When you're a famous rock star at the height of your career, the wave of success might
seem endless.
But everyone knows nothing lasts forever and many musicians aren't exactly brilliant at
saving up that nest egg.
Here are the rockers who went completely broke.
(And a few who clawed their way back.)
English bad-boy rocker Pete Doherty founded the rock band The Libertines in 1997.
And when the group banned him from playing, due to his drug abuse and jail time, Doherty
simply started another band, the Babyshambles, in 2003.
"I long for a mediocre gig"
But his addiction didn't just affect his relationships, it affected his bottom line.
In 2007, the Evening Standard reported that despite earning millions with The Libertines
and his recent Babyshambles album selling 100,000 copies, Doherty was quote, "on the
verge of bankruptcy."
While it was assumed his addictions didn't help financial matters, his investments hadn't
done well either and all the money was seemingly gone.
"It was a part of a way of life that I was locked into"
Fortunately, he'd managed to snag supermodel Kate Moss along the way, and her millions
were keeping him afloat at the time.
But Moss was long gone by 2010, when The Sun claimed that the rocker was quote, "completely
broke," and living in a basement apartment.
Fact or tabloid fiction, Doherty was done…that is, until he formed a new band, Peter Doherty
practices," and that can mean a very successful act might somehow have no money or perhaps
owes their label lots of cash.
"This is why people find me difficult sometimes, but it makes perfect sense to me"
In 1979, Petty found himself with two hit albums, numerous hit singles, and what he
thought was an unfair cut of the sales, due to a bad contract he claims he signed against
his will.
So he completed a third album, which he financed himself, but refused to let the record company
release it.
This left him $500,000 in debt, and he filed for bankruptcy.
According to Rolling Stone in 1980, Petty's record label sued him and refused to let him
perform in concert.
Petty filing for bankruptcy and announcing he'd only made $36,000 the previous year was
also very embarrassing for the label.
Billboard reports this strategy was concerning to the record industry, since other artists
might follow suit.
So the label folded, offering the broke Petty an attractive $3 million contract.
In 1984, Mick Fleetwood filed for bankruptcy which was absurd, since he had founded Fleetwood
Mac 17 years prior.
It's also important to note that according to Paste in 2018, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours
was the seventh best-selling album of all time.
Part of the problem was that as the drummer, Fleetwood didn't write any of the band's songs,
so he made the least amount of everyone, according to the Telegraph.
In '84, his lawyer was also quick to point out that Fleetwood was not blowing money on
drugs.
Or was he?
"I never took anything quote in the opiate area.”
"Booze and cocaine"
But he was definitely up to his neck in real estate.
Fleetwood bought and then quickly sold property in Australia and quote "took a bath" on the
transactions financially.
Then he bought a mansion and took out a huge loan when interest rates were at their peak.
As Fleetwood Mac band members took time off for solo projects, his yearly income plummeted
to only a couple hundred thousand.
Then there were various investments that flopped.
In 2014, Fleetwood told the Telegraph he'd "lost count" of how many times he had filed
for bankruptcy.
David Crosby saw huge success with two legendary bands: The Byrds and supergroup Crosby, Stills,
& Nash and sometimes Young.
"Yes we did good singing, yes we did good guitar playing, but the key was we had songs
that made you feel something."
But that all fell apart in the '80s.
Ultimate Classic Rock reported Crosby's first run-in with the law happened when he crashed
his car while on cocaine.
He also had a concealed weapon on him.
Then just three weeks later he was busted with more cocaine and a gun in a nightclub
where he was performing.
According to the LA Times, the conviction was overturned on appeal, but then in 1984,
Crosby got three years' probation for driving on a suspended license while drunk.
A year later he crashed his car again and, as was charged with possession of a concealed
pistol and narcotics paraphernalia, and hit-and-run driving.
"I remember trading a 1939 Herringbone Dreadnought…stunner… for substance"
Eventually, Crosby did hard time, with Bankrate reporting that in 1985, he filed for bankruptcy.
When he got out of jail, he was so broke that he had to live in a friend's spare bedroom
and borrow his clothes.
In 2003, Crosby told the outlet that he estimated he'd burned through $25 million over the course
of his career.
