The Cars  by The Cars

Somewhere in the middle of 1978, a band of young people from Boston released their first album. The band's sound resembles more the sound of youth bands from Great Britain rather than the sound of American pop/rock groups of that time. The band was The Cars and their debut was titled with the band's name.

The nine songs of the album are a mix of synth-rock and power pop, under the veil of course of new wave, which was unstoppable at that exact time period. A significant role for the "British new wave" sound of the album was played by the fact that its recording took place at Oxford Street studios in London in February 1978 and that its producer was the Englishman Roy Thomas Baker, who was just completing his collaboration with Queen at that time and inaugurating his collaboration with The Cars, which would last for the next three albums of the Americans. The woman depicted on the album cover was the Russian-born model Nataliya Georgiyevna Medvedeva.

From the album, the singles released were Just What I Needed, My Best Friend's Girl, and Good Times Roll. The album The Cars has sold globally close to 6,500,000 copies and is the most commercially successful album of the band. It surpasses in sales even the 1985 Greatest Hits (!)