You Might Think

"You Might Think"
Single by The Cars
from the album Heartbeat City
B-side "Heartbeat City" (US)
"I Refuse" (UK) 7", (US) 12"
Released March 1984 (US)
November 1984 (UK)
Format 7", 12"
Recorded 1983-1984
Genre New wave, pop rock
Length 3:04
Label Elektra 69744
Writer(s) Ric Ocasek
Producer(s) Robert John "Mutt" Lange
The Cars
The Cars singles chronology
"Victim of Love"
(US, 1982)
---
"Think It Over"
(UK, 1982)		 "You Might Think"
(1984)		 "Magic"
(1984)

"You Might Think" is a single by The Cars from their fifth studio album, Heartbeat City, which came out in 1984. The track was written by Ric Ocasek, and produced by Mutt Lange and The Cars. Ocasek sang lead vocals.

The track was the first single to be released from Heartbeat City. Thanks in part to a striking video, "You Might Think" became a substantial hit in the US (peaking at #7) and in Canada (peaking at #8). It also peaked at #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the US, the first song by the band to do so. In the UK, however, the track only made it to No. 88 on the pop charts. Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song for the 1984 Alvin and the Chipmunks episode "Alvin on Ice". It was also covered by the American band Weezer as part of the soundtrack for the Disney-Pixar animated film Cars 2 (2011). The song was also covered by the Japanese band, Mr. Fukushima and his Sweet Hollywaiians, on their 2012 release Same Old Song Book. It was also featured at the start of Where the Money Is and the Regular Show episode "Do or Diaper".

Music video

The music video is one of the first videos to use computer graphics. The video features band leader Ric Ocasek and model Susan Gallagher in a series of encounters.[1] Ocasek appears in her bathroom mirror, inside a submarine in her bathtub, in her mouth, as a fly, as King Kong swatting attacking airplanes on top of the Empire State Building and as the Robot Monster, among other incarnations.

"You Might Think" won the first MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year and was nominated for five more awards (best special effects, best art direction, viewer's choice, best concept video, and most experimental video) at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. The video also won five awards (best overall, best conceptual, most innovative, best editing, and best special effects)[2] at Billboard's 1984 Video Music Awards and four awards (best achievement in music video, best editor in music video, best engineer in music video, and best camera in music video) at the Videotape Production Association's 1985 Monitor Awards.[3]

Jeff Stein, and Alex Weil and Charlie Levi of VFX company Charlex, directed and produced the video. Danny Rosenberg and Bill Weber served both as editors and video engineers, Kevin Jones was the lighting director, Danny Ducovny the cinematographer and Bob Ryzner the art director.[4][5] The video cost $80,000 to make which was almost triple the average music video budget of the time.[6]

Track listing

  1. "You Might Think"
  2. "Heartbeat City"
  1. "You Might Think"
  2. "Let's Go"
  3. "I Refuse"

Charts

Chart (1984) Peak
position
Canadian RPM 100 8
Dutch Singles Chart 49
New Zealand Singles Chart 27
Swedish Singles Chart 20
UK Singles Chart 88
US Billboard Hot 100 7
US Billboard Top Rock Tracks 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1984) Position
US Billboard Hot 100 65

Notes

  1. ↑ mvdbase.com - the Cars - "You might think"
  2. ↑ Billboard vol. 96 no. 47 (November 24, 1984), p. 1
  3. ↑ Billboard vol. 97 no. 27 (July 6, 1985), p. 48
  4. ↑ Heartbeat City video compilation, Warner Home Video, 1984
  5. ↑ Billboard vol. 97 no. 20 (May 18, 1985), p. 32
  6. ↑ Frederator Studios Blogs | Channel Frederator Blog | Charlex & Jeff Stein: “You Might Think”

External links