I Heard This: The Cars at Owl & Thistle

For everything that was wrong with 80's pop, The Cars were so very right. They'd have been right in virtually any era, and yet Rick Ocasek, Benji Orr & Co. rarely, if every, get mentioned among the greatest pop bands of the past half century (Bonus points for Ocasek's enduring marriage to supermodel Paulina Poriskova, which makes the Lovett-Roberts nups look normal by comparison). Looking back at "Magic," "Just What I Needed," "You Might Think," and, most spectacularly, "Drive," among other tunes, I have no doubt they belong in the conversation -- an opinion reinforced over a lunch of fish and chips at the Owl and Thistle, which piped the band's greatest hits over their stereo system for the duration.