"Hello Again" by the Cars

1984 / #20

Rate Your Music score: 3.46 out of 5!

I've been trying to figure out what song or act best sums up my perceptions of music in 1984-85. I think the Cars are a leading candidate.

It wasn't because the wave at 1:22 in the video above was inspired by The Electric Company. I can't figure out why so much music of the time elicited the insights that I had. I viewed most music differently a year earlier, a fact that I'd rather not discuss and which made a lot of good music go unappreciated.

When I talk about music that sums up how I saw things in 1984-85, what I mean is that it's a prototype of the picturesque view that I had of music at the time. I can't fully recreate this nostalgic feeling. About 4 years ago, I found a few videos from that era on YouTube. Some long-lost memories were triggered, but I wasn't able to get to the root of why I thought so much of this music was either scenic or funny. It's right on the edge of my mind, but I just can't access it.

You try to relive the joy, and the only thing that comes to mind is just a fleeting jolt or image. It's like there are events that have completely escaped my mind. Other events have faded to the point that I think of them as being viewed on old film or videotape like some 1970s scare film about juvenile delinquents. That could just be because most people I knew were juvenile delinquents.

But if I have to recall anything from that timeframe, it should be the Cars. I have their Heartbeat City LP - from which "Hello Again" comes - and I actually got it when it was a fairly current item. It's still in pristine condition despite heavy play. For the life of me, I don't remember where I got this record, or exactly when. It's as if I just waved my hands and it magically appeared. To quote another hit from that album: "Uh-oh, it's magic."

You might think I'm crazy, but I remember a particularly strange incident surrounding "Hello Again." Casey Kasem once read a "Long Distance Dedication" on American Top 40 from someone talking about the Cars. If I remember correctly, it was for some folks who had taken the letter writer to a Cars concert, but I'm not sure. I know the Cars were a big topic of the letter, and its writer dedicated "Hello Again." But instead of "Hello Again" by the Cars, Casey played "Hello Again" by Neil Diamond.

The Cars are also known as the band whose usual lead singer, the late Ric Ocasek, resembled Leonard Nimoy. There has also been some disagreement about Ric's age. When he died in 2019, his age was reported as 70. Indeed, his voter registration record gave a birthdate of 1949. But he had also claimed he graduated high school in 1963, and a 1950 census record shows a 6-year-old Richard T. Otcasek living in Ric's hometown of Baltimore.

The Cars must have also been endlessly frustrated by the fact that they had 3 hits that peaked at #41 on the Hot 100 - just missing the top 40. I'm not sure if this is a record, but it has to be close. Scandal must have been almost as aggravated, as they had 2 records that peaked at #41. But both Scandal and the Cars reached the top 40 with other efforts. I bet my high school principal has never had a top 40 hit, so the Cars and Scandal had the last laugh.