When the first Cars album came out, Ocasek was already in his thirties, a veteran of several also-ran Boston bands. The most important skill he’d learned was concision: The first two Cars albums have an almost Motown-like sense of efficiency and purpose. The name of their self-titled debut’s opening track dates back to R&B romps of the ’40s and ’50s, but as usual, Ocasek’s goal was to undermine a familiar conceit. “Let them brush your rock ’n’ roll hair,” he sings in this steely song about insouciance. And with “If the illusion is real, let them give you a ride,” he foresaw everything to come in the 1980s.