“Bye Bye Love” by The Cars

The Cars are one of those quintessential bands tied to Boston and the 80’s, except that their chief songwriting duo met in Cleveland, and many of their most memorable hits were released in the 70’s. They’re also one of those bands that never stuck out as significant, even though they sold millions of albums, with timeless singles that everyone fondly remembers.

Orr and Ocasek met in Cleveland Ohio in 1965 and started performing together shortly after around central Ohio and Michigan. They relocated to Boston in the early 70’s and formed Milkwood, a folk rock band signed to Paramount Records that failed to gain popularity. Soon after the two formed the Cars and with the help of local radio play from their demos, they were able to secure a deal with Elektra Records.

“Bye Bye Love” was written by Ocasek and sung by Orr. It’s found on their eponymous debut, released on June 6th of 1978. It’s an underrated song and would have been a single if it wasn’t overshadowed by “Just What I Needed,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” and “Good Times Roll.”
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We lost Benjamin Orr on October 3rd of 2000 and Rick Ocasek on September 15th of 2019. They aren’t thought of like Lennon–McCartney, or Jagger–Richards, but for a time in musical history, they wrote some of the catchiest pop songs ever.