ENCORE OF THE MONTH
October, 2019
Daniel Johnston
It was a sad moment to hear that Daniel Johnston had passed away. Daniel lead the lo-fi do it yourself music revolution and had a significant impact on the indie rock scene along the way. Kurt Cobain was a fan and he cited Johnston's 'Yip/Jump Music' as one of his favorite albums.
When Kurt Cobain wore a T-Shirt featuring the album cover from Daniel's 'Hi, How are you" album the major labels went into a bidding war to get him to sign to their label. The sad reality was that Johnston was in a mental health facility at the time and was dealing with complex mental health issues. He signed with Atlantic Records and released 'Fun'. Commercially, it was not successful but it's not always about the numbers.
Johnston's music reached well beyond his home state of Texas and has been covered by too many artists to name. Beck, Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie and Tom Waits are some of bands to have done a Johnston cover. Daniel's music and artwork has featured in a whole range of platforms from video apps, photo and comic books, a rock opera to the award winning documentary 'The Devil and Daniel Johnston'.
For me personally I always thought that Ween's music was inspired in some way by the music of Daniel Johnston. It came as no surprise to find that Dean Ween had said that most songwriters would have given anything to have written one song as good as any Daniel Johnston tune.
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Daniel Johnston's legacy lives on through his music and artwork. Rest in peace.
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