The thread about Bill Graham got me thinking. If the Stones were still getting ripped off as late as 1981, was Rupert Loewenstein really the financial genius that he has been hailed to be? Having started working for the band in 1968, how is it possible that the Stones were still known (and even self admit) to have continued making terrible deals throughout the 70's? I don't think they were broke and destitute in the early 80's by any means, but if you consume everything that's been written, it certainly looks like Michael Cohl had a hell of a lot more to do with the Stones becoming hundred-millionaires (as opposed to just millionaires). There is the famous story of the very first meeting between Michael Cohl and the Stones in 1988, when the band were already in the board room and in walks Michael Cohl wearing this expensive Pink Floyd leather jacket which had just been sold for $150 on the 1987 Floyd tour Cohl produced, and Jagger, incensed, jumped up and pointed at the Jacket, looked at Keith and said "See that! That's what we should have been doing!".

Clearly Rupert had his strengths or the band would not have retained him for so long, but if he were truly such a financial whiz, it definitely begs the question of why the Stones were not much richer than they were prior to Steel Wheels.

Good point...I suppose that before Cohl arrived most of the money was made with recording contracts and "Rupie" was pretty good at negotiating those it seems. His recollection of how the signing with Sony went down in Paris in 1983 is hilarious, with Mick and Keith taking the piss and almost derailing it before he gave them a good talking to.

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You need to look at the context of the timeline in which the speculative economy developed. Deals like Michael Cohl made just didn't exist before neoliberalism took off.