Cars - Gary Numan (1979) 4/15/22

By 1979, electronic new wave music was synthesizing it's way into the mainstream all over the world...but until the August release of today's "Great Song of the '70s, not a single new wave song had charted in the US.

British musician Gary Numan had just dropped his band, Tubeway Army, which had a #1 in the UK with a song called "Are Things Electric?" (Check the link below).

Gary wanted to lighten things up a bit and add some "pop" to his new wave. After narrowly escaping a road rage incident...the song "Cars" was born...and it was pretty different than anything else you'd hear on the radio at the time--at least here in the States.

Gary's expressionless vocals were surrounded by all sorts of electronic instrumentation...until the 1:30 mark where he stopped singing altogether. And as for musical structure, "Cars" had a bridge, but no chorus!

All that strangeness caught the ears of music fans in several countries, including the UK and Canada, where it reached #1. In the US, "Cars" drove into the Top 10, and as 1979 turned into 1980, it parked (and peaked) at #9.

Although Gary Numan became a one-hit wonder in America, he has sold more than 10 million records worldwide, and opened the car door for other new wave artists in the US and elsewhere!

"Cars" by Gary Numan: a Groundbreaking "Great Song of 1979-80!"

"Are Friends Electric" by Tubeway Army (1977):