RIP Ric Ocasek

Yeah, reading his bio, I was surprised at how old they were when they finally broke through.

Also, I really need to listen to “milkwood,” which was the CSN style band that he and Orr has and apparently Hawkes guested with.

 

Along with Tom Petty, The Cars were part of my high school soundtrack. Blasted both through my Alpine stereo with Jantzen speakers.

 

Ric O was born a year BEFORE Pete Townsend which makes all of us very old.

 

There will be a wave of these deaths. All these guys are getting old. Look at the Stones - all the years, all the excess, and the only one who has passed is Brian Jones.

There will be many more postmortem playlists, unfortunately.

 

I can think of plenty - but damn few of them are first albums. I suspect that was your point.

 

Paulina, just in case any of you youngsters don't know who we're talking about. I remember she co-starred with Tom Selleck in "Her Alibi" in which she shot him in the ass with an arrow.

 

Things, they do seem awful cold.

 

So he was, what, 35 when their debut came out?

 

Ric Ocasek was older than my mother and barely younger than my father (and I'll be 50 soon). I would have assumed he was 10 years younger than either of them -- not that he was particularly handsome or youthful looking. More that the Cars broke so much later than many of their age contemporaries.

 

On the commute home tonight, listened to Sirius Classic Rewind and they had on a Town Hall 2016 with Ocasek. Really interesting and enjoyable listen for those who might want to track it down.

 

Damn. Just... Damn.

 

So that’s why they broke up in the 1980s on top of their game. Ric was already in his 40s and ready to retire.