FAITH NO MORE's RODDY BOTTUM Explains How He Became A Multi-Millionaire From Being An Early APPLE Investor

During a recent appearance on "The Hustle: Music & Money" podcast, Roddy Bottum, keyboardist for FAITH NO MORE and IMPERIAL TEEN, spoke about how he became a multi-millionaire from an early investment in Apple stock, a fact he also discusses in his memoir "The Royal We". Roddy invested around $12,000 in the early 1990s, which grew substantially due to splits and appreciation, making him financially secure.

Asked how he even knew to watch the stock market more than three decades ago, Roddy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "I talk about it in the book. It's 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… I mean, you've 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. 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 'cause 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? But that's the kind of provocative kids that we were, particularly this boyfriend that I had at that time, my first boyfriend... 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 'cause it was fascinating and also because I knew that it was provocative and it was like ridiculous. We'd had no money. I had no money. I wasn't 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 — I'd never made that much money before. I made $12,000 after touring for probably a year and a half straight. And I was at my home in Los Angeles visiting my family for the holidays, and someone delivered that check from… Our management company, who was managing FAITH NO MORE at the time, was, like, 'Oh, 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'd ever seen, of course. And my dad was super proud. He was, like, 'Oh my God.' He couldn't believe that I was getting a check for $12,000. And at the time I was living with that boyfriend in San Francisco. We lived in a studio apartment. I didn't pay any rent, and I was still sort of working as a bicycle messenger and I would sort of, like… 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. And it was at the time when sort of Apple stock was at its absolute most base. Steve Jobs wasn't 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's 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, 'Are you sure you wanna put that in the book?'"

Elaborating on why he chose to discuss his early Apple investment in his book, Roddy continued: "I'm 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's, like, I have had insane relationships my whole life. I have been connected with and sort of friends with just absolute maniacal people my whole life. And I've been criticized for it and people have hated my friends and judged me for that, but I've always — that's a talent that I have. I have sort of this talent of seeing the light through the darkness in all kinds of people. And I say in the book, I say, well, oftentimes it bites me in the ass or whatever, but there's always a payoff. There's always a payoff for sort of the risks that I'm 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 — 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."

After the interviewer noted that Roddy "has the luxury of just living off Apple money for the rest" of his life and "there's not an urgency" for him to make new music to earn a living, Roddy clarified: "Well, there's not an urgency to make money, I guess. I have that cushion. You're right. That's a luxury. But I make music every day. IMPERIAL TEEN just finished a record. We were just finishing a record, and we're mixing it right now. I'm making another record in New York with CRICKETS. We start our record in January. The past two years I've put out two records with MAN ON MAN, and we're gonna make another record in February. So it's not like I am not doing something and I'm resting on my laurels and living off of Apple money. Sure, that's a cushion and that's sort of a luxury that I have. But I don't make music for money. I haven't written this book for the want for money. That's not my motivation in what I do artistically."

Released on November 4, 2025 via Akashic Books, "The Royal We" documents Bottum's travels from Los Angeles to San Francisco, where he formed FAITH NO MORE and went on to tour the world relentlessly, surviving heroin addiction and the plight of AIDS, to become a queer icon. A deeply personal work of humor, commentary, and reflection, "The Royal We" is much more than a musician's tell-all. There are personal tales of historical pinnacles like Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, GUNS N' ROSES, and recaps of gold records and arena rock — but it's the testimonies of tragedy, addiction, and a deeply loving recollection of a remarkable scene that make this work so unique and intriguing. Writing about his harrowing past in a clear-eyed voice devoid of self-pity, Bottum's emboldened and confident pronouncements of achievement and unorthodox heroism flow in an unstoppable train that's both captivating and inspirational.

Bottum will discuss "The Royal We" at the following bookstores across the U.S. in January and February:

Jan. 26 - Brooklyn, NY @ Greenlight Bookstore, 7:30 p.m., with Frank Haines
Jan. 29 - Stamford, CT @ Ferguson Library, 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 30 - Baltimore, MD @ Atonic Books, 7 p.m. with Rahne Alexander
Jan. 31 - Washington, DC @ Politics & Prose (Union Mkt),6 p.m., with Rich Morel
Feb. 1 - Havertown, PA (Near Philly) @ Moore Books, 1 p.m., with Alex Auder
Feb. 2 - South Hadley, MA @ Odyssey Books, 7 p.m., with Andrea Lawlor
Feb. 3 - Cambridge, MA @ Porter Square Books, 7 p.m.
Feb. 8 - Providence, RI @ Riffraff Books, 6 p.m., with Amra Brooks
Feb. 10 - Chicago, IL @ City Lit, 6:30pm, with Nate Lippens
Feb. 12 - Portland, OR @ Powell's City Of Books, 7 p.m.
Feb. 13 - Seattle, WA @ Elliott Bay Book Company, 7 p.m.
Feb. 15 - Atlanta, GA @ A Capella Books (At Criminal Records),4pm, with Chad Radford
Feb. 16 - Nashville, TN @ Novelette Booksellers, 6:30 p.m.

Photo credit: Joey Holman