# Chuck Berry v the IRS

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506/chuck-berry-v-the-irs
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506/chuck-berry-v-the-irs.md
Podcast: [Today In History with The Retrospectors](https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506)
Published: 2026-06-11T00:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR7035038823.mp3
Audio file: https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR7035038823.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506/episodes/chuck-berry-v-the-irs
Duration seconds: 706

## Resource

It was the THIRD time behind bars for legendary rock n’ roller Chuck Berry when he was found to have dodged $110,000 in income tax on 11th June, 1979. He insisted on being paid cash-in-hand for his sometimes shambolic personal appearances, and his propensity for stashing it was so well-known that in Australia the authorities introduced limits on the amount of cash that could be transited across their border, specifically in response to him once stuffing $50,000 in his guitar case. In this episode, Rebecca, Arion and Olly dig deeper into some of Chuck Berry’s former convictions; take a disturbing peek into his home video library; and reveal the true origins of the ‘duck walk’... Content Warning: detail of underage, exploitative and non-consensual sexual acts Further Reading: • The New York Post on Berry’s scandalous sex life (2017): https://nypost.com/2017/03/21/the-dark-past-of-chuck-berrys-scandal-filled-sex-life/ • Inc. on why Berry’s ‘musical genius was also his financial undoing’ (2017): https://www.inc.com/jay-jay-french/how-chuck-berrys-musical-genius-was-also-his-financial-undoing.html • Chuck Berry’s duck walk - a compilation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwZcLpYPKoI Love the show? Support us! Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY… … Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content. Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️ The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart. Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026. This episode originally aired in 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcast…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506/episodes/chuck-berry-v-the-irs/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506/chuck-berry-v-the-irs.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.