Though he's best-known as the author of seemingly non-threatening, ultra-radio-friendly power-pop smashes like Just What I Needed and My Best Friend's Girl, Ric Ocasek – the late frontman and rhythm guitarist of the Cars – always had a lot more punk and alt-rock street cred than you'd think.
The Cars' minimalism, visual and sonic, often earned them a New Wave tag that lumped them in with the likes of pop boundary-pushers of the era like Blondie and the Talking Heads. Though the band were fairly agnostic about the label, it wasn't applied to them without reason.
In the punk realm, Ocasek produced Suicide: Alan Vega and Martin Rev, the second album from the titular duo, in 1980.
Though more accessible than the band's debut – a listen to that album's centerpiece, the horrific 10-minute Frankie Teardrop (which this writer believes is still one of the most disturbing pieces of music to ever receive mass distribution) will prove what a tremendously low bar of “accessibility” that was – Ocasek's work on the album proved that his artistic talents went far beyond writing pop chart mainstays.
In that context, it makes sense that Ocasek would reach out to Smashing Pumpkins mastermind Billy Corgan to assist him with what would become his fifth solo album, 1997's Troublizing.
In a 1997 interview with Guitar World, Ocasek offered nothing but praise for Corgan and fond memories of his experiences working with him. To hear him tell it, the two were highly collaborative, with Ocasek allowing Corgan to, in some cases radically, re-shape his original arrangements, and Corgan luxuriating in Ocasek's guitar collection.
The Smashing Pumpkins guitar hero would end up playing on more than half of Troublizing's tracks, with Corgan often using Ocasek's own guitars; and favoring some in particular.
“He was using my guitars and everything,” Ocasek said of the sessions. “He fell in love with my SGs, so now I have to buy him one. I promised I'd get him one. I told him that one day it would show up at his door.”
Recording-wise, Ocasek and Corgan alternated between tracking live in the studio and plotting out songs with programming and drums played to a click, with further guitar overdubs coming later.
Giving his producer plenty of free rein to add touches as he saw fit, Ocasek came away impressed by Corgan's arranging and writing talents, and his technical abilities.
“[Corgan] did three EBow parts on Crashland Consequence. He did one part all the way through, put a harmony on top of it and then put a third harmony on – all pretty immediately, too,” Ocasek recounted.
“I was impressed with how he could instantly figure out where the thirds and fifths were. 'Cause I'm a basic non-musician. He's certainly proficient at playing.”
“What I think is nice about Crashland,” Ocasek continued, “is that he really accentuated the clicky guitar. And he also held back the drums for half the song. I thought that was cool.
“He also held back the real heavy guitars for almost 3/4 of the way through. Those are things that you sometimes don't think of when you're writing.”
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