A Take Away Show

Daniel Johnston / A Take Away Show

Directed by Hugo Jouxtel
Sounds by Henri D’Armancourt
Edited by Flora Alfonsi

Produced by Dali Zourabichvili for La Blogotheque

For many, Daniel Johnston is one of the greatest musicians of his generation, despite (or because of) the fact that most of his output consists of lo-fi cassettes he recorded alone in his house. Others see a marginally talented songwriter whose naked sincerity as a performer, inextricable from his mental illness, has been inadvertently exploited by hipsters.

Launched into alt-notoriety when Kurt Cobain started wearing a T-shirt featuring artwork from his album Hi, How Are You, Johnston proved far too unstable to capitalize on his good fortune, spending a good chunk of his life institutionalized. (At his best, he lived in his parents’ house.) First published by Mike D’Angelo Dec 5, 2013 at A.V.Club