The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told

by Bill Janovitz

New York Times bestselling author Bill Janovitz delivers "the definitive story of The Cars" (Rolling Stone), one of the most popular, beloved, and influential bands to emerge from New Wave—with a foreword by Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes.
 
The Cars formed in the late 1970s as an alliance of five journeymen musicians with roots in Maryland, Ohio, New York, and New England. They had each performed in a series of bands before finding one another—along with the right sound at the right time. That sound, soon fortified by their iconic imagery, turned them into Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.
     Biographer, critic, and musician Bill Janovitz explores the musical, cultural, and commercial impact of the band with articulate and knowing insights. He draws on his own exclusive new reporting along with the enthusiastic participation of the surviving members of the band, as well as nearly everyone who surrounded them over the years. The band's unusual providence is fully explored here for the first time, and each of their landmark albums is masterfully chronicled and dissected, as is their profound support of the Boston music scene that has reverberated around the world and throughout the decades.
     Yet, with all of the success, there were also significant conflicts within the band, which led to an untimely end. Janovitz reveals the stories of each member, and of the group as a whole, with great care and understanding. To paraphrase The Car's own Hello again, you might think this is just what you needed. It's magic. Let's shake it up and let the good times roll.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography Memoir

482 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 30, 2025

Reviews

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional book about a once-exceptional band. Janovitz offers up a non-biased, warts-and-all view of an influential band.

I'd just turned 16 when the group of friends I hung out got this cassette tape that had eight—yes, eight, not nine—mind-blowing songs on it. It made the rounds of our group, each kid begging the current possessor to give it up so they could listen to it. It was like literally nothing I'd ever heard before, and I was absolutely obsessed with the songs.

You're probably asking why we didn't just go out and buy the album. I lived in a small town, and the the only place to get albums was at the local variety store that had a mostly-neglected rack of about twenty titles and had been flipped through and passed over many times (I still marvel that somehow, that store ended up with Japan's QUIET LIFE album for me to buy).

But, sick of fighting over that cassette, eventually, probably within a few months, I ended up buying the album. Imagine my surprise when I got it home, played through those eight incredible songs, only to find out "Moving in Stereo" wasn't the last song, that it sequed into the best freaking song on the album, "All Mixed Up"....

And then, a very short time later, CANDY-O came out, and the whole adoration thing just kicked up a notch.

So, this was a book I had to read, and it's a fantastic telling of the history of the Cars. Each member is given fairly equal weight, and Janovitz is masterful at tapping into the excitement of that "perfect first album".

I absolutely loved the first album, and the second was just a hair lower in my worship. The third had some great songs, but it was more like than love. The fourth album, SHAKE IT UP, was mostly a disappointment, and HEARTBEAT CITY was mostly a step back in the right direction, but I pretty much lost touch with the Cars after that.

Turns out, apparently, that the more Ric Ocasek started loving the sound of his own voice and forgetting everything that made those first couple of albums great was the time I was forgetting about them.

Ben Orr's story is tragic. Elliot Easton never got his due recognition. Dave Robinson seemed more and more sidelined as time went on. Greg Hawkes seems like an awesome guy, and a musical genius who I also believe to be undersold in the band. But Ric? Ric was a dick.

As the reader goes through this book, it can't be helped wondering, if Ric just realized the magic he had in these other four guys, and exploited it instead of demanding control and denigrating most of their talent, how great would the Cars have been then?

It doesn't help that Elliot Roberts, their manager, did the same thing to the band, siding with Ric and sidelining the rest, as he did with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. There's scenes in this book that could have been lifted from Mike Campbell's telling of his history with the Heartbreakers.

It's frustrating.

Still, fantastic, well-balanced book, and it got me back listening to those first two incredible albums again.

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a 1980s kid who happens to be well into his 50s, new wave and alternative music played an outsized role in my youth. Although most (the vast majority, to be honest) artists came from the UK, we did have a few out here from the States: The Talking Heads, The B-52s, and of course The Cars, one of the premier examples of the new wave artists arising out of punk’s ashes. Bill Janovitz, a musician himself, tells us all about Ric Ocasek and company in “The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told”, a band biography that takes us from the late 1970s until today.

