I hope this isn’t one of those “comes in threes” deals.
The first two Cars albums are just so, so good. I try to imagine what those records must have sounded like in 1978 and 79 when they were new and everyone else was still listening to the Eagles and the fever era Bee Gees. Those were 80s records before there were the 80s.
I reckon The Cars recognised how revolutionary FM radio would be and moulded their sound to best exploit the new medium. Ocasek had an ear for it.
Side note: Shake It Up was popular at my school because you’d go up to someone, grab their nipple whilst saying shake it up and the aim was to get them to say “Ooo Oooo” in time with the song.
Their sound was definitely ahead of the times, it was a breath of fresh air. That first album was one of the all time great debut efforts.
I was there in the late 70s when those first two Cars albums came out of left field. They were very clever, highly commercial without being cloying, polished and just a little bit quirky which kept your interest. Then they released Panorama which was seemingly an album in which Ric tried to wrestle back the creative mantle and spotlight from the photogenic and popular Ben Orr. But he overdid the avante garde and lost a large chunk of their following in one fell swoop. They clawed some of that back in subsequent releases but they never reached the dizzy heights of those first two albums.
I’m listening to them now in my local on the Bluetooth, giving dissertations on their greatness.
Mixed results. But I don’t care.
I’m surprised Ric lasted so long. He always looked more thrashed than Keef Richards. RIP Ric.
Won’t be known to everyone but gained popularity later in his life for the work he did within the horror genre.
Sad news. Not sure about the accident part? Rob Zombie posted a tribute to him but mentioned that he’d been unwell for some time?
Handsome chap.
Jacques Chirac, former president of France.
Who remembers the billboard protesting against French nuclear tests in the Pacific? A scantily clad model wearing only the French flag with ‘Up Yours, Chirac’?
I met him, many years ago. I almost didn’t make a train trip from Geneva to Paris as I was wearing that billboard motif on a t-shirt and the train guard wanted to kick me off as a result. This lovely French bloke came to my defence and said that it was free speech. I was hassled the whole way by the train conductors but I got there.
He kept a mistress in Japan.
Really? Now that’s interesting. He was definitely a smooth talker and certainly had a presence about him. Was she a local girl?
Made 40 odd private & official visits here during two decades. No idea if there is any truth to the illegitimate child rumour, but his love of Japanese women is quite well known.
He was Prime Minister during the Rainbow Warrior affair - praised the French officers.
A great French military victory.
And the perpetrators were punished mercilessly…2 years in Club Med somewhere in the South Pacific.
I would as well if was influential and/or good looking.
Except he wasn’t.
Mitterrand was the President at the time of Rainbow Warrior, Fabius was PM
Rainbow Warrior affair stretched over several years
well, the important bit, when it happened. Chirac wasn’t anywhere near it.
After the fact, well there’s always the french face saving, I’ll grant you that.