It was 40 years ago March 13 that The Cars released their fifth studio album, Heartbeat City, which was a blockbuster hit for the group.
Considered by many to be the band's comeback album, Heartbeat City, produced by Mutt Lange, resulted in huge mainstream success for The Cars, with the album peaking at #3 on the Billboard 200 Album chart and hitting #1 on the Billboard Rock Album chart. It went on to be certified four-times Platinum by the RIAA.
Much of the album's popularity was due to singles like "You Might Think" and "Drive," both of which reached the Billboard Hot 100 top 10.
"It was very striking for its time," Craig Marks, co-author of I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, tells ABC Audio, although he notes Ocasek "famously didn't like the video. He thought it made fun of the way he looked, cause he kind of did look like a fly."