When I think of the early days of MTV and the artists that were making clever/funny/innovative music videos - The Cars and Eddie Money certainly come to mind.
RIP Eddie
RIP Ric
Of course The Cars and the early days of Ministry have been well documented here. A great piece written by Mark Pothier two years ago resurfaced on the Boston Globe website last night:
Ric Ocasek was the shit.
I was actually surprised to find out how OLD he was.
I think it said 75 in his obituary.
He was one of the first rockers I remember actually learning the name of. His individual style as well as the iconic videos were both so unique and recognizable. Even at age 10 or so I remember thinking right away how cool he looked with his weird face and giant sunglasses.
And music-wise, one thing I really dug about The Cars was how general purpose they could be. That is, whether you were a punk, a metalhead, or a soccer mom, you probably didn’t mind someone putting The Cars on the stereo. Billy Idol is always my go-to artist for “crowd pleasing”, but The Cars is up on top too (along with Tom Petty, haha).
Anyway, I’m sad to see him go.
RIP RIC.