Editing Candy-O (section)

== Background ==
Unlike the first album, ''Candy-O'' was created under a more democratic approach. [[Ric Ocasek]] said of this, "When one of my songs goes to the band in barest cassette form, we sit around and talk about it. If I'm outvoted, we don't do it. We almost didn't include '[[Double Life (The Cars song)|Double Life]]' on the new album, it had been dropped. I think everybody in the Cars is open-minded and creative enough that they would do anything – nobody's holding anything back. Everybody appreciates the more radical, experimental kinds of music and likes it. But sometimes, when you're put together with five pieces, things are not as minimal as they could or should be. Everybody's developed a unique personal style, and we rely on their input. If they did it, it's good enough."<ref name=ucr />

Most of the songs on ''Candy-O'' were written after the release of ''The Cars'', meaning that most of the leftovers from the first album (including the popular encore "Take What You Want") were scrapped; "[[Night Spots]]", a reject from the first album, was still included.<ref name="Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology">{{cite AV media notes |title=Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology |title-link=Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology |others=[[The Cars]] |publisher=[[Rhino Entertainment|Rhino Records]] |year=1995 |id=R2 73506 |type=liner notes |last=Milano |first=Brett}}</ref>

For the album, the band once again worked with [[Queen (band)|Queen]] producer [[Roy Thomas Baker]]. Ocasek said of their relationship with the producer, "Well, some of the things on that first album that we thought were a little slick, we toned down on the second, like on the background vocals. But if we were going to rely on the producer we had hired, there was no reason to try and change him. On the second album, it was easier to say, 'Roy, let's not do the multi-tracked harmonies this time.{{'"}}<ref name=ucr />

The band's label, [[Elektra Records|Elektra]], initially wanted to hold back the release of the album, but the band stood their ground. Ocasek said of this, "At first Elektra wanted to hold it back some, but we told them there was no way, because if they were going to hold that back, they were going to hold us back, and we can't just sit around and be held back."<ref name=ucr>{{cite web |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/cars-candy-o/ |title=Why the Cars Roughed Things Up on Their Second LP, 'Candy-O' |website=[[Ultimate Classic Rock]] |date=2015-06-13 |access-date=2015-06-13 |last=Giles |first=Jeff}}</ref> Released as the follow-up to their 1978 debut album ''[[The Cars (album)|The Cars]]'', ''Candy-O'' peaked at number three on the Billboard 200. The album re-entered the charts at number 179 in 1984. The record was also ranked number 82 on ''Billboard''{{'}}s "Top Albums of the Year" chart for 1979.<ref name="BB-YE-1979"/>

Three singles were lifted from ''Candy-O'': "[[Let's Go (Cars song)|Let's Go]]" reached number 14, making it the first top-20 Cars single, "[[It's All I Can Do]]" peaked at number 41, barely missing the top 40,<ref name="Hot 100">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/the-cars/chart-history/hsi/ |title=The Cars Chart History (Billboard Hot 100) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=2019-09-19}}</ref> and "[[Double Life (The Cars song)|Double Life]]" failed to chart.