Mr. Janovitz starts out with backgrounds on all five members, along with their earlier musical work, but the focus soon becomes the story of Benjamin Orr and Ric Ocasek, how these two became friends and musical partners. Through several false starts, moving into (and helping to create) the Boston scene, we see how the various bits and pieces fall together to form The Cars. We see the first album, one of the best debuts of all time, come together and take the world by surprise. As usual, with success comes the start of splinters in the group, as Ric starts to exert more control and take over the band. As more albums come forward, with varying degrees of success, the band really falls apart and starts to drift in separate directions, with Ric as the dictator of all things involving the band. The inevitable split follows, solo projects, and then the also inevitable reunion, unfortunately not in time for Benjamin Orr who passed away very young and quite suddenly. And with the death of Ric, The Cars are over (probably) for good.

The amount of detail and history in this book is really impressive, all three living band members cooperated with the author to provide their recollections and inside information. Wives, lovers, and the assorted members of the extended band family were also interviewed, providing a deeper picture, sometimes not very flattering (Ric’s earlier marriages and how he treated his children), but still a slice of the 1980s music scene. The only parts that drag were where the author, being a musician himself, gets into the intricate detail of specific songs, parts of songs, musical instruments, etc. – things that may be interesting to musicians but mean absolutely nothing to the general reading audience.

If you are a fan, this is a must read.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Grand Central Publishing - Da Capo via NetGalley. Thank you!

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the most rewarding books I have read all year. Not gonna lie, it's a lot - almost 500 pages and there is minute detail about music production and management. But if you get off on that stuff like I do, and if you love this band as much as I do, you'll be fine.

Janovitz is obsessive in his detail but it brings to light people like radio broadcaster Maxanne Sartori and her role in breaking the band. Yes, a woman - let's give some respect to the hard working females in the music trenches.

For me personally, I loved the band in spite of Ocasek - much like Sting (who was a better singer and frontman at least) he always rubbed me the wrong way and reading about how he treated his bandmates is a tough pill to swallow. It doesn't negate his impeccable songwriting ability. But he was an ass of epic proportions, to bandmates and family alike.

Everyone else comes off the way you'd think they would. Hawkes is a total gentleman and gifted musician. Robinson is fairly easygoing with a great eye for art and packaging that was one of the things that made the band, no matter how much Ric wanted to put him in a corner. Easton is truly one of the most gifted guitar players of all time, but he's extremely sensitive and gets a little butt hurt.

And then there's Ben. If I die and go to rock and roll heaven, I want Ben Orr and Karen Carpenter at the pearly gates singing me in. Truly, one of the best rock and roll singers and let's be real - not hard to look at. You will not learn that much about Ben, he was a quiet and shy soul who wrestled with alcoholism later in life - a very short life at that. While you must look at the good with the bad, these passages bring home a picture that is by turns heartbreaking and honest about his gifts.

"It's one of those things where you don't think it's in him. When you know his personality and you think, 'How did he do that?' How the fuck did he organize his thoughts and his ability and deliver that when he can barely talk? It was like he was just so natural in everything that was needed to be in rock and roll."

"He had the biggest heart in the world, and he'd do anything for anybody. People at the memorial were coming up and saying, 'My daughter had cancer and she was a big Cars fan, and she had met Ben and the next thing I knew, we had no bills."

I'll leave with this...the polka bass line and guitar solo on "Touch and Go." Perfection.

[Jim Thomsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific Warts-and-All Biography

The Cars made a lot of great music. And left a lot of bad blood on the floor, which seems inevitable when you pair a talented control-freak creative with four solid musicians, with justified egos to match. Bill Janovitz manages the tricky balance of being a fan and a truth-teller with aplomb and thoroughness. A first-rate story told in first-rate fashion, as only a fellow musician can, and LET THE STORIES BE TOLD is an accomplishment up there with the work of Warren Zanes.

[Jonathan Karron · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a book comes out profiling your all time favorite band, you devour it. And it did not disappoint.

The Cars were the soundtrack of my youth and they are still in heavy rotation in my playlists. They are like a warm blanket on a cold afternoon. And their music is modern and timeless.

