[Hello Again] -- The Cars released five albums, one album per year, from 1978 to 1982. Then, following their 1982 tour, the band took a break to pursue solo projects. But they reunited in the middle of 1983, moved to London, and spent six months in the studio with Jeff "Mutt" Lange. Those six months turned out to be time well spent; they resulted in The Cars's most successful album: Heartbeat City, released 40 years ago this week (on March 13, 1984).
Heartbeat City yielded five Top 40 singles, two of which peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. The album itself peaked at #3 on the US Billboard 200 and #1 on the US Rock Albums (Billboard) charts. Not only that, its 1984 year-end chart performance placed it at #12 on the Billboard 200.
The two top ten tracks were the energetic "You Might Think" and the ballad "Drive." The rather magical "Magic" peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and its music video, shot at the Hilton family house in Beverly Hills, features a number of outlandish characters and seemingly "magical" feats. One of those feats was Ric Ocasik walking on water (er, across the swimming pool). "Hello Again," which peaked at #20, was notable for its music video exploring the topics of sex and violence ... and for cameos by the co-director, Andy Warhol. The moody yet quirky "Why Can't I Have You" was this album's lowest charting single, but that might have been due more to the strength of other songs released around the same time: Madonna, Chicago, Foreigner and others were kind of ruling the charts for the bulk of January 1985, so much so that it took a few weeks for "Why Can't I Have You" to finally break into the the top 100 at #79.
Even the non-single tracks are great. For example, check out "It's Not the Night," "I Refuse," and "Stranger Eyes" (and probably in that order). Actually, it might be best if you just listen to the whole album and enjoy it for the pop masterpiece it is.
Flashback: Heartbeat City (March 13, 1984)
And that's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.
I'll see you in seven!
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