“Cars” by Gary Numan
One of the oddest No. 1 hits ever made.
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Welcome to a new edition of the Best Music of All Time newsletter!
Today’s music pick coincides with the 45th anniversary of The Pleasure Principle this month.
Genre: New Wave, Synth-Pop
Label: Beggars Banquet
Release Date: August 24, 1979
Vibe: 👽
Has there ever been a stranger-sounding global No. 1 hit than “Cars?”
I mean that in the most adoring, positive sense, too. My affection for The Pleasure Principle, the album for which this track was the lead single, and its predecessor, Replicas, knows no bounds. But, when you break it down, “Cars” is a puzzling creation. There’s no chorus to speak of, only a couple of verses and an extended instrumental break that begins around the 1:30 mark. For their part, the lyrics can easily be read as coming from the point of view of someone not of this world who, after being on Earth for a short period, is eager to leave (”Here in my car/I know I've started to think/About leaving tonight/Although nothing seems right”).
I honestly prefer this line of thinking to the song’s actual origin story, which involves a road rage incident in London. The extraterrestrial angle is just more compelling, both for the single and its parent album. From start to finish, The Pleasure Principle sounds like it comes from another planet, with Numan replacing any remaining traces of his punk rock days with robotic, futuristic synthesizer usage. By layering string arrangements played on the Polymoog over the Minimoog’s infectious bassline, he creates a stark, industrial bedrock for this famously deadpan vocal delivery. It’d be hilariously corny if it weren’t so transfixingly austere.
That delicate balance makes “Cars” such a fun creative experiment. Numan would never again rise to the heights of this record’s commercial success, but he shouldn’t be dismissed as a one-hit wonder who had little to no impact on pop music’s landscape. On the contrary, artists are still ripping off electronica concepts he helped pioneer.
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Cars will always be his hit, but as an album, Telekon will always be my fave. Still holds up decades later.
At the time I was a dedicated Bowie fan, and we all chose to despise Numan as a ripoff clone. 45 years later, I'm willing to admit that Cars is a good song.