Now to the book…the author does a great job taking us on a journey about how the Cars came to be, from the bumps in the proverbial road early on, to finally hitting it big. He drives us around the potholes, hazard signs and crashes that led to their breakup. As a huge fan I was sad to learn about some of the tension, control issues, insecurities and backstabbing and perhaps bad management that were a part of their career and legacy. But I guess that’s rock and roll.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and played each of their albums in the background as I read the chapter devoted to each album. The author is a musician himself so he gets technical at times with the craftsmanship of music making but it was all good and I’d sometimes listen to snippets of songs that he was referencing to hear what he was talking about. And the Cars music was so intricate that even after listening to their songs hundreds of times, I would still sometimes hear something new.

To conclude my review, this book was Just What I Needed.

[Chuck Abdella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A much-needed book on one of the most influential bands in the 70s and 80s. The book is at its best when the author uses his musical knowledge (as a member of Buffalo Tom) to dissect the Cars’ songs. For the first two albums, Janovitz goes track by track, although he sadly gets away from that in the subsequent albums. Where the book fell short for me was with the insistence on including every last sordid detail. It’s a tell-all. I get it. The title is “Let the stories be told.” But I think the author goes too far into the rumors sometimes (eg. Did Ric sleep with a woman? She says no. A band member says yes and Ric told him details. Who cares? It’s extraneous.) Too much of that stuff distracts from the overarching story Janovitz is trying to tell. He has tons of info from the 3 living members of the Cars, but the challenge is he has less of Ric’s perspective and almost none of Ben’s. I thought Janovitz could have used Joe Milliken’s excellent book on Ben Orr (“Let’s Go”) more to fill in Ben’s story. It’s on his bibliography, but the Ben stuff was the thinnest part of the book. Overall, it’s a recommended book and a fun read, although it’s much less fun to read when things go south for the band. If you like the Cars (and I love them) or you remember the 80s, you should read this book.

[Bob K · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a band as big and undeniably great as The Cars, there is much about their history that hasn't been made public and this is the first published account of the pre-fame struggle, huge success during their string of hits and inevitable demise. Fans will find much of it interesting and engaging but also a bit overly detailed in some spots (do we really need to know about 2nd-tier management employee involvement?). While there's much I learned, it did feel lot of the time this was more a collection of quotations about the group than a proper book. The author clearly did his research and talked to all the right people (surviving members, spouses, ex-spouses, people involved in management and promotion and so on) but it lacks the synthesis of a great writer. Of course, those who were there have more to offer than the author (who wasn’t) but this needed just a bit more more working with the raw materials to create a book as special as the band itself.

[Zoe Stallings · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid overview of the band with plenty of detail about their music and career. Janovitz clearly has a deep appreciation for The Cars and captures the cultural moment they were a part of. At times the writing feels more like a long magazine feature than a full biography, and I found myself wishing for more depth about the personal dynamics of the band members. Still, it’s an enjoyable read for fans who want a focused look at their discography and influence, even if it doesn’t quite dig as deep as it could.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the eARC.

[Brian Regan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fascinating bio from Bill J! The Cars have never really received the recognition they deserved. This book, assembled with the cooperation of the 3 surviving members and many ex-wives and friends, goes in deep. I learned a lot. It deepened my appreciation of a band that was just always “there”. Probably only recommended for the fans and the curious.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fair warning: this book probably isn't intended for a casual fan. Janovitz writes with a musician's ear, detailing the creative and recording process The Cars put into their craft. If you understand songwriting, I'd imagine this biography is a five-star masterpiece. For the uninitiated like myself, it can be a slower read as you work through comprehending the uniqueness of The Cars' musical sensibilities. Janovitz often provides key moments to listen for in songs which, when you play them back, helps give context to these technical explanations.

Outside of the creative process, there are plenty of stories about personal lives, the rock and roll lifestyle, the business of showbiz, and creative conflicts. There are lots of interesting tidbits: John Lennon referencing The Cars in an interview he did the day he died, the prominent role "Drive" played in Live Aid, and the recording process under famed producer Mutt Lange stand out. Any listener of SiriusXM's 1st Wave channel will appreciate reading little nuggets of the various artists in The Cars' orbit.

Ultimately, the music of The Cars is front and center in this book. As it should be.

