Daniel Johnston

Daniel Johnston為獨立樂圈Cult Hero的代表性人物。 從小受到心理疾病的折磨，長大之後也沒有好轉的跡象，Daniel Johnston只好依賴大量的鎮定劑與其他藥物來控制病情。然而這些藥物通常含有傷害人體的成份，Daniel Johnston不但精神狀況始終無法到達與常人一般的水平，多年下來更是毒害纏身，屢次因藥物中毒被緊急送入醫院。 這些先天的折磨與痛苦卻激勵出一名勇敢的藝術家。自八零年代開始，Daniel Johnston發表的臥房錄音作品充滿著不假修飾的Lo-Fi質感。他的歌詞看似光怪陸離，實則處理著自己經歷的破碎成長體驗。透過創作，他坦白地頗析自己，將心中的黑暗面攤在眾人眼前。也因為這種真實的態度，讓Daniel Johnston獲得眾多樂手的高度擁戴（如Beck、Wilco與Sonic Youth），更建立起一群忠心耿耿的樂迷，成為美國Singer/Songwriter界的傳奇人物。 不但是名多產的唱作人，Daniel Johnston同時也是畫家。他的個人專輯封面幾乎都採用自己的作品；Nirvana主唱Kurt Cobain生前也酷愛穿著一件印有Daniel Johnston插圖的T-Shirt。
by John Dougan
As with other talented but troubled artists such as Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson, and Roky Erickson, Daniel Johnston fights a daily battle with the chronic mental illness that has plagued him nearly his entire life. However, despite recurrent bouts of delusional behavior wherein he has physically endangered himself and others, Johnston has carved out a respectable, influential career as a singer/songwriter of extraordinary talent who has grown since his first crudely recorded cassette was released in 1980. He became the singer/songwriter of choice of the alternative/underground rock scene, and at various times has had his work championed by members of Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, Butthole Surfers, Half Japanese, Nirvana (Kurt Cobain was often photographed wearing a Daniel Johnston T-shirt), and numerous others.
Until the 90s, Johnstons recordings were basically homemade affairs, his plain voice accompanied by crude piano and guitar playing. His narrative concerns focused mainly on lost love, the pain of miscommunication, his love for the Beatles, and comic-book superhero Captain America. Johnstons music is unflinchingly direct, almost embarrassingly and painfully honest. Because of this and his increasingly erratic behavior, he was considered a local hero in his home of Austin, TX (where he moved from rural West Virginia), but too extreme to engender the interest of a record label. That situation changed in 1985, when MTV filmed a program on the Austin music scene. Johnstons performance brought him almost overnight acclaim, and he went from local legend to national cult figure. Soon, many of his self-released cassette recordings (on his appropriately named Stress label) began showing up in hip record stores from Boston to L.A., and the buzz was that Daniel Johnston was the coolest. There was, however, a grim side to this success, as if his mental illness was the primary component of his hipness; therefore, there was a feeling that those not close to him were marketing his illness as much as his talent. Sadly, Johnstons behavior wasnt helping, and he was institutionalized twice in the late 80s after his refusal to take medication led to two dangerous episodes.
In the late 80s, indie label Homestead issued some of Johnstons early recordings on vinyl and a full-blown appreciation of Johnstons work was well underway. Soon he was recording solo and with Half Japanese mastermind Jad Fair on the Shimmy Disc indie label, and later with Butthole Surfer Paul Leary, who may well be the best producer/musical accompanist Johnston ever had. Johnston, to the amazement of virtually everyone, recorded for Atlantic, and despite occasional behavioral lapses, seemed more self-assured than ever. As a result, in the late 90s and 2000s, he recorded some of the best music of his career — smart, ebullient pop with ringing guitars, primitive keyboards, and a wonderfully naïve way of looking at the world. Although he sometimes becomes sad and bitter, cynicism and self-pity arent his style, and that makes the little tragedies and epiphanies he writes about all the more compelling. Johnston was exposed to an even larger audience in 2005 with the release of The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a feature-length documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, eventually making its way around the world. The Electric Ghosts, an album credited to the duo of Johnston and Don Jack Medicine Goede, arrived in March 2006. Johnstons world may seem small, but its much bigger and friendlier than that of your wildest imagination.