One of New Englands most famous rock groups was the Cars. The group began in Boston in 1976 with 5 original members, Ric Ocasek, Benjamin Orr, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes and David Robinson. In an era where the airwaves were dominated by guitar heavy rock music, the Cars trended toward a more synthesizer based sound. That put them in prime position to capitalize on the popularity of new wave pop music in the late 70s and early 80s and they rode that wave to world wide fame. Two of their most popular songs were Candy-O and Shake it up. The Cars were named “Best New Artist” in the 1978 Rolling Stone Readers’ Poll and won “Video of the Year” for “You Might Think” at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984.

The band broke up in 1988. In 2011 the band Wheezer recorded a cover version of “You Might Think” that was features in the movie Cars 2. In 2015 the band was nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.