained in the large influx of acts from the UK, and acts that were popular in rock discos, as well as the chart's name, which reflects the way new wave was marketed as "modern". According to Steve Graves, new wave's indie spirit was crucial to the development of college rock and grunge / alternative rock in

3024-450: The band broke up. The two reconciled prior to Orr's death in 2000. Their friendship was commemorated in the song " Silver ", which Ocasek wrote in memory of Orr. Ocasek was married three times. His first wife Constance divorced him in Ohio in 1971. In the same year he married Suzanne Otcasek, who uses the original spelling of Ocasek's name. They were married for 17 years. During filming of

3108-428: The bands that do it well and are going to last on one hand. The Pistols , The Damned , The Clash , The Ramones – and The Jam. Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself artistic philosophy, the musicians were more influenced by the light strains of 1960s pop while opposed to mainstream "corporate" rock , which they considered creatively stagnant, and the generally abrasive and political bents of punk rock. In

3192-464: The body such as suits and big glasses. This seemed radical to audiences accustomed to post-counterculture genres such as disco dancing and macho " cock rock " that emphasized a "hang loose" philosophy, open sexuality, and sexual bravado. New wave may be seen as an attempt to reconcile "the energy and rebellious attitude of punk" with traditional forms of pop songwriting, as seen in the rockabilly riffs and classic craftsmanship of Elvis Costello and

3276-529: The contrast between "the American audience's lack of interest in New Wave music" compared to critics, with a "stunning two-thirds of the Top 30 acts" in the 1978 Pazz & Jop poll falling into the "New Wave-to-rock 'n' roll revivalist spectrum". A month later, the same columnist called Elvis Costello the "Best Shot of the New Wave" in America, speculating that "If New Wave is to take hold here, it will be through

3360-524: The decade, including 1993's Quick Change World , 1996's Getchertiktz (a collaboration with Suicide 's Alan Vega and Canadian poet Gillian McCain comprising only Beat poetry set to music, sound effects, etc.), and 1997's Billy Corgan -produced Troublizing (which Ocasek supported with a very brief tour, his first since leaving the Cars). In 2005, Ocasek released another album, Nexterday , to little fanfare, but it received positive reviews. Ocasek wrote

3444-407: The dispute between Ocasek's estate and Porizkova was settled; Porizkova said she was granted a third of his estate, commenting "They gave me what is mine under New York state law, and we're done." Porizkova would not tell Vanity Fair the precise terms of the settlement, but said that the estate was not worth $ 5 million as was widely reported soon after Ocasek's death. Upon Ocasek's death, his age

Good Times Roll - Misplaced Pages Continue

3528-556: The early 1970s. There they formed a Crosby, Stills and Nash -style folk rock band called Milkwood. They released one album, How's the Weather , on Paramount Records in early 1973 but it failed to chart. Future Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes played on Milkwood's album. After Milkwood, Ocasek formed the group Richard and the Rabbits, which included Orr and Hawkes. Ocasek and Orr also performed as an acoustic duo during this period. Some of

3612-698: The early 1980s, particularly in the United States, notable new wave acts embraced a crossover of pop and rock music with African and African-American styles. Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow , both acts with ties to former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren , used Burundi -style drumming. Talking Heads' album Remain in Light was marketed and positively reviewed as a breakthrough melding of new wave and African styles, although drummer Chris Frantz said he found out about this supposed African influence after

3696-436: The early 1980s. The common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, angular guitar riffs, jerky rhythms, the use of electronics, and a distinctive visual style in fashion. In the early 1980s, virtually every new pop and rock act – and particularly those that employed synthesizers – were tagged as "new wave" in the United States. Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself philosophy,

3780-403: The efforts of those furthest from the punk center" due to "inevitable" American middle class resistance to the "jarring rawness of New Wave and its working-class angst." Starting in late 1978 and continuing into 1979, acts associated with punk and acts that mixed punk with other genres began to make chart appearances and receive airplay on rock stations and rock discos. Blondie , Talking Heads,

3864-513: The entire New Wave." Lee Ferguson, a consultant to KWST , said in an interview Los Angeles radio stations were banning disc jockeys from using the term and noted; "Most of the people who call music new wave are the ones looking for a way not to play it". Second albums by new wave musicians who had successful debut albums, along with newly signed musicians, failed to sell and stations pulled most new wave programming, such as Devo's socially critical but widely misunderstood song " Whip It ". In 1981,

3948-469: The fact. As the decade continued, new wave elements would be adopted by African-American musicians such as Grace Jones , Janet Jackson , and Prince , who in particular used new wave influences to lay the groundwork for the Minneapolis sound . The Velvet Underground have also been heralded for their influence on new wave, post-punk and alternative rock . Roxy Music were also influential to

