[Daniel] Johnston gained a cult following in Austin, Texas. Some regarded Johnston as little more than a quaint curiosity, but others regarded him as a genuine talent: Johnston has a knack for creating quirky melodies, while his lyrics are evocative and often use clever wordplay. His songs have been covered by a number of admirers.
A 1985 MTV special on Austin brought Johnston wider attention, and a number of record stores outside Texas began selling his cassettes.
In 1990, Johnston played at a music festival in Austin, Texas. On the way back to West Virginia on a small, private plane piloted by his father, Johnston became manic and wrestled control of the plane away from his father removing the key from the ignition and throwing it out of the plane. His father, a World War Two fighter pilot, managed to successfully crash-land the plane in a wooded area. Although the plane was destroyed, Johnston and his father emerged unharmed. As a result of this episode, Johnston was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital.
In 1991, Johnston was able to air his music on a radio show while being hospitalized at a West Virginia mental hospital. While hospitalized, Johnston sent requests to his manager to have Yoko Ono produce his music and to contact Mountain Dew about the possibility of becoming the soft drink's spokesman. Johnston wrote a song praising Mountain Dew during this hospitalisation, in which he claimed to have been locked up for being "crazy about Mountain Dew."
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nationelectric) wrote,
[Daniel] Johnston gained a cult following in Austin, Texas. Some regarded Johnston as little more than a quaint curiosity, but others regarded him as a genuine talent: Johnston has a knack for creating quirky melodies, while his lyrics are evocative and often use clever wordplay. His songs have been covered by a number of admirers.
