Song #1: Gary Numan - "Cars"

Song #1: Gary Numan - "Cars" (1979)

The Pleasure Principle

 "It's the only way to live; in cars."

The obvious question I get why I try to explain the purpose behind my blog series "The One-Hundred Songs of Steve Pulaski" is "what song will be number one?" While I refused to even hint at any song that was on the list before the writeup was released, I informed people I wasn't ranking the songs from "favorite to least favorite" or vice-versa and that the selection of what song went with what specific number was entirely random and cherry-picked by me.

Song number one of "The One-Hundred Songs of Steve Pulaski" is Gary Numan's "Cars" to solidify that fact. I have a feeling when people see that this is the song I selected to conclude the three-month-long blog series, they'll realize, "he really wasn't kidding when he said he wasn't ranking them favorite to least favorite." However, do not get that fact twisted. Gary Numan's "Cars" is still a song I hold extremely dear to my heart, arguably more-so than many choices in this blog series. For such a simple song, it evokes so many emotions and is also a pioneering force for the electronic/techno style many people my age listen to today ("EDM" for electronic dance music as it is billed today").

"Cars" was released in 1979 and was one of the most unique and different-sounding tunes to hit the American airways. Short on the "new wave" movement in American music in the 1980's, "Cars" was a song recorded heavily with the assistance of computers, synthesizers, and sound mixing, all of which were relatively primitive compared to the high-tech mixing and audio manipulation that can be found in even the most basic song today. The instrumentation in "Cars," along with Numan's modified and synthesized vocals, which sound wholly robotic and almost like a humanoid, were beyond revolutionary for the time. The instrumentation, like much of Numan's early albums, created sounds that may have never been heard before, and structuring and mixing that may have never been employed to that effect before he came around. 

All of that makes "Cars" such a deeply original and unique song in its aesthetic. As for the lyrics, they make up about one minute of the three and a half minute song. Ironically, I stated in my writeup for Kansas's "Carry on Wayward Son" (number fifty-one on "The One-Hundred Songs of Steve Pulaski") that I wasn't a big fan of songs that were almost entirely comprised of instrumentation, and now I conclude my blog series with a song that is predominately instrumentation. However, the lyrics of the song are simple, mysterious, and different, as Numan finds solace in life while he is sitting inside his vehicle. He feels safe, comfortable, and protected in his vehicle, where "the image breaks down," so he says, and questions if people would visit him if he would proceed to open his door to them. His mind races through a great deal of thoughts, so he claims, but even as he rests there, "nothing seems right in cars," he claims.

Some have said the lyrics are simply about Numan's love for vehicles, and some have even said the song is an anthem against suicide. I can't even begin to make an assumption on the meaning of the song. What I can say is this is one of the most infectious and addicting songs I've ever heard. It "Cars" has solely been an instrumentation track, like most of the songs on The Pleasure Principle album are, I would have said it's pretty unique, but Numan's simple yet complex vocals and lyricism make for a song I love indulging in at any given time (for the record, when the song comes on where I work, which is maybe once a month, my productivity increases ten-fold).

A wrap-up blog for "The One-Hundred Songs of Steve Pulaski" will follow shortly after the publication of this blog post, along with an important announcement about a follow-up series in the vein of this one. Thank you all for the support and readership of this blog series. It has been an incredible experience.

Give "Cars" a listen,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXEu1odjKZM