I agree with everything you said except the `70`s. The Cars were `80`s. They were part of the "New wave" abomination in the `80`s.. New wave which was a corporate MTV term for watered down punk. I never got them as well, Ric sings like a retard and if I hear "Let the good times roll" one more time on my radio I am going to smash it. That or "Don`t bring me down" by ELO. My God, there are so many damn songs out there that are just mind blowingly phenomenal, yet everytime I hear a oldies station they always play the same garbage like this Cars crap or ELO. Why don`t they try the "Wanton song" by Led Zep for once or some Jim Croce for once who you never ever hear, stuff like " I got a name" or even Terry Jacks "Seasons in the sun" lol! Really, you never hear that stuff. It`s always "Let the god times roll" which I assume is because Ichabod Ocasek is VP of Electra records. Another mystery of Ichabod... He gets the gorgeous model and the VP position yet he`s about as ugly as you can get and his songs sound like chewing gum commercials.
There were a few good bands back then, but The Cars weren't one of them. They're on my top ten list of bands that I despise. Them and Boston....and REO Speedwagon, ...and ELO, and Warrant...and Poison....and Ratt...and Great White.
There were a few bright spots in the 80's. The Furs were good, so was Cabaret Voltaire. OMD wasn't all that bad. Van Halen hit their stride in the 80s, and Aerosmith cleaned up their act, literally.
Frank Zappa was at the peak of his career back then IMO.
But, by and large music in the 80s was a vast wasteland. The Cars epitomized it.
L
You make a good point, but................
Always remember that one thing, and one thing only killed Disco: New Wave.
For that I will remain grateful and never say a bad word about New Wave music.
Their first album came out in 78, and it was great mostly guitar-driven rock. Then on the subsequent albums the synths took over and it wasn't nearly as good. But that first album will always be a classic.