"Magic" by The Cars

Song#:  1912
Date:  05/19/1984
Debut:  59
Peak:  12
Weeks:  17
Genre:  Rock, New Wave



Pop Bits:  The Cars got the second Top 10 hit of their career when "You Might Think" reached #7. The #1 Rock track was the lead single from their fifth album Heartbeat City. This next one would be another big hit at Rock getting to #1, but it just missed out on placing in the Pop Top 10. The album would be a big seller for them hitting #3 and going 4x platinum. It would be their second album to hit both of those marks. Their 1979 album Candy-O was also a #3 quad-platinum disc.

ReduxReview:  The beefier sound, courtesy of producer "Mutt" Lange, is even more apparent on this song than on "You Might Think." Once again the band hits a sweet spot and maintains their track record for doing nice, concise, straight-ahead pop tunes. Although some of their earlier songs were better, this album was their commercial peak and deservedly so. I wasn't totally on board with it at the time, but now I find it to be a solid, fun 80s album.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  Although not quite as groundbreaking as "You Might Think," the video for this song became another hit on MTV. Directed by Tim Pope, the video has the band at a poolside party with various characters. At one point, lead singer Ric Ocasek begins to walk on top of the water of the pool. Others try to do the same, but fail and fall into the water. Ocasek's water walk was achieved by using a plexiglass platform that met the surface of the water. Unfortunately, the builders didn't take into account Ocasek's weight and on the first take, the platform collapsed. Once they got the platform built correctly, the illusion worked. The video was filmed at the Hilton family mansion/compound. Kathy Hilton (Paris' mom) rented out the house for the shoot.

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