[Kevin A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was 10 when the first Cars album came out. I lived in New Hampshire, so they counted as a local band (local to the Boston media market anyway.) I remember seeing them on “Evening Magazine” on Boston TV when the album was released, so they were my introduction to New Wave. I loved their first four albums, and still do. Bits of Heartbeat City are good, but I confess I never bought that one or Doir to Door until a couple of years back, but their 2011 reunion was surprisingly good. The book itself was written by a fan, though unstinting on its criticism when warranted. A good read.

[Mona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this .. I’ve always loved The Cars since I was 11 years old. But I didn’t know anything about their story. I learned a lot and I’ve been taking a trip down memory lane listening to all the music!

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deep, intense examination of one of my favorite rock bands! Bill Janovitz's passion and power is matched by his research and details.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing - Da Capo Press for an advance copy of this musical biography about a band that was so far ahead their music is still influencing bands today, a band that was a far ahead musically, but still caught in the troubles that came from their pasts, their fame, and of course money.

America is a pretty divided place. Everyone seems to have opinions on politics, movies and even what brand of jeans celebrities are hawking. One thing however that binds us all is the awful state of radio. Tired people playing the same songs for the last 50 years, trying to get the Led out of people, who need time to get off their sofas. New songs are an anthema, nostalgia is king. Yet there are some songs that sound so different, so of now, perhaps even timeless that one has to stop a scan of the channels and start to listen. The Cars is one of these bands. If one has asked me I would probably have not put the Cars in my Top Ten, even my Top Hundred list. And I would be wrong on many levels, something this book, and repeated plays of the bands hits have shown me in recent days. This was a band that came together, five men with a particular set of skills, a sense that this could be the last time for success, and suddenly they were made. And began to fall apart. The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told written by musician and historian Bill Janovitz is a look at a band whose lyrics hid more behind the pop facade, a band of guys who excelled at what they did, and how success and the pasts of some members ruined them in different ways.

The book begins with a nice appreciation of the band from the author and many other musicians, an opening that made me start rooting through my media to find music by the Cars. Janovitz is a writer with a musical past, so has an understanding of the music, and the influences the band had, and how it reflects in the music. We learn about the members of the band, Ric Ocasek, née Richard Otcasek and Ben Orr née Orzechowski, Elliot Easton née Steinberg, Greg Hawkes and David Robinson, with a little more focus on Ric and Ben for their importance, and later issues. All were musicians who had been trying for a long time, Ric and Ben much more than the others, age being something they tried to avoid, and some were thinking of getting real jobs. Until they met, began to play together and "Magic" began to happen. Their first album was a slow hit, loaded with songs that sound fresh and new, even on he radios of today. With fame began the usual problems, questions about management, questions about credit. Money, bad relationships. Odd producers, spending months producing their albums. The respective pasts of Ric and Ben also began to interfere in the band, egos, fears and burnout affecting the band. And one day it was gone. But not forgotten.

I enjoyed Bill Janovitz previous book on Leon Russell, and while I knew the music of the Cars, was reading more for Janovitz's writing than I was out of fandom. Boy was I wrong. Janovitz does a great job of revealing the power of the songs, the strength of the lyrics, the music and the skill it took to make these songs. And the timeless aspect they have. Janovitz makes everything interesting from the studio sessions, the minutia of equipment and the productions sessions, video making, and more. As a musician of some acclaim Janovitz has an understanding of what these men went through, the fame, the touring, the pressures, and can relate. Which he passes to the readers. Janovitz is honest when things look bad, tells the different stories about the same incidents which are common, and doesn't hide some really shifty behavior.

This is a book for fans who love the music, or for music historians who want to get an idea of the music scene in Boston, Cleveland, and life before MTV. Not just a great history, but a great read, one that astounded me in how much I knew, and how much I cared about this band. I really can't wait for Janovitz's next book. A writer of rare skill, empathy and understanding of music.

[Rob Harvilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ric's guitar, panned hard right in the stereo mix, opens the song, the album, and the recorded career of The Cars in a literally offbeat way; on the upstroke, kind of reggae without it being the actual reggae that many American and English players were starting to incorporate into their material. If you're counting "one-and-two-and-three-and-four," Ric comes in on the second "and," as if they hit the Record button late. The droll and lagging guitar riff sets a tempo that's almost too slow. That's all in one stereo channel. In the other, there's an out-of-synch electronic blip that beats like an oscillator pulse. The Syndrum hits are panned left. Then, in the middle, there's a straining and somewhat distant voice suggesting that we should all let the good times roll.

