Faith No More, etc. keyboardist Roddy Bottum has newly spoken about how an early 90s investment in Apple stock made him a multi-millionaire. It\u2019s a topic he\u2019s discussed in his recent memoir, \u2018The Royal We\u2018, which was published this past November. Bottum is said to have made a $12,000 investment in the aforementioned tech giant, utilizing the first substantial paycheck he had made from touring with Faith No More to do so.<\/p>\n
With the timeline Bottum provided, that early 1990s investment could total more than $7 million today. Appearing on \u2018The Hustle: Music & Money\u2018 podcast, Bottum explained what led him to invest in the company and the comforts that decision has afforded him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talk about it in the book. It\u2019s all laid out there pretty clearly. Part of the premise of who we were as kids and the buttons that we were pushing and the provocation that we were stewing in in San Francisco at the time was, like\u2026 I mean, you\u2019ve gotta sort of, like, wrap your head around what San Francisco was at that time. It was bicycle messengers. It was punk rock kids. It was kids who wore black, kids who sort of were really pretty judgmental and stuck to their own lanes in terms of highbrow arts and highbrow punk rock ethics.<\/p>\n
So us as kids, me and my crew, were about sort of pushing buttons and we were really about doing things that were considered outlandish or that rubbed people the wrong way. And one of those things, believe it or not, was, like, yeah, we were watching the stock market, just \u2019cause it was so uncool and so ridiculous and so over the top. Like, what punk rock, bicycle-messengering, dreadlocked, pot-smoking kid would follow the stock market?<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s the kind of provocative kids that we were, particularly this boyfriend that I had at that time, my first boyfriend\u2026 He was super smart. He was a little bit older than me and he kind of tutelaged me in that way. He showed me sort of the ropes and taught me how to read the stock market, just \u2019cause it was fascinating and also because I knew that it was provocative and it was like ridiculous.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d had no money. I had no money. I wasn\u2019t gonna buy stocks, God knows, but we did follow the stock market just sort of in an obnoxious way and brag about it later just to kind of stir shit, if you will. So then when the time came when I made a little bit of money through Faith No More \u2014 I\u2019d never made that much money before. I made $12,000 after touring for probably a year and a half straight. <\/p>\n
And I was at my home in Los Angeles visiting my family for the holidays, and someone delivered that check from\u2026 Our management company, who was managing Faith No More at the time, was, like, \u2018Oh, this is your compensation for what you made over the past year and a half. We have some overage, so everyone in the band is getting $12,000. And it was more money than I\u2019d ever seen, of course. And my dad was super proud. He was, like, \u2018Oh my God.\u2019 He couldn\u2019t believe that I was getting a check for $12,000.<\/p>\n
And at the time I was living with that boyfriend in San Francisco. We lived in a studio apartment. I didn\u2019t pay any rent, and I was still sort of working as a bicycle messenger and I would sort of, like\u2026 We were gonna go out on the road immediately. So I had no need for that $12,000. And the insane bipolar boyfriend convinced me to just take that $12,000 check and buy Apple stock with it.<\/p>\n
And it was at the time when sort of Apple stock was at its absolute most base. Steve Jobs wasn\u2019t back in the company yet. We were years and years away from the iPhone. And I just bought that stock and I just let it sit. And it\u2019s kind of a weird thing to bring up in the book. A couple of people read it. Even my publishers read it. My boyfriend read it. The people who read it said, \u2018Are you sure you wanna put that in the book?’\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking further on why he chose to disclose his financial status in the book, Bottum added:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not bragging about it. Honestly, it was like winning the lottery. It was just the craziest thing. Like, who would ever do that, for one? And it was just sort of like this crazy happenstance of luck that I happened to sort of like make that decision with this. I think the way that I bring it up in the book, too, it\u2019s, like, I have had insane relationships my whole life.<\/p>\n
I have been connected with and sort of friends with just absolute maniacal people my whole life. And I\u2019ve been criticized for it and people have hated my friends and judged me for that, but I\u2019ve always \u2014 that\u2019s a talent that I have. I have sort of this talent of seeing the light through the darkness in all kinds of people.<\/p>\n
And I say in the book, I say, well, oftentimes it bites me in the ass or whatever, but there\u2019s always a payoff. There\u2019s always a payoff for sort of the risks that I\u2019m willing to take and the friendships that I make. And that is an example of sort of a payoff in terms of this boyfriend I had was unbearable. I loved him. He was amazing and so smart. And I could see that \u2014 I could see the light through the darkness in that regard. And in terms of real tangibility, yeah, he made me a millionaire. So there you go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bottum also responded to the possible scenario that his financial status could diminish the urgency he feels to create new music, he offered:<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, there\u2019s not an urgency to make money, I guess. I have that cushion. You\u2019re right. That\u2019s a luxury. But I make music every day. Imperial Teen just finished a record. We were just finishing a record, and we\u2019re mixing it right now. I\u2019m making another record in New York with Crickets. We start our record in January.<\/p>\n
The past two years I\u2019ve put out two records with Man On Man, and we\u2019re gonna make another record in February. So it\u2019s not like I am not doing something and I\u2019m resting on my laurels and living off of Apple money. Sure, that\u2019s a cushion and that\u2019s sort of a luxury that I have. But I don\u2019t make music for money. I haven\u2019t written this book for the want for money. That\u2019s not my motivation in what I do artistically.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n