The CARS were rock's Schrödinger's cat, simultaneously classic rock and new wave, then and now, hot and cold, dead and alive, commercial and SUICIDE. They were an impossible band. It still amazes me that "MOVING IN STEREO" is played on classic-rock radio, which no matter how many times I hear it in that context and no matter how often I think about it while those synthesizers swirl through my tremolo brain, makes no sense (its dazed and confused association with JUDGE REINHOLD and PHOEBE CATES notwithstanding). It also still amazes me that "Moving in Stereo," written by RIC OCASEK and sung by BENJAMIN ORR, was the second-to-last song on side 2 of the Cars' debut album, like no big deal, we've gotta throw *something* on at the end of the album, right? Why not one of the greatest classic rock songs that ever will be (once someone invents that radio format, that is)? Also, why don't we just tack on "ALL MIXED UP" after that? Ocasek, who was the primary architect of all of that, and of the decade of greatness that followed, died Sunday in New York. It was unclear, as of late Sunday night, if he was 70 or 75 (respect to the 30somethings of early new wave!). About the same age as AEROSMITH's STEVEN TYLER, BOSTON's TOM SCHOLZ and the J. GEILS BAND's PETER WOLF. The '70s rock and roll giants of my native Boston. And he made every one of them sound like the old world. He was the future. A new waver and electronic music aficionado who understood the power of pop and knew exactly how to access it. (You really had to be there, with a radio tuned to a radio station like WBCN, to understand what a crazy breath of fresh air the Cars were at the time.) He drove Boston (the city, not the band) toward a better future. On later Cars albums, he would lead the band deeper in all of those directions, while regularly landing on indelible pop singles from "TOUCH AND GO" and "MAGIC" to "SINCE YOU'RE GONE" and "DRIVE." He was even more prolific, outside the band, as a producer, where his early clients included anti-pop legends SUICIDE and the BAD BRAINS (and ROMEO VOID, for whom he produced exactly one song—this one). Among his later clients were WEEZER (yet another classic weird-pop debut), LE TIGRE and NO DOUBT. Like so many pop gods who came before and after, he had a strange idea of what exactly pop is. I love this exchange from a 2011 NEW YORK TIMES Q&A: Interviewer: "In 2003, you became the head of A.&R. for ELEKTRA RECORDS. At the time, your old bandmate DAVID ROBINSON said: 'Ric’s idea of a commercial group is Suicide. I can only assume he misunderstands the job description.'" Ocasek: "That’s 100 percent accurate." Among the bands he brought to Elektra were the BLACK KEYS and DEVENDRA BANHART. The label passed on both. He didn't seem to particularly care; he was content, by all accounts, to go on doing his thing and let the rest of the world go on doing its thing. Whenever the twain met, heaven. RIP... TL;DR version: He was the greatest new wave classic rocker who ever lived... (Postscript: Do most people even know the Cars had two lead singers? Ocasek and Benjamin Orr—who died in 2000—were longtime best friends who whose voices were two sides of the same coin, Orr flipping it on its warmer side and Ocasek on its icier side, the difference often being a subjective call. WIKIPEDIA helps here)... RIP also to EDDIE MONEY, who flirted with a career as a New York cop before turning into a workingman's classic rocker with strong R&B/soul roots and a post-ROD STEWART rasp. This is a great '70s single. This is a great '80s single. There were more.