When you're a popular rock star, the success probably feels endless when you're churning out hit after hit. But nothing lasts forever, and a lot of rock stars seem to have trouble saving up a nest egg. Here are rockers who went completely broke.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00When you're a famous rock star at the height of your career, the wave of success might
00:04seem endless.
00:05But everyone knows nothing lasts forever, and many musicians aren't exactly brilliant
00:09at saving up that nest egg.
00:11Here are the rockers who went completely broke, and a few who clawed their way back.
00:16English bad-boy rocker Pete Doherty founded the rock band the Libertines in 1997, and
00:22when the group banned him from playing due to his drug abuse and jail time, Doherty simply
00:26started another band, the Baby Shambles, in 2003.
00:30I long for a mediocre gig."
00:32But his addiction didn't just affect his relationships.
00:35It affected his bottom line.
00:37In 2007, the Evening Standard reported that despite earning millions with the Libertines
00:41and his recent Baby Shambles album selling 100,000 copies, Doherty was, quote, on the
00:47verge of bankruptcy.
00:48While it was assumed his addictions didn't help financial matters, his investments hadn't
00:53done well, either, and all the money was seemingly gone.
00:56It was all part of a way of life that I was locked into, you know?"
01:02Fortunately, he'd managed to snag supermodel Kate Moss around the way, and her millions
01:07were keeping him afloat at the time.
01:09But Moss was long gone by 2010, when The Sun claimed that the rocker was, quote, completely
01:14broke and living in a basement apartment.
01:17Fact or tabloid fiction, Doherty was done.
01:20That is, until he formed a new band, Peter Doherty and the P---- Adres.
01:25Courtney Love is a successful rocker in her own right, but her real money comes from her
01:30late husband Kurt Cobain's publishing rights.
01:32Yet she told The Fix that after Cobain died, she lost track of the money, claiming,
01:37"...I was doing drugs from the moment I woke up till the time I went to bed.
01:42I was out of it most of the time."
01:44By the time she realized what was happening, she was totally broke.
01:48She and daughter Frances moved in with Love's stepfather, and she claims they didn't even
01:52have enough money to eat.
01:54Then in 2013, according to Clash Music, Love again said she was near bankruptcy because
01:59money had been taken from her accounts.
02:01"...I think betting against me is probably not a good move, just because I tend to get
02:06what I want."
02:09However, as the outlet noted, there has been controversy over her claims of so-called poverty.
02:14In a 2009 court filing, Frances claimed that her mother was,
02:18"...obsessed with uncovering fraud and spends much of her day raging about the fraud that
02:23has been perpetrated on her."
02:25What's definitely true, however, is that Love has trouble paying taxes.
02:29The Blast reported that the IRS came after her for non-payment of hundreds of thousands
02:34of dollars in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2016.
02:39The last bill was for the largest one yet, over $500,000.
02:44When Tom Petty filed for bankruptcy in 1979, it was a strategic choice.
02:50Petty was the first artist to figure out how to legally say he had no money to get out
02:54of a bad recording contract.
02:56As History reported, the music industry is, quote, "...notorious for its creative accounting
03:01practices," and that can mean a very successful act might somehow have no money or perhaps
03:06owes their label tons of cash.
03:08"...This is why people find me difficult sometimes, but it makes perfect sense to me."
03:14In 1979, Petty found himself with two hit albums, numerous hit singles, and what he
03:19thought was an unfair cut of the sales due to a bad contract he claims he signed against
03:24his will.
03:25So he completed a third album, which he financed himself, but refused to let the record company
03:30release it.
03:31This left him $500,000 in debt, and he filed for bankruptcy.
03:36According to Rolling Stone in 1980, Petty's record label sued him and refused to let him
03:40perform in concert.
03:42Petty filing for bankruptcy and announcing he'd only made $36,000 the previous year was
03:47also very embarrassing for the label.
03:50Billboard reports this strategy was concerning to the record industry, since other artists
03:54might follow suit.
03:56So the label folded, offering the broke, petty, and attractive $3 million contract.
04:02In 1984, Mick Fleetwood filed for bankruptcy, which was absurd since he had founded Fleetwood
04:07Mac 17 years prior.
04:09It's also important to note that according to Paste, in 2018, Fleetwood Mac's Rumors
04:14was the seventh-best-selling album of all time.
04:17Part of the problem was that as the drummer, Fleetwood didn't write any of the band's songs,
04:22so he made the least amount of everyone, according to The Telegraph.
04:26In 1984, his lawyer was also quick to point out that Fleetwood was not blowing money on
04:30drugs.
04:31Or was he?
04:32I never took anything, quote, in the opiate area, booze and cocaine.
04:39But he was definitely up to his neck in real estate.
04:42Fleetwood bought and then quickly sold property in Australia and, quote, took a bath on the
04:46transactions financially.
04:48Then he bought a mansion and took out a huge loan when interest rates were at their peak.
04:52As Fleetwood Mac band members took time off for solo projects, his yearly income plummeted
04:57to only a couple hundred thousand.
04:59Then there were the various investments that flopped.
05:02In 2014, Fleetwood told The Telegraph he'd lost count of how many times he'd filed for
05:06bankruptcy.
