The Devil And Daniel Johnston
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The Devil And Daniel Johnston (2005) is a documentary telling the story of the internationally renowned outsider artist Johnston, known for his prolific musical and artistic output and for his struggles with mental health disorders. The quintessence of lo-fi, Johnston has developed a huge following of die-hard fans over the years. Here in this documentary of his life laid bare as much as Johnston lays himself bare in his music. The film was directed by fan and lover of alternative music Jeff Feuerzeig.
Piecing together Johnston's life through home movie footage, bootleg concert footage and interviews. A deeply moving exploration of an artist and his daily fight with bipolar disorder. Showing the ups and many downs of a prolific artist, who despite the chaos of his life continues to write and recorded at a rate beyond most musicians. Feuerzeig manages to weave together a beautifully poignant narrative of Johnston life and work, which is at the lifting and heart-wrenching. Not only a delicately handled examination of someone with severe mental health problems, but a expansive and lovingly detailed look at an artist who many regard as a song writing genius. Kurt Cobain is said to have described Johnston as, "the best songwriter on earth". And Johnston's songs have been covered by a multitude of artists over the years, including Beck, Tom Waits, Death Cab For Cutie and The Flaming Lips. |
For many Daniel Johnston is a musical genius, an example of one of the rare moments when an artist truly and obviously straddles that fine line between madness and genius. Because of his bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, which is variously under control or has caused him to spend time in hospital, the deluded, chain-smoking, narcissistic manic depressive has managed to touch the hearts and minds of thousands if not millions of people across the world with his music. Yeah sure, not every song he produces is anywhere near a master piece, but with such a high output in among them there are some true moments of simple honest genius shining through.
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Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album (1983)
Johnston has self produced many albums over the years, and collaborated on many more. However the key album that many fans celebrate is his 1983 album Hi, How Are You, which Johnston subtitled his Unfinished Album. In this album Johnston spreads his wings somewhat, and experiments musically on many of the tracks. Much of his early output featured a single instrument backing track, but in this album he plays sonically with the accompaniment. One reason for its popularity is that is was the first Johnston album to be given a wider distribution than just the cassette tapes he produced himself. In 1988 it was released in a vinyl form. The album is disarmingly innocent in its apparent simplicity, yet at the same time deeply layered with with the complexity of a young man's struggle to cope with and understand the world around him and his own internal struggle to deal with the world and his place in it. Many artists spend their whole career trying to produce an album of such stripped back honesty, Hi, How Are You maybe the album that introduced many to Johnston, but it's just one among many albums and recordings he has produced of such sincere emotional honesty over his long career. |
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Track Listing
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The cover of Hi, How Are You has become famous in its own right. Kurt Cobain appeared on the MTV Music Video Awards wearing a T-shirt of the album cover. For those who followed Cobain's ever move, and knew of his love of promoting underground artists, that image propelled many to seek out Johnston and his music. Starting his rise from little known lo-fi cult figure to international cult icon.
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