Bill Wyman claims The Rolling Stones had no money at height of fame
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(Credits: Spotify)
The Rolling Stones are now afforded a virtually unparalleled reputation within the world of rock ‘n’ roll. Having created some of the greatest rock tracks of all time, the band have enjoyed decades of fame and fortune and living the life of excess. However, it sounds as if some of this reputation might come as the result of rose-tinted spectacles, as bassist Bill Wyman claims that not everything was easy for the band, even at their commercial peak.
After getting their start in the British Invasion scene, as disciples of the blues, The Stones began to experiment with their sound towards the end of the 1960s. Embracing the blossoming counterculture movement and even engaging in a brief fling with psychedelia, the band recorded some of their most popular and successful tracks during this period.
However, that success did not seem to translate to riches, with Wyman remembering, “We had no fucking money.”
Talking to Classic Rock, Wyman delved into the difficulties faced by the group during that time and put right some apparent misconceptions about the group. According to the bassist, it was the band’s manager, Allen Klein, who made all the money.
Wyman alleged: “Klein had all the money, and when you wanted anything, you begged him to send you some money. You’re in the red with your bank, so you weren’t partying all the time, you were worrying about how to pay your bills. It was a nightmare.”
Why The Rolling Stones left the UK
The Rolling Stones have never been a particularly political band, but Wyman also noted trends in British politics during the ’70s as an issue for the group. “And then [Prime Minister Harold] Wilson comes in,” he said, presumably talking about the Labour leader’s second term in office, from 1974 to 1976, “and puts tax up to ninety-three per cent, it was absurd.”
Wilson’s tax reforms are often spoken of with bitterness. However, it is worth remembering that his tax increases only applied to the super-rich. In order to be paying 93 per cent tax on income, somebody would have had to be earning the equivalent of £260,000 per year in today’s money. Therefore, Wyman’s qualms about it would fly in the face of his claims that The Stones were always skint.
It was during this time that many of The Rolling Stones emigrated away from the United Kingdom, instead settling in tax havens. “We had to leave because we owed the Inland Revenue so much money that, with ninety-three per cent tax, we could never make enough to pay it back,” Wyman remembered. “So we had to leave, and then we were accused of being multimillionaires, leaving because we didn’t want to pay our way, but we weren’t.”
Again, it is worth fact-checking Wyman on these claims, as he moved to France in 1971 as a tax haven, which was three years prior to Wilson’s return to office and imposing of high taxes for the super wealthy. While it is not unimaginable that the band were strapped for cash at points during their career, it is presumably pretty difficult to buy a house in the South of France if you’re short of funds.
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