#9: "Heartbeat City" by The Cars

#9—You might think I'm crazy...

Best song: Drive
Notable tracks: Hello Again, Looking for Love, Magic, You Might Think, Heartbeat City
Released: 1984
Chart Peak: #3 (U.S. Billboard 200)
Popularity: 4x Platinum

I've often thought of Heartbeat City as a perfect album. One thing about albums, especially from the '70s and '80s, is that unless it was a greatest hits collection, it was usually about 4 or 5 hit songs with an equal amount of unremarkable filler. (Hence, iTunes and downloaded songs instead of whole albums.) However, I've never considered any of the songs on my choice as The Cars best album to be filler. You can listen straight through both sides and never have to skip a track. Perfect.

Of course, there's perfection, and then there's "Drive," not simply The Cars best song of their entire career, but one of the 10 best singles of the eighties (and probably in at least the top 25 of all time). It's particularly interesting that "Drive" is the rare song where frontman Rik Ocasek is not singing lead; in this case, it's the late bassist Benjamin Orr providing lead vocals. Oh well, at least Ocasek ended up marrying the video's star, '80s supreme supermodel Paulina Porizkova; that may be a better trade than the Louisiana Purchase.

Has anyone else noticed how many of these albums on my list were released in 1984? What a great year for music! This album is probably best known for their other two big hit singles, each with an innovative MTV video driving them, "You Might Think" and "Magic." This album marked the peak of their career, which culminated in an appearance at the Live Aid concert in that same year.

The album was notably produced by Mutt Lange, who was going to have to pass on producing Def Leppard's follow up to their earlier Lange-produced breakthrough smash Pyromania. However, a continuous series of delays for the Leppards dragged on for so long that Lange was able to rejoin the band for Hysteria, which might show up in a few days.

In the meantime, here's the video for "Drive," starring the aforementioned Paulina, doing the mental patient thing, directed by Academy Award winner Timothy Hutton. Enjoy!