Beginning in childhood and continuing for the rest of his life, Daniel had a great love for each of the following things:
- Monsters and monster movies. He identified particularly much with Frankenstein,[1] The Creature from the Black Lagoon,[2] The Phantom of the Opera,[3] and especially King Kong,[4] which he often referred to as his favorite movie. Notably, each of these monsters is misunderstood, not evil. In later songs, he sang about feeling monstrous.[5]
According to Daniel’s brother Dick, “King Kong” aired annually, on network television, and it was an eagerly awaited family tradition to watch it together. Over the years, Daniel became an accomplished collector of monster movies, particularly the ones made by Universal Pictures.
- Comic books and superheroes, with Captain America being his favorite character, Marvel Comics being his favorite publisher, and legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby being his favorite artist. Until Daniel discovered The Beatles, he would say that his dream was to become a famous comic book artist in the mold of Jack Kirby.
Interestingly, he was not particularly taken with Casper the Friendly Ghost (and did not read the Harvey Comics about him) until living with Dick and Sarah in Houston in 1983.[6]
- War movies, a love he shared with his father, Bill. He loved to hear his father’s war stories, from his time flying with the legendary “Flying Tigers” during WWII. He idolized his father as a war hero, drew him almost constantly, and later likened him to—or even believed that he was—Captain America. As a child he constantly drew battle scenes featuring soldiers at war. Somewhat surprisingly, he later noted that World War I was his “favorite war,” because he enjoyed “drawing the hats and bayonets” of that era.[7]
- Western stories and TV shows, as a direct result of his mother Mabel’s love of the same, which were almost certainly the source for the oft-repeated, romantic notion of “heading out west,” that appeared in several of his songs.[8]
- Music, of all sorts. His love of music began with group singing at the Utah Church of Christ, a thing he always loved. As a child, he enjoyed singing along with the first Monkees album, The Beach Boys’ “909” single, and Elvis Presley’s Christmas album.[9] [10] He credited his brother Dick for instilling in him a love of rock music. In particular, Dick introduced Daniel to the album “Sheer Heart Attack,” by the seminal rock group, Queen,[11] which taught him that music could be anything, that it was unbound by rules.
When I include crossed out lines, as above, I’m sort of asking if you guys think I should include them, in this form or another. I’m trying to err on the side of brevity.
- Most of all, Daniel loved God, the Bible, and his church. He was in Bible study from the time he was a toddler. As Daniel’s brother Dick explained, the teachers would use “images and puppets and things… by the time you’re 6 or 8 years old, you know all the stories.” [12] This was certainly true of Daniel, who was a devoted church member from early childhood until the end of his life.[13]
To summarize, almost everything that had an impact on Daniel had to do with good vs. evil[14]:
God vs. Satan, the Word vs. the worldly, superheroes vs. supervillains, good monsters vs. bad monsters, American soldiers vs. Nazis, the good guys and bad guys featured in Western TV and novels, rock-and-roll vs. religion (particularly from Mabel’s point of view, and “The Eternal Battle for the Singer’s Soul, an internal struggle between “Joe the Boxer” and “Vile Corrupt,” representing the war waged within him. In Daniel’s own words:
“I was suffering, because Vile Corrupt and Joe were really the same person. Vile Corrupt was the monster that Joe was boxing against, and they were both the same person. It was two parts of my personality in the cartoon that I was drawing, and I was really suffering. My good side and bad side were fighting to the death.”[15]
[1] A Year in My Garden features myriad drawings of Frankenstein; “Frankenstein Love,” “Frankenstein vs. The World”
[2] “Creature/Third Chair,” CS0060_1 David Thornberry [From your Pal the Repo Man], 13:15. Early 1985
[3] “The Phantom of My Own Opera”
[4] “King Kong,” multiple references on tape letters – Can seek citations if desired, would just be very time-consuming.
[5] “A Lonely Song,” “I Killed the Monster,” “The Monster Inside of Me,” “Girl of My Dreams,” “Shoe,” “See Satan Die,” and others. In the Harris 1991 Video Interviews, Daniel says, “I’m not a monster… I am a monster,” indicating that either or, more likely, both things might be true.
[6] 1991 Harris Video Interviews
[7] 2:48-4:30, DT005_0 Sept 6 1983 Letter to Dave (San Marcus)
[8] “Grievances,” “Out West,” and others.
[9] 0:40, Studio SX 2009 Interview, YouTube
[10] That the Monkees were the first popular music Daniel ever heard is consistent with the repeated themes of monkeys in his songs, whether coincidental or not.
[11] CS0250A Ron Harris Interviews Daniel Johnston, 1988; Dick Johnston
[12] Dick Johnston, 19:30, 15:45, WS330050 Dan WVa Friday
[13] Unrecorded Ron Harris Interviews: ‘I never heard Danny complain about going to church. He always wanted to go, no matter what. He looked forward to it.’
[14] 9:05, Daniel Johnston, a Super hero in Paris interview, YouTube
[15] Pitchfork Interview with Kristin Sage Rockermann, January 1, 2002