4032-513: The genre as well as the works of David Bowie , Iggy Pop and Brian Eno . The term "new wave" is regarded as so loose and wide-ranging as to be "virtually meaningless", according to the New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock . It originated as a catch-all for the music that emerged after punk rock , including punk itself, in Britain. Scholar Theo Cateforis said that the term was used to commercialize punk groups in

4116-420: The growing nostalgia for several new-wave-influenced musicians. New wave music encompassed a wide variety of styles that shared a quirky, lighthearted, and humorous tone that were popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. New wave includes several pop -oriented styles from this time period. Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and

4200-432: The last traces of Punk were drained from New Wave, as New Wave went from meaning Talking Heads to meaning the Cars to Squeeze to Duran Duran to, finally, Wham! ". Among many critics, however, new wave remained tied to the punk/new wave period of the late 1970s. Writing in 1990, the "Dean of American Rock Critics" Robert Christgau , who gave punk and new wave bands major coverage in his column for The Village Voice in

4284-411: The late 1960s, went on to become the host for the television program New Wave Theatre that showcased rising acts in the underground new wave scene. He has been described by NTS Radio as "a virtuosic songwriter and musician whose antics bridged not just 60s counterculture and New Wave music but also film, theater, and music television." In September 1988, Billboard launched its Modern Rock chart,

SECTION 50

#1732775305155

4368-408: The late 1970s, defined "new wave" as "a polite term devised to reassure people who were scared by punk, it enjoyed a two- or three-year run but was falling from favor as the '80s began." Lester Bangs , another critical promoter of punk and new wave in the 1970s, when asked if new wave was "still going on" in 1982, stated that "The only trouble with New Wave is that nobody followed up on it ... But it

4452-462: The latter half of the 1980s and onward. Conversely, according to Robert Christgau , "in America, the original New Wave was a blip commercially, barely touching the nascent alt-rock counterculture of the '80s." In the US, new wave continued into the mid-1980s but declined with the popularity of the New Romantic , new pop , and new music genres. Some new wave acts, particularly R.E.M. , maintained new wave's indie label orientation through most of

4536-510: The listener hard in all its new wave rock and roll glory." The song was also ranked among the band and Ric Ocasek's best by the New York Times , Esquire , and Inquisitr . Billboard felt that the "moody sound" provided a "nice cynical twist" on the good time lyrics. Ric Ocasek Richard Theodore Otcasek (March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019), known as Ric Ocasek ( / oʊ ˈ k æ s ɪ k / oh- CASS -ik ),

4620-579: The lyric "Let them brush your rock 'n' roll hair"; when asked if the line was a throwaway, Ocasek replied, "Not in my opinion. It's like 'let them do whatever they want to do. ' " The song was released as the third and final single from The Cars in February 1979, backed with " All Mixed Up ". It reached number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, performing slightly worse than its predecessors " Just What I Needed " and " My Best Friend's Girl ". Of

4704-499: The media: Punk rock or new wave bands overwhelmingly expressed their dissatisfaction with the prevailing rock trends of the day. They viewed bombastic progressive rock groups like Emerson Lake and Palmer and Pink Floyd with disdain, and instead channeled their energies into a more stripped back sound… The media, however, portrayed punk groups like the Sex Pistols and their fans as violent and unruly, and eventually punk acquired

4788-401: The monochrome blacks and greys of punk/new wave, synth-pop was promoted by a youth media interested in people who wanted to be pop stars, such as Boy George and Adam Ant ". In 2005, Andrew Collins of The Guardian offered the breakup of the Jam , and the formation of Duran Duran, as two possible dates marking the "death" of new wave. British rock critic Adam Sweeting , who described

4872-500: The most "truly definitive new wave band". In the same article, reviewing the American book This Ain't No Disco: New Wave Album Covers , Collins noted that the book's inclusion of such artists as Big Country , Roxy Music, Wham!, and Bronski Beat "strikes an Englishman as patently ridiculous", but that the term means "all things to all cultural commentators." By the 2000s, critical consensus favored "new wave" to be an umbrella term that encompasses power pop , synth-pop, ska revival , and

4956-458: The music video for the Cars' song " Drive " in 1984, Ocasek met 19-year-old Czech-born supermodel Paulina Porizkova , while he was still married to Suzanne. Ocasek and Suzanne divorced in 1988. He and Porizkova were married on August 23, 1989 on Saint-Barthélemy island. In May 2018, Porizkova announced she and Ocasek had separated a year earlier. Ocasek had six sons, two from each of his three marriages. His eldest son, Christopher (b. 1964),

5040-411: The musicians were more influenced by the styles of the 1950s along with the lighter strains of 1960s pop and were opposed to the generally abrasive, political bents of punk rock, as well as what was considered to be creatively stagnant " corporate rock ". New wave commercially peaked from the late 1970s into the early 1980s with numerous major musicians and an abundance of one-hit wonders . MTV , which

