Daniel Johnston
BIO
Back in 1992, what t-shirt you wore really mattered. In the time before Topman started appropriating every icon and printing their faces on a slim-fit-scoop-neck-v-neck-silk-cut-t-shirt (remember when they stole the idea of spraying black stencils onto white off of one-album political indie band Kinesis? No? Jeez.), wearing your favourite artist or band on your T-shirt was a statement of intent, a subversive motion of subculture Realpolitik. So, whilst many people consider Nirvana’s surprise decision to play ‘Rape Me’, rather than the hit ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ live at the MTV Video Music Awards (keep in mind this was a pre-Amazon time when supermarket giants Wal-Mart – a company who controlled 10% of record sales in the U.S – demanded that Nirvana’s label, Warner records, change the title. Which they duly did, to ‘Waif Me’), others feel that the more important gesture was Kurt Cobain’s choice of apparel.
Underneath his habitual loose unbuttoned shirt he wore a plain white T-shirt with a design of a pen-sketched frog, it’s eyes on stalks with the words “HI, HOW ARE YOU?” scratched in a childlike hand above it. This was the album design for outsider-artist Daniel Johnston’s sixth collection of songs released almost ten years prior to this event (the cassette was first put out via a label called Stress Records Cassette in 1983).
In a quite ridiculous, yet strongly analogous turn of events; whilst industry and genuine fans alike worked themselves into a seminal (OED: Seminal – of, relating to, or denoting Semen) frenzy over this relatively unheard of songwriter (once again, in this pre-digital time, it’s not like they anyone could just go Google him - his recordings had very little distribution at this point. The man himself confessed he was only making the tapes for his “four or five friends who were interested”), Daniel Johnston, was secured in a mental hospital after an extreme attack of depression. The man had been diagnosed as suffering from bi-polar disorder, a condition that frequently sent him careering from reckless highs, to self-destructive lows, the latest of which resulted in him trying to crash a small aircraft – of which he was a passenger.
Johnston had been making his oddball, home-recorded cassettes of warped, quirky pop-songs for years, achieving a level of cult acclaim amongst the growing lo-fi movement. But, after Cobain's wardrobe choice in front of millions upon millions of viewers, suddenly the suits in the music biz, eager to try and 'catch' Kurt's cool, turned to Johnston. Johnston signed to Atlantic soon after, and by the time his only major-label album Fun was released, Kurt Cobain was already dead.
Johnston, however had been fired into the spotlight, a position his violent mood-swings and crushingly shy personality (he rarely, if ever makes eye contact in gigs or interviews, his habitual posture fixing his chin securely to his chest, his eyes hooded by heavy lids and almost always with a cigarette quivering in his shaking hand) were ill suited to. In a recent interview with Rockfeedback (which can be seen in full below), Daniel admitted that he has had a hard time acclimatising himself, that though he is happy now, he still finds himself frequently nostalgic for the period in his life when he first started recording music.
When he released Songs of Pain in 1981 he and his friends built this retaining wall of fiction around themselves - "all my friends made me feel like I was famous...we'd put on a show like the David Letterman show called The Goat Show...our friend, they called him Goat...we'd put on a talk show and I'd always be the guest, they'd have me play songs and stuff...they made me feel like I was famous....there were like 4 of my friends listening to my tapes, right...but I felt famous. And now today with maybe millions of people that hear it I don't feel as famous. I don't feel it yet."
Perhaps most importantly, the man has also inspired generations of songwriters; from those that wear this love on their calloused fingertips (Bright Eyes, Eels, Death Cab for Cutie), to the less evident (Beck, T.V. on the Radio) and the outright genius (Tom Waits, Flaming Lips, Sparklehorse), many names have joined together in their adoration for this man’s music, recording an album of outstanding cover versions called The Late Great Daniel Johnston (quite a strange thing to name a collection recorded for a man still living).
This could quite easily turn into an exhaustive tale of the man’s life till now, but there much better ways to learn than reading a stale article. Go out, buy some records – there are many there, the newest one Beam Me Up (a collaboration with the BEAM orchestra), being one of the most interesting. There is also a fantastic documentary about the man's development as an artist calles The Devil and Daniel (trailer below).
LINKS
Hi, How Are You? Daniel Johnston’s official page
TOUR DATES
Unfortunately the man rarely plays shows, but if you do want to contact him for any reason, there is a lovely message on his myspace which says
“Believe it or not, Daniel doesn't have access to a computer, the internet, or email. However, any email that you send to Daniel WILL BE PRINTED OUT and hand delivered to him - usually once a week. He appreciates hearing from you, so don't hesitate to write. Daniel @rejectedunknown.com.
Or equally touching are these words…
“Daniel lives at home with his parents in Waller, Texas. For those of you who want to write, he has a P.O. Box:
Daniel Johnston
P.O. Box 583
Waller, Texas 77484”
VIDEOS
Clich here to watch our short documentary on Daniel Johnston aat this years SXSW festival
The Devil and Daniel Johnston Title Sequence
Daniel Johnston ON MEDS from Medicine Agency on Vimeo.
words and thoughts by Samuel Smith