Moving in Stereo: The Life of Ric Ocasek, the Driving Force of the Cars

The sound of New Wave pop music and the early days of MTV were defined by the work of a handful of iconic musicians, and few stood taller in that era than Ric Ocasek, frontman and primary songwriter for The Cars. The band charted 13 Top 40 singles in the U.S. from 1978 to 1987 and the music video for their 1984 song ＂You Might Think＂ won the first-ever MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year for its groundbreaking use of computer graphics. The band’s biggest hit, ＂Drive,＂ was a Top 10 hit across the globe and closely associated with the legendary Live Aid event. Ocasek wrote or co-wrote all the band’s music, and later lent his extraordinary talent as a producer to bands like Weezer, No Doubt, Guided by Voices, and Bad Brains. In 2018, The Cars were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which marked the final live performance of the group before Ocasek’s death the following year. Moving in Stereo: The Life of Ric Ocasek, the Driving Force of The Cars serves as an in-depth guide to Ocasek’s life and catalog as a musician and upholds him as one of the most essential voices in pop music during the MTV era.

Peter Aaron is the author of If You Like the Ramones and The Band FAQ; the coauthor of Richie Ramone’s autobiography, I Know Better Now; the arts editor for Chronogram magazine; the front man of influential New York band the Chrome Cranks; and a member of the Stabbing Jabs and other musical projects. In the 1980s, he promoted early concerts by Nirvana, the Flaming Lips, and others. His writing has appeared in the Village Voice, the Boston Herald, the Kingston Daily Freeman, and other publications, and online at AllMusic and All About Jazz. He lives in the Hudson Valley.