Cars (song)

“Cars”
Single by Gary Numan from the album The Pleasure Principle
Released	August 1979
Format	7" single
Recorded	Marcus Music AB, London 1979
Genre	New Wave, Synth pop
Length	3:44
Label	Beggars Banquet BEG 23
Producer	Gary Numan
Gary Numan singles chronology
"Are 'Friends' Electric?" (1979) "Cars" (1979) "Complex" (1979)
Audio sample
Info (help·info)

"Cars" is a 1979 song by Gary Numan, released as a single from the album The Pleasure Principle. It reached the top of the charts in several countries and today is considered a New Wave staple. In the United States, it reached #10 on the Billboard charts in 1980. However, its popularity was so enormous that it overshadowed much of the rest of Numan's career in the 1980s, causing him to be thought of in later years as a one-hit wonder in many countries.

The song was the first release credited solely to Gary Numan after he dropped the band name Tubeway Army, with which he had released four singles and two LPs, including the number one hit "Are 'Friends' Electric?", and its parent album, Replicas. Musically the new song was somewhat lighter and more pop-oriented than its predecessors, Numan later conceding that he had chart success in mind: "This was the first time I had written a song with the intention of 'maybe it could be a hit single'; I was writing this before "Are 'Friends' Electric?" happened".^[1]

Music and lyrics

"Cars" is based on two musical sections: a verse/instrumental break, and a bridge. The recording features a conventional rock rhythm section of bass guitar and drums, although the rest of the instruments used are analog synthesizers, principally the Minimoog (augmenting the song's recognisable bass riff) and the Polymoog Keyboard, providing austere synthetic string lines over the bass riff. The bridge section also includes a tambourine part. Numan's vocal part is sung in an almost expressionless, robotic style. There is no 'chorus' as such.

According to Numan, the song's lyrics were inspired by an incident of road rage: "I was in traffic in London once 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."^[2]

Video

The music video featured Numan's then-current backing band, including Billy Currie from the band Ultravox, though he had not actually played on the recording of "Cars". Towards the end of the video, a multitude of Gary Numans are depicted 'driving' along a Polymoog keyboard.

Release and aftermath

The original UK single was released in August 1979, backed with a non-album instrumental track called "Asylum". The U.S. B-side was "Metal", from The Pleasure Principle album. The track has been a UK Top Twenty hit for Numan in three successive decades: on its original release in 1979 (making number one); in 1987 as the 'E Reg Model' remix (making number 16); and again in 1996 following its use in an advertisement for Carling Premier beer (number 17).

Numan has regularly performed the song on stage since its original release and it appears on all but one of his official live albums to date; many remixed versions have also been released over the years (see Live versions and remixes). "Cars" was covered by the Judybats on the 1991 single "Daylight" and by Shampoo on the "Girl Power" single in 1995. Dave Clarke performed the song on the Random tribute album in 1997, while Fear Factory recorded a version of the song (with Numan) and released it as a single in 1999. Numan also appeared in the video. The song was also heavily sampled in the 2000 song "Koochy" by Armand van Helden, reaching number 4 in the UK Singles Chart. The beat was later used for the song "Hot Wheels" by the hip hop group Jim Crow.

Track listing

1. "Cars" (Numan) – 3:44
2. "Asylum" (Numan) – 2:30

Production credits

• Producer:
  • Gary Numan

• Musicians:
  • Gary Numan: Vocals, Keyboards (Minimoog, Polymoog), Synthetic percussion
  • Paul Gardiner: Bass guitar
  • Chris Payne: Keyboards (Minimoog, Polymoog)
  • Cedric Sharpley: Drums, Tambourine

Live versions and remixes

A selected list of Numan's official live recordings and remixes.

• Living Ornaments '79 (1981) - live recording
• White Noise (1985) - live recording also released on "The Live EP"
• "Cars (E Reg Model)" (1987) - remix released as 7"/12" single (including two other 1987 mixes) and on compilation album Exhibition
• Ghost (1987) - live recording
• The Peel Sessions Volume 2 (1987) - 1979 live-in-studio recording for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show released as EP
• The Skin Mechanic (1989) - live recording
• "Cars ('93 Sprint)" (1993) - remix released as EP (including two 1987 mixes and three other 1993 mixes) and on compilation album The Best of Gary Numan 1978-1983
• Dream Corrosion (1994) - live recording
• "Cars (Premier Mix)" (1996) - reissued/rebadged 1987 remix released as single and on compilation album The Premier Hits
• Living Ornaments '81 (1998) - live recording
• The Mix (1998) - three remixes ("Spahn Ranch mix", "Talla 2xlc mix" and "JLAB mix")
• Cars (1998) - Cover done by Fear Factory featuring Serj Tankian of System of a Down
• Scarred (2002) - live recording
• Hybrid (2003) - remix
• Cars(Numanoid Mix) (2003) - Cover and remix done by Fear Factory
• Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire (2004) - live recording
• Living Ornaments '80 (2005) - reissued/expanded live recording originally released minus "Cars" in 1981

Pop culture occurrences

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• The song is featured in several episodes of the first season of the UK comedy series The Mighty Boosh (Numan himself appeared in one episode during the series' third season).

• Was in the movie Freddy got Fingered along with Fear Factory's cover.

• The song is featured in the 2002 PlayStation 2 videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as part of the New Wave radio station Wave 103.

• Was in the video game Test Drive 6; the music video by Fear Factory was accessible in the options menu for this game.

• Parody performed by Homer Simpson in The Simpsons episode "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife".

• Its music video was used in Beavis and Butthead.

• Has been used in several episodes of the television drama Nip/Tuck.

• Was played at the end of the Family Guy episode "Whistle While Your Wife Works", with new lyrics performed by Stewie.

• Featured in the commercials for the Discovery Channel's Future Car program.

• Some of the instrumental parts were used in a commercial for ESPN football.

• Has appeared in advertisements for American Express, Carling beer, Little Debbie, Oldsmobile (the Alero) and Nissan.

• Although a parody of Kenny Chesney's 2003 Country hit, "Big Star", the song "New Car" by Cledus T. Judd used the instrumental portion of "Cars" after each chorus, partially performed with car horns.

• Featured in a Swedish TV commercial for the insurance company Folksam, 2008

Notes

References

• Paul Goodwin (2004). Electric Pioneer: An Armchair Guide to Gary Numan

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