Richard "Ric" Ocasek passed away this past Sunday, September 15, 2019. 75-year-old Ocasek was found dead Sunday at his New York City townhouse by his estranged wife, Paulina Porizkova, where he had been recovering from a recent surgery. The Chief Medical Examiner's office later reported Ric Ocasek died from natural causes; although, he suffered from both hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. Ocasek was best-known as being one of the founding members of The Cars, as well as the band's long-time lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter. The Cars emerged from the 1970's New Wave scene and were early originators of what is now commonly known as Power Pop with sonic allusions to Rock "N" Roll, Art Rock, and Rockabilly throughout. The Cars always appeared to be (to me, at least) a Punk-adjacent band, which makes complete sense because during The Cars' career, as well as after their 1988 disbandment, Ric Ocasek produced records for Suicide, Romeo Void, Bad Brains, Alan Vega, Bad Religion, D Generation, and No Doubt. Ocasek famously produced Weezer's Weezer (The Blue Album) & Weezer (The Green Album,) as well as both tracks and albums for Guided By Voices, Le Tigre, Brazilian Girls, The Pink Spiders, Motion City Soundtrack, and Shwayze. The Cars briefly reunited in 2011 for the first album in 24 years, Move Like This produced by Jacknife Lee and were later, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 by The Killers' frontman, Brandon Flowers. Ric Ocasek released seven solo albums between 1982-2005, as well as a 1996 spoken word album with Alan Vega & Gillian McCain. I would strongly recommend The Cars' self-titled 1978 debut for potential new fans, as it's filled with hit after hit from end-to-end!


Since Ric Ocasek's sudden passing, an outpouring of tributes, both musical and personal, have emerged from everyone from frequent collaborators Weezer to Def Jux founder/Run The Jewels' El-P. Here, we have collected a number of musical tributes that have been released in the days since Ocasek's passing: The Crust Brothers Cover The Cars, blink-182 co-frontman Mark Hoppus' rendition of "Just What I Needed," and @SimpsonsXcore's Simpsons-ized version of The Cars' self-titled 1978 debut. The Crust Brothers were a short-lived band active from about 1997-2000 consisting of Pavement's Stephen Malkmus and Andy Cohen, Michael Dahlquist & Tim "Midgett" Midyett of Silkworm. The Crust Brothers released one album, Marquee Mark, consisting of primarily Bob Dylan & The Band covers, which was recorded on December 5, 1997 at The Crocodile Café in Seattle, Washington. According to The Crust Brothers/Silkworm bassist Tim Midgett, SM & The Brothers played three additional shows: 12/30/98 at Breakroom in Seattle, 1/1/99 "someplace in Vancouver?" and 12/31/00, again, at The Crocodile Café. Now, nearly 20 years after The Crust Brothers' disbandment, NJ-based imprint, Comedy Minus One has unveiled The Crust Brothers Cover The Cars EP recorded at the 12/31/00 gig. "The songs had to be easy to play, since we barely practiced. Those Cars songs fit the bill. Andy [Cohen] wanted to do "Double Life" because he had always liked it, as I recall. "Good Times Roll" was an easy one to add on. Everyone likes hearing that stuff," Tim Midyett told The Witzard, via email. @SimpsonsXcore & Mark Hoppus' own personal tributes can be viewed above and below, respectively.

"A couple years ago, I was asked to record a creepy cover of "Just What I Needed" for a TV show. They wanted moody and strange, dark, and drony, with space for dialogue to go over it. I went into the studio with my friend, James Ingram, and this is what we came up with. The show was cancelled so quickly, the episode never aired, but if you can imagine a grim and grizzled detective determinedly working a murder case that shook them to the very core of their being, this is the music the show requested. It's been sitting on a hard drive ever since and with the sad news of Ric Ocasek's passing, I thought I'd put it up here. Enjoy it. And go listen to The Cars."

- Mark Hoppus (@markhoppus)