05:08David Crosby saw huge success with two legendary bands, the Byrds and supergroup Crosby, Stills,
05:13and Nash, and sometimes Young.
05:15You know, yes, we did good singing, yes, we did good guitar playing, but the key was we
05:20had songs that made you feel something.
05:22But that all fell apart in the 80s.
05:24Ultimate Classic Rock reported Crosby's first run-in with the law happened when he crashed
05:28his car while on cocaine.
05:30He also had a concealed weapon on him.
05:33Then just three weeks later, he was busted with more cocaine and a gun in a nightclub
05:38where he was performing.
05:39According to the LA Times, the conviction was overturned on appeal, but then in 1984,
05:44Crosby got three years' probation for driving on a suspended license while drunk.
05:49A year later, he crashed his car again and was charged with possession of a concealed
05:54pistol and narcotics paraphernalia and hit-and-run driving.
05:57I remember trading a 1939 Herringbone Retinol.
06:03Stunner.
06:04For, uh, substance."
06:07Eventually, Crosby did hard time, with Bankrate reporting that in 1985, he filed for bankruptcy.
06:14When he got out of jail, he was so broke he had to live in a friend's spare bedroom and
06:18borrow his clothes.
06:19In 2003, Crosby told the outlet that he estimated he'd burn through $25 million over the course
06:25of his career.
06:26He eventually made his money back by continuing to work, but CNN reported that he was arrested
06:31for possessing a gun and drugs yet again in 2004.
06:35"'Rockstars' are cute, um, they got nice haircuts, but, uh, I'm more into just, uh, working hard,
06:42playing hard, making great music, and, uh, and going hunting."
06:46These days, Ted Nugent is known for his opinions on guns, his vocal support of Donald Trump,
06:51and even for visiting the White House with Sarah Palin and Kid Rock.
06:54But he's first and foremost a successful rock star.
06:57He also seemed to care about his money, calling his accountant, quote, "'kick ass' in a 1979
07:02Rolling Stone interview, saying that the guy got a, quote, "'sensual thrill' out of doing
07:07Nugent's books.'"
07:08But in that same interview, the reporter watched Nugent quickly sign a packet of bonus checks
07:13for his employees totaling $87,000 in 1979.
07:18Nugent claimed he paid everyone handsomely, from his musicians, roadies, agents, and accountants,
07:23to the farmers on his mink ranch.
07:25"...and people wonder why I have this attitude."
07:29According to Texas Monthly, within a year of that Rolling Stone interview, Nugent was
07:33bankrupt.
07:34The mink farm, as well as other esoteric investments like a hotel in Flint, Michigan, and a herd
07:38of Clydesdales had been failures.
07:40But these days, it seems like he's not dwelling on the past.
07:44"'I'm having the time of my life, and someday someone will acknowledge that these are some
07:50of the greatest rock and roll songs ever written."
07:55In the mid-'80s, Twisted Sister was riding high with a quadruple-platinum album and crazy
08:00music videos that went viral well before YouTube.
08:03And Dee Snider, as the main songwriter, was making a ton of money, according to Hard Rock
08:07Daddy.
08:08But then he was called before the Senate to defend his violent music videos.
08:12In order to get politicians on his side, Snider mentioned he was
08:16"...a teetotaling family man who never drank, smoked, or did drugs."
08:20"...I don't advocate sexism, the use of drugs, and drinking.
08:24So I don't write about those things.
08:26I only write about things I believe in."
08:28That statement ruined his credibility with his fans, and Twisted Sister was over.
08:32Radar Online reported this dramatic fall resulted in Snider filing for bankruptcy.
08:38He told Fox News that by 1995 he was, quote, "'flat broke,'' claiming that unlike other
08:44bankrupt musicians, he didn't have a drug problem or a corrupt manager he could blame
08:48for his financial problems.
08:50Snider said at that point he couldn't even afford to buy his kids a piece of candy, although
08:53thanks to nostalgia and time on Broadway, he's since bounced back financially.
08:59When they first started out, the Goo Goo Dolls were so desperate for a record deal they were
09:02basically willing to sign any contract.
09:05After releasing a couple of albums in the late-'80s, the band signed with Metal Blade
09:10Records.
09:11Snider claimed in a lawsuit, according to Billboard, that the company, quote, "'exploited
09:14their naivete' and got them to sign an unfair contract,' one that saw them, quote, "'sign
09:19away most of their royalty rights.'"
09:21This meant that while they toiled away trying to make it, the band members all still held
09:26down part-time jobs.
09:28But then in 1995, their smash hit album A Boy Named Goo came out.
09:32Led by the single name, it sold millions of copies.
09:35The band should have been rolling in it, except the money never came.
09:38Each member got a measly $6,000 a year from their label.
09:42"'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.'"
09:44Unable to pay the bills, they went on tour for two years.
09:47It wasn't always fun for them, like when they joined up with Bush in No Doubt, an experience
09:52one member said was like,
09:53"'Having a dentist enter through your a** to pull your wisdom teeth out.'"
09:57So they sued their label.
09:59They won and signed a much better contract, but there were still money issues, like when
10:03the drummer left over financial disagreements.
10:08For more stories, visit nyseagrant.com or call 1-800-637-8170.