“I loved The Cars and followed their career from beginning to end, and I loved this book. Well written and researched, it captures the rock scene from the hippie days to new wave. It also stands as a cautionary tale about how not to run a band. All band dynamics are slippery, but I have always believed that everybody in a great band should be valued and rewarded.”
— Peter Buck, R.E.M.
In his new definitive book, New York Times bestselling author Bill Janovitz explores the musical, cultural, and commercial impact of The Cars, one of the biggest and most influential bands of the 1970s and 80s. With roots in Maryland, Ohio, New York, and New England, eventually convening in Boston, The Cars were journeymen musicians, all forming and performing in a series of bands before finding each other along with the right sound at the right time. It turned them into Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. Janovitz reveals the stories of each member of the band, and of the band as a unit, with great care and understanding. He has the cooperation of the surviving members and everyone in the orbit of the band, but he does not shy away from the significant conflicts within the group or the reasons for the band’s untimely end. The band’s unusual providence in the Boston area, with the support of Jonathan Richman, is fully explored for the first time. Each of the band’s landmark albums is chronicled and dissected in the way that only a writer and musician like Janovitz can achieve. To paraphrase the band’s own lyrics, hello again, you might think this is just what music readers needed. It’s magic. Let’s shake it up and let the good times roll.
Bill Janovitz is the New York Times bestselling author of Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time’s Journey Through Rock & Roll History, The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St., and Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell the Story of the Rolling Stones. He is a founding member of the international touring and recording band Buffalo Tom, formed in 1986 in Massachusetts. His most recent work has appeared in the Cambridge Companion series, Cambridge University Press; the Observer; Esquire.com; Rock and Roll Globe; and Post Road.
Jim Sullivan is a former Boston Globe arts and music staff writer. He is also the author of Volumes 1 and 2 of “Backstage & Beyond: 45 Years of Classic Rock Chats and Rants.”
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