The Beautifully Strange World of Outsider Music

It's like Indie except actually Indie

what was so special about the shaggs was their absolute mastery of the 17/52 time signature

I knew a guy who was physically disabled and had autism. He wanted to be a musical comedian like Bo Burnham and wrote and recorded pretty lo fi and offensive music. Everyone at our school said that it was mean to listen to his music and laugh at his songs, but that was the whole point of what he wanted. You don’t write comedy music for people not to laugh. It was sometimes nonsensical and purposely bad, but everytime he came out with a new song I genuinely enjoyed how funny and off beat the songs were. It was way more insulting to not engage with his music the way HE wanted you to engage with it because you felt sorry for him or thought laughing at poorly written music was mean. As a fan myself I was never laughing at him, I was laughing at jokes he was intentionally making, but people tend to not see those with disabilities as people with thought and intention that should be engaged with as such. Anyways, I feel glad to have been able to follow an outsider musician for a time.

Oh, Daniel Johnston..❤ "True Love Will Find You In The End" gets me teared up every time.❤

As soon as i heard “ROCK N ROLL MCDONALD’S” I instantly loved this man for now I know who created such work of art

even funnier about The Shaggs is the fortune teller the dad went to see was his own mom, lol

Daniel Johnston is one of my favorite artists of all time and I’m so happy someone is talking about him, his song “story of an artist” is one of the most accurate depictions of what it is like to try and be an artist nowadays. Also his song “walking the cow” is really important to me because I was listening to it the time I got to pet a cow for my birthday because cows are my favorite animal they feel like cats if anyone is wondering

My best friend's dad is a musician who makes songs like these. They are unironically good too. I don't know how to describe it. One song about a man waiting for his execution by electricity and I was hooked.

“It’s not music that just sucks” shows Jake Paul’s music video

I’ve been a professional musician for 25 years and I still think the best thing I’ve ever done was recorded on a ghetto blaster in my bedroom when I was 15 and had no idea how to play guitar. Just me noodling and my friend reading his poetry over the top of it. Nothing but beautiful noise.

I knew of Tiny Tim and OF COURSE, Daniel Johnston. All of Johnston's early "lo-fi" stuff is genius. When I first heard him YEARS ago I thought, why isn't he a huge star? Why haven't I heard of him? Did he become a producer? Did he die young?? Never thought of it as being outsider music. Just really rough, but brilliant. There's a GREAT documentary called "The devil and Daniel Johnston" which is superb.

What a great perspective on Wesley Willis. That's actually really beautiful. I know him because of his song where he sings about bootyholes and other crazy stuff, never knew he was so loving to his audience.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the story of The Shags is that, through one way or another, the seer's prediction actually turned out to be true

Wesley Willis was a troubled guy whose one source of joy was his art and music. Making music and drawings was his way of coping with life. The voices in his head (his "demons") said horrible things to him, but he stayed a sweet, friendly guy most of the time because of making and selling his artwork. It kept him anchored in the world that was clouded by his mental illness. To me, that's heroic.

You finally explained why I love garage punk rock. I was able to explain it to my husband. I can't listen to mainstream music anymore. It feels so empty, boring, predictable. What iv found with garage, punk, and riotgrrrll bands is that they're raw and real. Songs that aren't trying to be good, but convey a feeling or message. I tend to fall in love with 'bad' music more when I learn about the dudes and gals behind the mic, their trauma and lives, and finding them more relatable.

When I was in high school my friend (turned bully later) had an album about cows we listened to. It was so wonderful weird and all the songs and lyrics were just about cows and milk and moo and grass and stuff. If anyone knows what im talking about please comment. I’d love to find it again. I feel like it would fit in with this genre.

Another thing that I love about Daniel Johnson is that when someone asked to here his albums/eps (before he was signed) he would sit down, record his cassette tape, and play the entire album through. Then hand draw the art, and give it back to the person next day. Every. Single. Time. I might be wrong but I believe there are over 500 unique copies of “hi how are you” only on cassette. Sad that they’re removing his songs on Spotify. That problem needs to be solved so more people can hear all about him.

So basically, the palm reader was right

Daniel repeatedly is not just refreshing to listen to but is like coming home

Fascinating! In Québec there is a very famous musician who definitely 100% enters that category I believe. He sadly passed away some time ago and everyone was mourning. If you are interested to check him out, his name is Normand L’amour, and his most famous song is "La poignée de porte" (The door handle)