As I drove around a borrowed car doing my job today, numerous songs by the band The Cars played. The reason was that lead singer Ric Ocasek had died of heart disease at age 75. For many Americans, The Cars are a band whose music instantly transports your mind back in time. It brought back some memories of driving my first car as a youth (a VW bug).

Their songs were a big part of the soundtrack of my teenage years. When their first album was released, I was just a couple of years shy of the perfect age of hearing their music and seeing their videos on MTV. But I soon caught on and caught up and became a fan. I even was in a garage band that played their song “My Best Friend’s Girl.” As I drove on my job, the band played on.

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