Day After Day #205: Cars

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4). 

Cars (1979)

The late '70s are so long ago now that it seems like nobody remembers them anymore. It was a pretty cool time if you were 12 years old. There was a lot going on in the music world. The old arena rock bands were still around, but there were also some cool sounds emerging from the underground. 

I was just a kid in the Toronto 'burbs listening to AM radio at the time, so I wasn't aware of everything happening, but artists like the B-52s, the Clash, Joe Jackson and Blondie were breaking through and I was digging all of them. Another one who blew up in late '79/early '80 was Gary Numan. He had spent a few years as the frontman for Tubeway Army, which started as a punk band and then dove into a synthesizer-drenched new wave sound. The group had a hit with "Are Friends Electric?" (which went to #1 in the U.K. in 1979); "Down in the Park" didn't chart but has become a fan favorite.

In mid-'79, Numan started recording his next album and added a new backing band. He did a John Peel session and opted to debut four new songs and drop the Tubeway Army name. For The Pleasure Principle, Numan decided not to have any guitars on the album, opting for a completely electronic and robotic sound, exploring how technology would change society. 

The first single, "Cars," was released in the U.K. in August 1979 and went to #1; the single was released in North America in February 1980 and went to #9 in the U.S. and #1 in Canada, where I was living. It was everywhere on the radio and it was so different from anything else out at the time. 

There's not a whole lot in terms of lyrics, but Numan sings it like an android and musically, it sounds like it was dropped in from outer space. The lyrics were inspired by a road rage incident, Numan said in an interview. "I was in traffic in London and had a problem with some people in front. They tried to beat me up and get me out of the car. I locked the doors and eventually drove up on the pavement and got away from them. It's kind of to do with that. It explains how you can feel safe inside a car in the modern world...When you're in it, your whole mentality is different...It's like your own little personal empire with four wheels on it."

He also said he wrote the whole song in 30 minutes, starting with the bass riff.

"Here in my car/I feel safest of all/I can lock all my doors/It's the only way to live in cars/Here in my car/I can only receive/I can listen to you/It keeps me stable for days in cars."

At the time, the song was looked at as a novelty, especially on this side of the Atlantic. Much like the song "Pop Muzik" by M, which was also a big hit around that time; the U.S. equivalent might have been Devo. But like that band, Numan had a lot more to offer, both before and after "Cars" came out. 

"Here in my car/Where the image breaks down/Will you visit me, please/If I open my door in cars?/Here in my car/I know I've started to think/About leaving tonight/Although nothing seems right in cars."

The video was also a hit, although this was a full year before MTV would launch. There was a local show in Toronto called The New Music that would regularly air videos and I saw "Cars" there, as well as "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads, "Lucky Number" by Lene Lovich, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" by the Police and many more. 

I never checked out The Pleasure Principle at the time, but I did many years later (like the mid-2000s) and man, it is so good. Numan never had another hit in the U.S. after "Cars," but he's been successful in the U.K. over the years. He went in a more industrial direction in the '90s, inspired by Nine Inch Nails, who were originally inspired by him. Numan is still recording (he's released 19 solo albums) and touring and has definitely become a revered figure in the alternative music world.