5124-628: The name the New Cars . On April 17, 2006, Ocasek appeared on The Colbert Report and volunteered to put Todd Rundgren "on notice". He appeared again on the July 26, 2006, episode to cheers from the audience as he volunteered to lead a commando mission to "rescue" Stephen Jr., the baby eagle at the San Francisco Zoo named after Stephen Colbert . He also appeared again on April 18, 2007, in order to support his wife during her appearance on

SECTION 60

#1732775305155

5208-608: The new wave circuit acts happening very big [in the US]. As a movement, we don't expect it to have much influence." A year earlier, Bart Mills of The Washington Post asked "Is England's New Wave All Washed Up?", writing that "The New Wave joined the Establishment, buying a few hits at the price of its anarchism. Not a single punk band broke through big in America, and in Britain John Travolta sold more albums than

5292-442: The new wave movement's commercial rise, which had been signaled in 1978 by hits for the Cars and Talking Heads. In 1980, there were brief forays into new wave-style music by non-new wave artists Billy Joel ( Glass Houses ), Donna Summer ( The Wanderer ), and Linda Ronstadt ( Mad Love ). Early in 1980, influential radio consultant Lee Abrams wrote a memo saying with a few exceptions, "we're not going to be seeing many of

5376-590: The nine tracks on The Cars , "Good Times Roll" was the only song for which no demo recording could be found during the compilation of the 1999 The Cars: Deluxe Edition package. Instead, a live version of "Good Times Roll" is included alongside demo versions of the other eight tracks. "Good Times Roll" has been featured on several Cars anthologies, including 1985's Greatest Hits , 1995's Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology , and 2002's Complete Greatest Hits . "Good Times Roll" has generally received positive reviews from critics. Greg Prato of AllMusic described

5460-558: The punk-music scene. The mid-1970s British pub rock scene was the source of many of the most-commercially-successful new wave acts, such as Ian Dury , Nick Lowe , Eddie and the Hot Rods , and Dr. Feelgood . In the US, Sire Records chairman Seymour Stein , believing the term "punk" would mean poor sales for Sire's acts who had frequently played the New York club CBGB , launched a "Don't Call It Punk" campaign designed to replace

5544-412: The punk/new wave movement. Acts associated with the movement received little or no radio airplay, or music industry support. Small scenes developed in major cities. Continuing into the next year, public support remained limited to select elements of the artistic, bohemian, and intellectual population as arena rock and disco dominated the charts. In early 1979, Eve Zibart of The Washington Post noted

5628-572: The show, after remarks that she found Colbert "extremely attractive". He has been mentioned many times in other episodes as well. The Cars, with Ocasek, appeared on The Colbert Report on August 9, 2011, to promote their new album, Move Like This . In 2012, Ocasek released Lyrics and Prose , a complete collection of lyrics from his solo and Cars' albums. The book also contains prose and poetry never set to music, as well as previously unpublished photographs and artwork. Ocasek and Cars co-founder Benjamin Orr were close friends who became estranged when

5712-553: The sixth album by the Cribs , which was the final album he produced. Ocasek released his first solo album in January 1983, Beatitude , which features a more minimal and sparse interpretation of the Cars' new wave rock sound. On some tracks Ocasek played all of the instruments. Greg Hawkes also played on the album, as did Fuzzbee Morse from Richard and the Rabbits. A more synthesizer-heavy follow-up, This Side of Paradise ,

5796-523: The soft strains of punk rock. In the UK, some post-punk music developments became mainstream. According to music critic David Smay writing in 2001: Current critical thought discredits new wave as a genre, deriding it as a marketing ploy to soft-sell punk, a meaningless umbrella term covering bands too diverse to be considered alike. Powerpop, synth-pop, ska revival, art school novelties and rebranded pub rockers were all sold as "New Wave". In mid-1977, Time and Newsweek wrote favorable lead stories on

5880-432: The song one of Ocasek's "essential songs", praising the "hard-edged midtempo strut, blaring backing vocals, and Ocasek's stylized singing" in the song. Ultimate Classic Rock named the song the fifth best Cars song, calling it "one of the best side ones, track ones ever." Classic Rock History critic Brian Kachejian rated it as the Cars' 7th greatest song, stating that the "forceful driving beat and loud vocal harmonies hit

5964-517: The songs they played became the early Cars songs. Later, Ocasek and Orr teamed up with guitarist Elliot Easton in the band Cap'n Swing. Cap'n Swing soon came to the attention of WBCN disc jockey Maxanne Sartori, who began playing songs from their demo tape on her show. After Cap'n Swing was rejected by several record labels, Ocasek got rid of the bass player and drummer and decided to form a band that better fit his style of writing. Orr took over on bass and David Robinson , best known for his career with