Ric's lead vocal is commanding, in a pretty deep echo, as if in a small tiled room. He drags out and enunciates his words, almost like Frank Sinatra might, so that he adds a little more to the end of the line "a clown-uh." A listener paying any real attention would have to wonder if, indeed, good times were in store. Ric explained that the song is "not really about 'good times' at all. Actually, it's about paying for things twice and not knowing it."

The rest of the band falls in around the thirty-second mark. Greg swooping in on a synth, David rolling in with a drum fill, and Elliot's reinforced "chunka-chunks" panned hard left, as well as his phased bends on lead guitar in the center. And then the gigantic backing vocals hit you with "GOOD TIMES ROLL." The guys would all sing in unison at the same microphone layering each part.

"'Good Times Roll' has about 50 voices in one part," Baker said. "But the thing is, it vanishes after one line. It consists of a four-part harmony, quadruple-tracked. Three voices multiplied by four is twelve, multiplied by four again, is forty-eight voices singing that part. The three guys sining the same part started out on one track, then that was triple-trackeed, and so forth for the first, second, and third-part harmonies."

But even with forty tracks to work with Baker was bouncing down the mixes to make room for even more track. Ian Taylor, who would become Baker's engineer in 1980, says, "Anybody who's worked with Roy would know this expression: He'd always push the talk-back button down and say, 'Doubly-poos! Doubly-poos!' which meant we're going to double it. And then 'Triply-poos! Triply-poos!' which meant we're going to do it again. That was his little, it was like, 'You're just going to do it every time,' and so he goes through every chorus, every little background line, and do one. 'Okay. Doubly-poos!'"

[Paul Sutter]

Those who grew up with the vast world of music in the latter part of the seventies,then toward the nineties, would certainly be familiar with the band The Cars. Bill Janowitz, noted for his other music books, more than captures the essence of the band in this 500 page biography, that is as thorough as they come.
The Cars certainly took the music world by storm, and changed lots of opinions about what music mattered most during their ten year run from 1978-1988. They were named best new artists in the Rolling Stone reader’s poll for 1978, and unleashed a succession of best selling tunes in their wake. Such classics as You Might Think, Drive, My Best Friend’s Girl, Just What I Needed, and Shake It Up, were among the tunes they were best remembered for. It was Just What I Needed that launched their career, giving them that musical shot in the arm, endearing them to us for a decade.
It was Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr, best friends, who began playing in lesser bands before deciding on forming The Cars, along with Elliot Easton, Greh Hawkes, and David Robinson. The book name drops dozens of bands we are familiar with from that same time frame, as The Cars leapfrogged over many other bands to get national attention and most prominent status not only in America, but also internationally.
Much of the book does focus on front man Ric Ocasek, who was more than complex, certainly someone with their own ideals and ideas about what worked and what didn’t. He is also noted for at the time in 1984, meeting and dating famous model Paulina Porizkova. She appeared in the 1984 video Drive, and it was not long before the two were firmly entrenched as a couple. She was two decades younger than him, but that did not distract from the love they shared, spending many decades together.
It was Ocasek who was the prolific songwriter, some say the genius behind the band, but Benjamin Orr was also a focal point for the success, and keeping the band on track. Some say he never got the credit he deserved, Ocasek taking much of the spotlight and credit. Ocasek seemed like a loose cannon with his own way of dealing with life, and as we find later in the book, he was quite controlling and jealous at times, especially when it came to ex-wife Paulina.
Ocasek died in 2019 and Orr in 2020, but right up until the end Ocasek was spiteful and vindictive, this fact showing up in his will. But while that marred his final years, no one can take away the contributions to the musical world The Cars made. Bill Janowitz certainly has created quite the tribute and musical legacy to a band that rode down the musical highway to great acclaim and admiration.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another dinosaur lent me this book to read. I was exactly the right age to be exposed to The Cars. The first time I'd ever heard of them was when some friends of mine had tickets to see Foreigner at the Lakeland Civic Center in Florida. We were in 10th grade. We used to buy concert tickets at Peaches Records. Anyway, I didn't like Foreigner so I passed up seeing them. It turned out The Cars opened for Foreigner that night and my friend Burt said they were really good. Around that time "Good Times Roll" was hitting the radio and I remember liking it. Then I heard "Just What I Needed" and decided to go out and buy the album. I bought each of the next 4 records as they came out. The timing was right. I got my drivers license right around the same time their first record was kicking around radios and parties at the beach. I was a fan all through high school, and especially a fan of Elliot Easton's guitar playing. I also loved the odd and quirky lyrics by Ric Ocasek. They seemed to translate my own ups and downs with my on-and-off girlfriend at the time. I used to think, yeah this guy (Ocasek) gets it. That girlfriend (she was into Journey instead of The Cars, and her DNA is still on one of my Led Zeppelin sleeves, but that's another story for a Led Zeppelin review) is long gone but I still have those old records. My favorite album by them is CANDY-O, and it's a toss up between "It's All I Can Do" and "Dangerous Type" for my favorite song. By the time HEARTBEAT CITY came out I was in the Air Force and exposed to many more bands. I was still a fan and bought that one hot off the presses. It was my last Cars album and the band was not the same since. I'd never gotten the chance to see them live, but I love the records.

