The third nomination was the charm for The Cars, who were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today after falling short in two previous attempts. The group has been eligible since 2003.
Shortly after learning the news, guitarist Elliot Easton talked to us us from his Los Angeles-area home.
"Yeah, it's very exciting. Didn't know if we'd get in this year but I'm really happy that we did, very proud. My family's very excited and it's a cool thing. I mean, you know you play this music since you were a kid and you don't expect anything like this to happen. You know, if you look back to where you started and then look back on your career and think that it led to being in the Hall of Fame for this stuff -- I mean that's kind of cool."
The Cars had the same five members for its initial 12 years -- Easton, Ric Ocasek, Greg Hawkes, David Robinson and Ben Orr. Orr died of pancreatic cancer in 2000, and the group reunited in 2010 as a foursome.
Orr hailed from Cleveland, which is where the ceremony will be held on April 14th. It was also in Cleveland where he met Ocasek in the '60s. They moved to Boston in the '70s and formed The Cars there.
Joining The Cars in the Class of 2018 are The Moody Blues, Dire Straits, Bon Jovi, Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Source: RockHall.com and Premiere photo credit - Getty images