6048-407: The start of MTV began new wave's most successful era in the US. British musicians, unlike many of their American counterparts, had learned how to use the music video early on. Several British acts on independent labels were able to outmarket and outsell American musicians on major labels, a phenomenon journalists labeled the " Second British Invasion " of "new music" , which included many artists of

6132-559: The studio in England on the first record, and we heard back the vocals. I told Roy that I thought it was way, way too much. ... But you know, it grew on me later and it sounded so smooth. It was a nice process to do it because Roy, you know, was fortunate enough to have a 40-track machine ... so he could do layering of vocals a lot." The song begins with electronic drums and a guitar riff, soon joined by Ocasek's lead vocals and synthesizers by keyboardist Greg Hawkes . The song notably features

6216-614: The term "new wave" to classify New York–based groups such as the Velvet Underground and New York Dolls . In the US, many of the first new wave groups were the not-so-punk acts associated with CBGB (e.g. Talking Heads, Mink DeVille and Blondie ), as well as the proto-punk scene in Ohio, which included Devo , the Electric Eels , Rocket from the Tombs , and Pere Ubu . Some important bands, such as Suicide and

6300-598: The term with "new wave". Because radio consultants in the US had advised their clients punk rock was a fad, they settled on the new term. Like the filmmakers of the French New Wave movement , after whom the genre was named, new wave bands such as Ramones and Talking Heads were anti-corporate and experimental. At first, most American writers used the term "new wave" exclusively in reference to British punk acts. Starting in December 1976, The New York Rocker , which

6384-410: The track as one of the "familiar hits" on The Cars and called it a highlight. Cash Box said it is "a distinctive and impressive track" with "broad chorus and staccato rhythms." The Billboard review of The Cars noted "Good Times Roll" as one of the best cuts, while Jaime Welton, author of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die , described the track as a "new wave gem". Rolling Stone named

6468-588: Was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was the primary vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and frontman for the American new wave band the Cars . In addition to his work with the Cars, Ocasek recorded seven solo albums, and his song " Emotion in Motion " was a top 20 hit in the United States in 1986. Ocasek also worked as a record producer for artists such as Motion City Soundtrack , Suicide , Bad Brains , Weezer , Nada Surf , Guided by Voices and No Doubt . In 2018, Ocasek

6552-434: Was coined to describe groups who were initially considered part of new wave but were more ambitious, serious, challenging, darker, and less pop-oriented. Some of these groups later adopted synthesizers. While punk rock wielded a major influence on the popular music scene in the UK, in the US it remained a fixture of the underground. By the end of 1977, "new wave" had replaced "punk" as the term for new underground music in

6636-688: Was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars. Ocasek was born in Baltimore on March 23, 1944. His paternal side was of Czech descent, and he grew up Catholic . When he was 16 years old, his father moved the family back to the Otcasek hometown of Cleveland , Ohio, where his father worked as a systems analyst with NASA at the Lewis Research Center . He graduated from Maple Heights High School in 1963. Ocasek briefly attended Antioch College and Bowling Green State University , but dropped out to pursue

6720-469: Was launched in 1981, heavily promoted new-wave acts, boosting the genre's popularity in the United States. In the UK, new wave faded at the beginning of the 1980s with the emergence of the New Romantic movement. In the US, new wave continued into the mid-1980s but declined with the popularity of the New Romantic, new pop , and new music genres. Since the 1990s, new wave resurged several times with

6804-487: Was really an exciting burst there for like a year, year and a half." Starting around 1983, the US music industry preferred the more generic term " new music ", which it used to categorize new movements like new pop and New Romanticism . In 1983, music journalist Parke Puterbaugh wrote that new music "does not so much describe a single style as it draws a line in time, distinguishing what came before from what has come after." Chuck Eddy , who wrote for The Village Voice in

6888-466: Was released in 1986; this featured Greg Hawkes, Elliot Easton and Benjamin Orr . A No. 15 hit single, " Emotion in Motion ", accompanied the album. In a 1986 interview with the Chicago Tribune , Ocasek said he did not write songs deliberately with the Cars in mind, and he chose to save his "moodier" material for his solo albums: "I slant my solo albums so that they have a few songs that

6972-522: Was suspicious of the term "punk", became the first American journal to enthusiastically use the term, at first for British acts and later for acts associated with the CBGB scene. The music's stripped-back style and upbeat tempos, which Stein and others viewed as a much-needed return to the energetic rush of rock and roll and 1960s rock that had dwindled in the 1970s with progressive rock and stadium spectacles, attracted them to new wave. The term "post-punk"

7056-440: Was widely misreported as 70, not 75. In a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone soon after the Cars became popular, he claimed to be 29 rather than his true age of 34, and a false birth year of 1949 was subsequently listed in artist biographies from sources including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Spotify . His New York City voter registration—which was available as public records but was based on voter-provided information that

#154845