This book confirmed what I wanted to always believe about the band. That, for the most part, they're a group of decent guys with incredible talent, inspired by various musical styles, who created a wide assortment of terrific songs. They had their issues and problems and this book goes into them. It also goes deep into the recording process of their albums and the increasing stresses they created on the band dynamics. It's a fascinating read about another time and place in American rock/pop music. I would recommend this book to other Cars fans, or anyone who misses the 80s like I often do.

Update: I forgot to mention that you can see lots of old live footage from the earliest days of the Cars on YouTube. There's one from Bremen Germany, for Musikladen, from 1979 that's fantastic.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

This is an exceptionally well researched and written biography of The Cars. It is written by a musician but also journalist, combining both disciplines to really give depth and understanding of the band.

The is presented fairly chronologically, giving only brief outlines of the band members' lives before going into detail about the creation and then popular explosion of the band. The author interviewed any and every person connected in some way to the band so it isn't surprising that there are many perspectives that are woven into the story. From girlfriends to road managers, what emerges is a story of perseverance and luck.

Sadly, the downside of fame once again rears its ugly head. As with a recent biography by the guitarist of Tom Petty and another of the band Chicago, we get a tale of one person getting singled out by management and then taking over the band, including a lionshare of the profits. But it is appreciated that there is honesty from Ocasek's wife, lawyer, and bandmates of the situation and how it so greatly affected the financial and mental health of bandmates, especially Orr.

Those interested in the musical side of The Cars will appreciate the intricate analyses of the songs: both the nuts-and-bolts and period milieu that influenced them. Those more interested in learning about the band will also find a lot here to explore. Of note, we learn the most from the three band members still alive since they were still able to be interviewed. Of Orr or Ocasek, the story remains murky and they are as inscrutable as ever.

This is definitely one of the best biographies of a band I have read. Yes, it might have been a bit too long or too detailed in places and one could only wish that Orr and Ocasek could have been interviewed as well. But in all, very well done. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Stuart Rosen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thorough and thoroughly absorbing history of this seminal 80s band that still sounds like its music was recorded last week.

Author Janovitz had access to almost anyone alive who was in or near the band, and what he mines from those sources gives great insight into what it felt like to be in the big rock band business, and The Cars in particular. There’s so much I never knew - how long Ric Ocasek and Ben Orr knocked around together before making it big; how critical Greg Hawkes was to the band’s success; the genius of Elliot Easton’s solos, what an ordeal it was to record Heartbreak City, and how much Elliot Easton and Ocasek simply didn’t get along.

What hit me was how conflict-avoidant most artists are. They just don’t want to fight with bandmates, particularly about business matters. Of course, that’s how people get hosed in that business, but this was a real eye-opener.

What results from this reporting is a true 360-degree view of the band - no one is a pure villain and Janovitz goes to great pains to see key events from all sides.

This is how a music bios should be written - tons of direct reporting and empathy.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC.

