Daniel Johnston for Dummies

Daniel Johnston: The Singer/Songwriter Haunted by Satan

“I believe in God, and I certainly believe in the Devil. There’s a devil, and he knows my name.” These are the words of Daniel Johnston, a hyper-Christian music and visual artist who struggled with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia throughout his life. Despite his struggles, Daniel is upheld in the music industry for his raw emotional lyrics, and drive to become a famous musician. Though The Beatles never backed him up in concert like he dreamed, Daniel's music career and life have, and will continue to, inspire generations of artists. 

Daniel, the youngest of five, grew up in rural West Virginia where the art scene was lackluster, with little support from the greater community. Even with this Dan was able to become a skilled artist across multiple media. Drawing, film, and music all came naturally to him. To his peers, Dan and his skills were awesome. Friends credited him with praise acknowledging how “‘he never sits and thinks…he just grabs something (and does it).”’ He became a mini-celebrity in his town for his skills in the arts. But his parents were not as impressed. They thought his art was a waste of time and drove him away from religion and God. To them, Daniel’s art consisted of “satanic cartoons” which existed “to pollute the minds of young people.” But Daniel kept at his art despite his parent's disapproval. 

It was in college that Dan first started to experience significant symptoms of his mental illnesses. He stopped going to classes and, according to a friend of the time, was often “confused.” Eventually, he was sent to the doctors for both physical and mental pains he was experiencing. Though college did have some bright sides for Daniel, where he met his lifelong love, Laurie Allen. According to Dan she “inspired one-thousand songs,” and cemented him as an artist. But the devil wouldn’t let things be that easy for Dan as Laurie was soon to be engaged (to an undertaker as it just so happens, kinda ironic I think). Daniel continued to master his craft of art in school alongside Laurie until his parents pulled him out. At the rate he was going graduation was far off, and they believed Dan needed to turn his life around and find a real job, one that did not involve art; so Daniel was sent to Texas to live with his brother and start his new, artless life. 

Dan arrived in Texas to his unsupportive brother who encouraged him saying, “...someday (he will) be really good at something, and very successful, but it's not gonna be (his) art, and it's not gonna be (his) music.”And so Daniel followed his brother's and parent's advice and found work that did not involve his passions. Nevertheless, in a very Daniel Johnston fashion, his artless life ended quickly when he converted his brother's bench press into a recording area with an organ. Here Daniel began to record for his first full-length masterpiece of an album. 

But staying in one place wasn’t Dan's style so one day, without giving notice to anyone in his family, he hopped on a moped he bought and joined a carnival. Daniel traveled with the carnival eventually reaching Austin where, after being punched in the face and taken to the hospital, he was set up with an apartment by a local church. In Austin, Daniel’s music career began to flourish with him finishing his first commercial album, Hi How Are You, and getting praise from local Austin listeners. 

At this time Dan had no means of promoting himself besides handing out his music, so that's what he did, in an unorthodox fashion. He never recorded a tape to be mass-produced. Instead, he would record himself performing his album, hand out the cassettes, and go home and re-record all over again. Though inefficient, this strategy worked, and Dan’s music began to gain traction with local Austin music stores redistributing his record, eventually leading him to perform live openings for bands. During this time Daniel was employed by McDonald’s as a service clerk. As he began to make a name for himself fans would come to visit him at his work, and local labels and magazines even began calling his work to contact him because Dan had no personal phone.    

But the biggest leap in Daniel's career arrived when MTV came to Austin to film their monthly show, The Cutting Edge, which featured up-and-coming musicians. Daniel was not originally scheduled to be on the show but through a combination of his rising popularity and other bands insisting he be on the show, he was featured. This helped propel Dan into mass media and gain him a lot of traction. Not only was he now becoming more well-known with music listeners, but also other artists learned of his talents. The Sonic Youth were among the first of other musicians that were a fan of Dan. They wanted to see him find success and helped him navigate his career, and even connected him to other artists to continue his advancement. But it was Kurt Cobain, leader of the grunge group Nirvana, that brought Daniel lots of attention through his sporting of a Hi How Are You t-shirt in live performances, interviews, and throughout his daily life. Fans of Nirvana wanted to know who and what this mysterious shirt originated from, ultimately adding to Daniel's ever-increasing fanbase. 

Nevertheless, Daniel continued to struggle with his mental health, turning to religion as an aide. Dan had always been a firm believer in Christian doctrine, but he was now becoming something of a religious fanatic. There are lots of stories of Dan having manic episodes that revolved around the idea of expelling Satan and accepting God. These episodes often put Daniel and others around him in harm's way. Episodes included Dan feeling compelled to purposely crash a plane carrying him and his father, and scaring an old woman to the point of her jumping out of a second-story building, breaking both her ankles. There were also multiple accounts of Daniel disappearing just to be found, as he claimed, “agitated by the Devil.” In fact, Daniel became obsessed with Satan thinking he was trying to harm him through others around him. The heartbreaking bit of this arc of Daniel's life was his tendency to stop taking his medication weeks before shows, hoping that without his meds he would be a better performer. Though he was at the height of his music career in popularity, Dan was at one of his lowest points mentally. 

Nonetheless, his music career marched onward with major record labels Elektra and Atlantic getting into a “bidding war” to sign him. Surprisingly both labels drafted contracts that were very understanding of Dan as a person and an artist and took into account Dan’s unstable mental health. Daniel ultimately signed with Atlantic where he released the full-length album Fun in 1994. The record performed underwhelmingly and Dan was quickly dropped from Atlantic. 

Despite this failure, Daniel had finally made a name for himself in the music industry and continued to make music unsigned, releasing numerous beautiful records. In recent times he has also found success with his physical art being featured in galleries across the globe. A true artist, Daniel continued to record, draw, and tour up until his death in 2019.

Daniel Johnston, to me, is one of the best musicians of all time. His raw music is filled with real emotions and is really something special. Moreover, his ability to overcome his mental illnesses is inspiring. This quote released by his family after his death summarizes the incredible life he had: “Daniel was a singer, songwriter, an artist, and a friend to all. Although he struggled with mental health issues for much of his adult life, Daniel triumphed over his illness through his prolific output of art and songs. He inspired countless fans, artists, and songwriters with his message that no matter how dark the day, ‘the sun shines down on me’ and ‘true love will find you in the end.'”

I urge you to check out Daniel's music because it simply is unlike any other. 

-Jack Ross