G-d Bless Elliot Easton, 70 Years Old

Elliot Easton, impossibly tasty guitarist of The Cars and the first real guitar hero of New Wave music, turns 70 today.

The Cars’ debut record exploded onto the radio in the summer of 1978, with its perfect single “Just What I Needed.” That means Easton’s tasteful left-handed chops have been uplifting our existence for 45 years.

In the early ’80s, after Shake It Up and before The Cars’ biggest album, Heartbeat City (which contains several perfect songs but is ultimately a disappointment to the rocking fans of the band, partly because it fails to feature Easton, but also because of Mutt Lange’s horribly synthetic and robotic production) I was sitting in my bedroom at my mom‘s apartment in New Jersey, and became aware of that ultimate aphrodisiac to any music fan—rock ‘n’ roll beef.

Press play to hear a narrated version of this story, presented by AudioHopper.

I would give anything to find this article, and part of the reason I’m writing this is in the hope that the Internet will do its thing and find it for me. The gist is that Ric Ocasek, incomparable songwriter and leader of The Cars, had dissed Easton. Something along the lines of, “If I didn’t keep a close eye on him, all I’d get would be scales from the Berklee College of Music.” The reference was to Easton‘s obvious proficiency, but supposed lack of taste in line with Ocasek’s vision.

After the article came out, Ocasek reconsidered. He wrote to the magazine, and that’s what I was reading – Ric’s letter to the editor went on and on about the importance of Easton‘s contributions to The Cars’ sound and look. People who grew up on the Internet don’t understand how rare and exciting it was to get what felt like a real insight into bands’ inner dynamics. But this little glimpse into the complexity, psychological and musical, that went into creating four perfect albums in a row plus a giant hit album that had a couple perfect songs plus a bunch of other stuff … it was precious reading that has lingered for 40 years.

In a 2019 appreciation of Elliot Easton, the rock historian Bill Janovitz called Easton “the kind of guy who can somehow still be underrated even as a founding member of a band that sold many millions of records, significantly helped define the sound of an era, and get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”

Janovitz should know. He himself is a mesmerizing songwriter and a plus guitarist, and his own Boston band Buffalo Tom actually shows some flashes of Cars appreciation in, for example, the intro to “Your Stripes.”

Janovitz told me last week that his article about Elliot in this publication four years ago actually set the stage for the book he is now writing about The Cars in cooperation with their surviving members now that Ocasek and dreamy bass player Benjamin Orr have passed on.

So let’s talk about Easton and what makes him great.

To me, it’s the combination of perfect tone—that heavily overdriven, old distortion pedal sound, going through an overdriven tube amp—placed in juxtaposition against the precise keyboards and layered Roy Thomas Baker harmonies of the rest of the band. Listen to the solo in “Shake It Up” to experience Easton‘s versatility. It starts off with those very fast Fixx like riffs, but then when what I think of as the “real solo” kicks in it’s just a rockin good time that could’ve been played by KK Downing. Both perfectly musical and imperfect, keeping with the musicality of a great tune.

But it’s not just the solos. Elliott Easton found little pockets for greatness in the songs of one of the most quirky and busy songwriters in history. Listen to what Elliott is doing around the 3:20 mark of “Dangerous Type.” This is a song that showcases synthesizer and drums, as well as an irresistible chorus hook. But there’s Elliott in the background noodling a low note part that’s super subtle, and just so damn tasty.

Just listen to this tone at the end of “You Can’t Hold On Too Long.” Nothing too fancy in the playing. But OMG the overdrive and sustain.

Or the perfect three reverb soaked low notes in each line of the chorus to “Touch and Go.” Not to mention the solo in that song, which really showcases the chops and even throws in some EVH style tapping.

Same with “It’s All I Can Do.” You’ve got Ric Ocasek playing these almost unbelievably restrained and sparse eighth note bits. And then when Elliot comes in on the power chords, it’s just so mondo without ever obscuring the great keyboard riff that underpins the verse. And OMG the solo in that song. I can play those notes. But I can never get it to sound like Elliot.

And you can’t be a jerk off guitar fan talking about Elliot Easton without mentioning the solo to “Just What I Needed.” A lot. It’s a perfect 8-bar masterpiece of construction and composition. Played behind a chord pattern that unlike every other rock song is not one that appears in the verse or chorus. Perfect tone, perfect chops, perfect restraint — one of the few solos that even people who don’t care about the guitar can whistle. If kids taking up electric guitar in the ’70s had to learn “Smoke on the Water,” then those coming of age in the 80s had to learn the solo to “Just What I Needed.” It deserves to regularly make everybody’s list of Top 20 guitar solos, including that of the official referee of guitar awesomeness Rick Beato, who brilliantly dissects what makes the song great in episode #99 of his hit YouTube series.

I already knew Elliot Easton was Jewish because of my obsessive reading about rock ‘n’ roll and compunction to understand the contributions of Jewish artists. But it wasn’t until this birthday celebration that I heard him talk about it. Elliot Easton, born Elliot Steinberg, December 18, 1953, told Jim Sullivan in a great piece in The Forward that “I don’t go to temple every week for Sabbath but I identify as a Jew. Just the sensibility — the stressing of education and achievement, the food, the humor and the outlook on life which is colored by how I was brought up.”

At age 70, Easton has pumped the heart of rock fans, Jewish and otherwise, for the great majority of his life. He is scoring a new JJ Abrams project right now, and working on the book with Janovitz and actually put out some very respectable power pop not written by Ric Ocasek in the form of the supergroup The Empty Hearts.

That’s an exceptional body of work. Elliot Easton owes us nothing and we rock and roll fans owe him a lot.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Ken Kurson

Ken Kurson is the founder of the Globe suite of sites. He is also the founder of Green Magazine and greenmagazine.com and covered finance for Esquire magazine for almost 20 years. Ken is the author of several books, including the New York Times No. 1 bestseller Leadership.

Latest posts by Ken Kurson (see all)

• Eric Carmen, Epic Songwriter and Unforgettable Crooner, Has Died - March 12, 2024
• G-d Bless Elliot Easton, 70 Years Old - December 18, 2023
• Rock Bottom: Geddy Lee Contributes an Important and Entertaining Memoir - December 11, 2023