[Steve Gozdecki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful read on my one-time favorite band. The Cars meant a ton to me in my early teens, but ultimately lost me -- in fact, I've never listened to their penultimate album, *Door to Door,* because the reviews were so meh and it was clear that band leader Ric Ocasek was high on his own supply.

This thoroughly researched book is packed with facts, insights, opinions, and new interviews with the three surviving members of the band, people from the band's ecosystem, and the band members' partners. The first hundred pages explore the musicians' backgrounds and how they ultimately got together, then charts their rise and fall over the course of roughly a decade that saw the band release six albums and four of the members release solo albums.

Janovitz's book clarifies some things that I'd read back in the '80s, confirms some things I'd long suspected, but also surfaces a whole lot of new-to-me information. It's also gotten me onto something of a Cars jag, especially on YouTube but also the demos and alternate takes from their reissued albums. If, like me, the Cars were ever your favorite band then this may well become one of your favorite books.

[Jim Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one for the true fans. Much as I admired ‘The Cars’ as a ground-breaking commercial rock band in the late 1970s, a 20-hour audiobook history of the band by inveterate fan Bill Janovitz is a much bigger automobile than I actually would ever need.

Billed in the foreword by Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes as an unauthorised biography of the five-piece Boston band, ‘The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told’ is true to the author’s word. Surely in this tome lies EVERY story ever told about the band - from childhood interests to love affairs to real estate choices to individual hangovers. It really reads like an extended fanzine - full of quotes from hundreds of interviews - and will test the patience of all but the most “rusted-on” Cars aficionado.

It’s a shame the writing is so unsophisticated, because The Cars were an interesting band musically and in terms of rock history - a highly successful and extremely commercial American synthesis of UK art and music trends - including the early Roxy Music as well as the post-punk, power-pop backlash to bloated prog rock and heavy metal.

But while The Cars were successful for the best part of a decade, I think they said all they needed to say on their first eponymously named album. That combination of archly cool vocals, spare, palm-muted rhythm guitars, succinct and melodic solos, and Roxy-style keyboard motifs all wrapped inside 3-minute, hook-laden pop songs virtually defined the late 70s - alongside Elvis Costello and The Attractions’ ‘This Year’s Model’ and Nick Lowe’s ‘Jesus of Cool’. In short, ‘The Cars’ in their pomp sounded more like a British power pop band, with their stripped down sound, affected cool distance and ironic vocal stylings.

To his credit, Janovitz rightly recognises the role of The Cars’ secret weapon and virtual sixth member - British super producer Roy Thomas Baker. This was the eccentric studio whiz behind Queen’s enormous mid-70s breakout album ‘A Night at the Opera’. Baker took the stacked multi-tracked backing vocals technique he employed on ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and reinvented it for the stripped back New Wave generation via The Cars.

Janovitz’s chapter on the making of that first Cars album is definitely worth a read. The problem for me is that, after that, the music (and the book) got less and less interesting apart from the odd track here and there. Unfortunately, as is often the way, the band’s commercial success in the American market increased as their artistic worth declined. For instance, their biggest hit, ‘Drive’ off the ‘Heartbeat City’ album was a massive hit but a maudlin dirge that you still hear all over FM radio today.

So my interest in the band, and the book, petered out as it entered the 80s. Not helping in the Audible version was the excruciating attempt at an English accent by the narrator Corey Carthew in quoting from the Dean Thomas Baker interviews. He should have left well enough alone.

Just what I didn’t need.

[Jay Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding look at a band I loved as a kid and thought I knew a lot about, but Janovitz really dug deep to give a complete look at the band's short career and huge impact. The Cars' two enigmatic frontmen, Ric Ocasek and Ben Orr, have both passed, but Janovitz paints a full picture of their dynamic through tons of interviews with the surviving members and other key players. The behind-the-scenes description of the recording of the band's 1984 monster album Heartbeat City is fascinating. I had previously read about producer Mutt Lange's maniacal methods, but on this album it sounds like he was really losing his grip with reality. And then the album is a huge success. Still, all the simmering tensions behind the music came to the surface and within a few years, the group had split. Janovitz, a great musician in his own right, has proven to be an excellent music biographer (his Leon Russell book from a few years ago is also a fascinating read) as well.

