The Smiley Smile Message Board

I did do a quick search back to see if the topic was covered at one time.
I bring it up, not to trash Dr. Love, but because recently I had read an '84 Rolling Stone article on Dennis (where it is mentioned briefly). And in the wake of Kanye's bizzare public appeals for cash, there was some content written on West's excessive spending habits.

 I think, at the time, it was mentioned Mike was blowing through about 50k a month on obligations.

I suppose I am just interested in what the tipping point was for him to have to declare bankruptcy. Here's a guy who made a TON of money before '82, with the windfall from the Endless Summer era not that far in the rear view mirror. I realize this was a bad time economically for the Country, but I assume the touring machine was still going relatively strong. Was there a single cataclysmic event that forced his hand? Bad real estate? Or just a lavish lifestyle? The mid 80's and Kokomo were coming, as was the songwriting settlement, so it was a short period of concern, I suppose.

I know that around that time, according to The Lost Beach Boy, royalties on the early recordings pretty much dried up. I don't have the book to hand, but as I recall Marks talks about how he'd been living off his royalty cheques from Capitol, then one time there was no payment (or a tiny payment, a few dollars or something) because around 1980 the oldies just stopped selling for a while.
Given that at the time the touring money had to be split between more people, and tours weren't then bringing in the money they do now (back then live shows were more or less promos for the recordings -- now it's the other way round), if the flow of money from recordings dried up relatively quickly, I can see how it could cause problems.

Does anyone know if Mike Love was making deep investments in anything? In the Kanye example, he had put a lot of money into his clothing lines that weren't terribly successful.

Rocky Pamplin said that Mike gave him $100,000 to fund his 1979 disco album, so clearly Mike had large sums of money tied up in recording projects that didn’t end up paying off.

Alimony multiplied several times over probably contributed.

Alimony's a bitch. >:D

Not too familiar with bankruptcy law, but was this the best option? I think he owed 2.5, which was a tidy sum in '82. However unlike the average Joe, it must have been somewhat apparent that Mike's ability to repay would be high. Or was this an easy path to clean up the debt?

Was recording and releasing a solo album the year before a failed attempt to fix his finances?

If it had been a hit, I suppose it could have helped. 

If you don't need credit (most people do - to buy a house or car or rent an apartment, etc.) and if much of your debt is of the sort that can be cleared by bankruptcy (alimony and taxes and some other things can not), then bankruptcy can be a pretty painless way to get rid of a lot of debt.

Maybe the recording and non-release of his first two albums played a part. In fact, wasn't the first one re-recorded (or remixed) still to no avail.

Golly. If ever a sentence had "impending bankruptcy" written all over it ...

Mike was also desperate enough for cash in late 81 that he was the apparent cheerleader for getting the band gigs in the controversial Sun City in South Africa. I have to assume that was motivated by money, especially knowing his finances were tanking right around this time.

I'm sure much of it had to do with multiple alimony and child support payments...there were at least 4 ex-wives at this point, and several minor children. Plus properties in Lake Tahoe and possibly California (even if the house(s) was/were already paid for, the cost of maintenance and property taxes would be quite high), and as previously mentioned, some bad investments. Together with what was probably a somewhat lavish lifestyle, and contributing heavily to several TM-related endeavors, I'm sure it was a perfect storm of financial gloom.

The Gaines book has more detail on this topic.

 :lol :lol  #Lifestylesoftherichandnotsofamous