The Cars Made Ric Ocasek Rich. The Band Got Nothing.

Ric Ocasek made every move. He controlled the songwriting. He controlled the publishing. And when The Cars turned into one of the biggest bands of the late '70s and '80s, he controlled where the money went — which was mostly to him.David Robinson built the rest. He named the band. He designed their look. He brought the instincts he'd sharpened in The Modern Lovers and DMZ and turned five guys from Boston into a brand. But naming a band and shaping its identity doesn't show up on a publishing check — and Ocasek made sure the publishing was his.The hits made the split obvious. "Just What I Needed," "My Best Friend's Girl," "Good Times Roll," "Shake It Up," and "Drive" sold millions. Albums like The Cars (1978), Candy-O, and Heartbeat City defined an era. The songwriting royalties flowed to one name. Everyone else — Robinson, Benjamin Orr, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes — played on the records that built the fortune and watched the lion's share land somewhere else. 🔺MERCH https://legendsbehindthekit.com 🔺X https://x.com/Stickzonthakit https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... ⭕Test your drummer knowledge: https://lbtk-trivia.netlify.app Subscribe Now    / @legendsbehindthekit