[Rich OReilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told is an excellent, insightful look into a band that made up a huge part of my high school soundtrack. Completely absorbing from start to finish, it gave me a much deeper appreciation for the music—and the people behind it.

I went in knowing a fair amount about Ric Ocasek, but very little about drummer David Robinson. I walked away with tremendous respect for Robinson, and, honestly, a sense of disappointment in Ocasek. I’ll chalk that up to his inner demons.

What really stood out was how much David Robinson, Elliot Easton, and Ben Orr were disrespected by Ric over the years. Yes, he wrote the songs—but they were equal ingredients in what made The Cars a truly great band. Without them, the music wouldn’t have been what it was.

All in all, I couldn’t put this one down. A fascinating, sometimes uncomfortable, but ultimately rewarding read for any fan of The Cars.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess since I own all of the pre-Cars and solo works from the band, I'm a real fan. But despite that, other than reading interviews over the years, I delved very little into the band's full history/story.

The book is great, and gives sufficient attention to all the band members and their contribution to The Cars' signature sound. It's concise without seeming cursory, and leaves the occasional conflicting accounts alone, without tidying everything up.

If there's a takeaway for me, it's that there's no mystery anymore about why Ocasek's solo work was so uneven and unrewarding over the years compared to his work with The Cars. He needed those guys, and apart from them he floundered (at least in terms of making compelling albums). The press acted like he was the engine of the band, and so did Ric. The chassis is more like it.

[Ward Whipple · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written by a musician, who does occasionally insert himself into the narrative. As someone else said, it occasionally reads more like a magazine piece than a biography. But that doesn't take away from its importance. We get the full story of the band, without getting too bogged down in childhood detail. The surviving members speak with candor and bluntness, and often contradict each other. The author being a musician also means that we get detail on the making of each album, track by track. Sometimes the story isn't pretty, and certain people do not come off very well, rest their souls. Yet the reader is reminded just how fun the music was, and still is. (Thanks to NetGalley for the advance uncorrected proof. Hopefully somebody pointed out that George Harrison didn't play on "I Will".)

[Sean McGillis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What A Great Read

This was great. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I didn't expect something this meaty and well researched. I appreciated that it wasn't just a tell all of debauchery and wild times. Those can be entertaining, but anyone can party. Not everyone can be in an enduring band that bridges generations. Don't get me wrong, there are some stories of the "rock star" life, they just don't dominate this story.
If you're a really big fan of The Cars, you'll love this. Mr Janovitz nailed it. If you're not familiar with his band Buffalo Tom, give them a listen. Great story teller and music writer/ musician
Cheers!!

[Wendi Manning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally! A book on The Cars! So glad to have gotten an ARC of this. I’ve loved the band forever and always wanted to know more about their history.

This book gives me that. It suffers a bit from Ric and Ben not being available to talk to anymore. That was to be expected. There’s a lot of deep research done and so many fun details and facts thrown in that really fleshed out the band.

Great book, informative and fun!! Definitely recommend this to fans of the Cars and of the music scene.

Thanks for NetGalley for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

[David Tice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, in-depth recounting of the history of The Cars, warts and all. The only drawback is that the author is a self-admitted Cars fan; this seeps through on a few places but doesn’t seem to have influenced his reportage. Although not an authorized biography, there are extensive interviews with the three living Cars members, past wives and girlfriends, band techs, management, and so on, giving the book a solid foundation. Definitely recommended if you have an interest in The Cars or their period of popular music.

[Andy Rota · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t realize how much this band played a pivotal role in my late teens to early adulthood , growing up in the Boston area, until I read this book. It brought back so many memories of concerts, record stores, events, songs and other bands of that time period , that it couldn’t help but put a smile on my face . Painstakingly researched and expertly written by a member of another favorite band of mine. 4.5 stars ⭐️ Let the Good Times Roll !!!! Indeed!

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never bought a Cars record until last weekend! The Cars were all over the radio in the 1980’s. You couldn’t get into your car without listening to Cars songs. The is a great book about 5 guys who made their own music just for the joy of it. What a terrific book. RIck might have been the leader but the foundation of the band was the four other guys….what a great group. The author does a wonderful job of bringing this story to life!