Just What I Needed - The Cars (1978) 2/3/22

In 1977, Ric Ocasek of the Cars was living in the basement of a commune when he channeled his inner "Bubblegum," mixed it with some "New Wave," and came up with a "Great Song" that sounded like a cross between The Ohio Express, Tommy James and the Shondells, and The Velvet Underground.

At this point, The Cars didn't have a record contract, but they made some demo tapes, and thought Ric's song "Just What I Needed" (sung by bass player Ben Orr) sounded pretty darn unique.

What happened next was somewhat unusual. Ric gave a copy of the demo to DJ Maxanne Sartori at WCOZ/WBCN in Boston, and she started playing it on the air. Pretty soon, "Just What I Needed" became one of the stations' most requested songs.

And THAT led to the Cars getting their record contract! The power of radio airplay to help make a hit has always been the norm, but to make a hit from playing a demo tape was extremely rare...and just didn't happen in the late '70s.

The Cars re-recorded "Just What I Needed" for their debut album, and when it was released as a single in 1978, the critics loved it...calling it "clever," "feisty," and "near perfect."

Strangely, the song stalled at #27 on Billboard's Hot 100, but perhaps that can be chalked up to the fact that "Just What I Needed" had already been a regional hit in Boston and other areas of the Northeast before it had been officially released.

Over the past 40+ years, the song has continued to get solid airplay on classic rock and oldies stations...and in Rolling Stone Magazine's 2021 update of the "Top 500 Songs of All Time, "Just What I Needed" came in at #369--certainly proof that it's a "Great Song (of the '70s!)"