FAITH NO MORE Keyboardist RODDY BOTTUM Reveals How A $12,000 Apple Investment Made Him A Multi-Millionaire

As the keyboardist and co-founder of Faith No More — and later a driving force behind Imperial Teen, Man on Man, and multiple other projects — Roddy Bottum has built a career on subversion, curiosity, and contradiction. Now, he’s revealing one of the most unlikely chapters of his life story: how a $12,000 investment in Apple stock in the early 1990s quietly turned him into a multi-millionaire.

Bottum discusses the decision in his recently released memoir, The Royal We, published this past November, and expanded on the story during a new appearance on The Hustle: Music & Money podcast. According to Bottum, the investment — made with his first substantial touring paycheck from Faith No More — could be worth more than $7 million today.

The origin story of Bottum‘s Apple windfall is as far from a traditional finance narrative as possible. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, Bottum was immersed in San Francisco’s underground culture.

“Us as kids, me and my crew, were about pushing buttons,” Bottum explained. “And one of those things, believe it or not, was watching the stock market — just ’cause it was so uncool and so ridiculous.”

At the time, Bottum says, following Wall Street was itself an act of provocation. The habit was partly fueled by his first boyfriend, whom Bottum describes as brilliant, volatile, and instrumental in teaching him how to read the market. “He showed me 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,” Bottum said.

Despite following the market out of irony rather than ambition, Bottum had no real intention of investing — until Faith No More‘s growing success changed his circumstances overnight.

After roughly a year and a half of relentless touring, Bottum received a $12,000 check from the band’s management company — his share of excess earnings. It was, by his own admission, more money than he’d ever seen. “I made $12,000 after touring for probably a year and a half straight,” he said. “My dad was super proud. He couldn’t believe it.”

At the time, Bottum had virtually no expenses. He was living in a studio apartment in San Francisco, paying no rent, still working as a bicycle messenger, and about to head back out on the road. With no immediate need for the money, his boyfriend convinced him to take a leap. “The insane bipolar boyfriend convinced me to just take that $12,000 check and buy Apple stock with it,” Bottum recalled.

This was Apple at its lowest point — years before Steve Jobs‘ return, decades before the iPhone, and long before the company became the most valuable corporation in the world. Bottum bought the stock and did the unthinkable: he left it alone.

In The Royal We, Bottum openly acknowledges how surreal the outcome was and how hesitant he felt about including the story at all. Friends, publishers, and even his partner questioned whether it belonged in the book. “I’m not bragging about it,” Bottum said. “Honestly, it was like winning the lottery. It was just the craziest thing.”

Naturally, the revelation raises a familiar question: does being financially set remove the urgency to create? Bottum doesn’t shy away from the reality that wealth has given him freedom — but he firmly rejects the idea that it’s dulled his creative drive. “There’s not an urgency to make money, I guess. I have that cushion. That’s a luxury,” he admitted. “But I make music every day.”

Bottum remains extraordinarily active. Imperial Teen have just completed a new album that’s currently being mixed. He’s starting a new record with Crickets in New York, planning another Man on Man album, and continuing to release music at a prolific pace. “I don’t make music for money,” he said. “And I haven’t written this book for the want for money. That’s not my motivation.”