He eventually made his money back by continuing to work, but CNN reported he was arrested
for possessing a gun and drugs yet again, in 2004.
"Rock stars are cute.
They got nice haircuts"
"But I'm more into just working hard, playing hard, making great music and going hunting"
These days Ted Nugent is known for his opinions on guns, his vocal support of Donald Trump,
and even for visiting the White House with Sarah Palin and Kid Rock, but he's first and
foremost a successful rock star.
He also seemed to care about his money, calling his accountant quote, "kick ass" in a 1979
Rolling Stone interview, and saying the guy got a quote, "sensual thrill" out of doing
Nugent's books.
But in that same interview, the reporter watched Nugent quickly sign a packet of bonus checks
for his employees, totalling $87,000 in 1979.
Nugent claimed he paid everyone handsomely from his musicians, roadies, agents, and accountants
to the farmers on his mink ranch.
"And people wonder why I have this attitude"
According to Texas Monthly, within a year of that Rolling Stone interview, Nugent was
bankrupt.
The mink farm, as well as other esoteric investments like a hotel in Flint, Michigan, and a herd
of Clydesdales, had been failures.
But these days, it seems like he's not dwelling on the past.
"I'm having the time of my life.
And someday someone will acknowledge that these are some of the greatest rock n roll
songs ever written"
In the mid-'80s, Twisted Sister was riding high with a quadruple platinum album and crazy
music videos that went viral well before YouTube.
And Dee Snider, as the main songwriter, was making a ton of money, according to Hard Rock
Daddy.
But then he was called before the Senate to defend his violent music videos.
In order to get politicians on his side, Snider mentioned he was,
"A teetotaling family man who never drank, smoked, or did drugs."
"I don't advocate sexism, the use of drugs, and drinking.
So I don't write about those things.
I only write about things I believe in"
That statement ruined his credibility with his fans and Twisted Sister was over.
Radar Online reported this dramatic fall resulted in Snider filing for bankruptcy.
He told Fox News that by 1995 he was quote "flat broke," claiming that unlike other bankrupt
musicians, he didn't have a drug problem or a corrupt manager he could blame for his financial
problems.
Snider said at that point he couldn't even afford to buy his kids a piece of candy, although
thanks to nostalgia and time on Broadway, he's since bounced back financially.
"So we might as well start at the beginning…Why?
It's much better to start at the end and go backwards"
At one point in rock history, Meat Loaf was massive.
His 1977 album Bat Out of Hell was one of the best selling in pop history, according
to the LA Times.
But his record company lied to him about just how many albums he was actually selling, so
the money wasn't rolling in like it should have been.
I don't make anything look easy and I don't ever let anything be easy"
Loaf said he suspected his sales were being lowballed during the '80s, but it wasn't until
the early '90s, when accounting technology got better, that he could prove it estimating
that his record company owed him $14 million in 1996-era money.
And all that cash would have come in really handy for Loaf in the early '80s.
In 1983, Loaf's publisher and manager, among others, sued him with 22 separate lawsuits
for $85 million total and they wiped him out.
Having filed for Chapter 11, Loaf claims he lost his home and even the publishing rights
to his songs.
When they first started out, The Goo Goo Dolls were so desperate for a record deal they were
basically willing to sign any contract.
After releasing a couple of albums in the late '80s, the band signed with Metal Blade
Records.
They would later claim in a lawsuit, according to Billboard, that the company quote "exploited
their naivete" and got them to sign an unfair contract, one that saw them quote, "sign away
most of their royalty rights."
This meant that while they toiled away trying to make it, the band members all still held
down part-time jobs..
But then in '95, their smash hit album A Boy Named Goo came out.
Led by the single "Name," it sold millions of copies.
The band should have been rolling in it, except the money never came.
Each member got a measly $6,000 a year from their label.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea"
Unable to pay the bills, they went on tour for two years.
It wasn't always fun for them, like when they joined up with Bush and No Doubt, an experience
one member said was like:
"Having a dentist enter through your ass to pull your wisdom teeth out."
So they sued their label.
They won, and signed a much better contract, but there were still money issues, like when
their drummer left over financial disagreements.
"Doesn't it feel like there's more out there?
Out where.
Everywhere.
Whatever's out there, let's find it"
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