jamesgc

Hi, I'm a journalism student writing a piece on the connection between mental illness and music. I thought I'd post a few questions, and see if anyone was willing to give me a hand in my research for the piece. Sorry if some of the questions are misguided - I'm not a scientist and everything I know is based on research online for the article. If you'd like to share your opinions on anything mentioned below, I'd be greatly appreciative. Many great artists - musical and otherwise - have bouts of mental illness. Do you believe it a case of every genius has a 'touch of madness', as Aristotle put it, or just that it is more likely that those with disorders tend to be more creative? What is the most common form of illness in artists? Drug use may factor into this - to what extent are they linked? Can drugs such as LSD cause mental illnesses, or just amplify them? Many innovative musicians have had mental illnesses - normally bipolar and schizophrenia, I think - such as Syd Barrett, who used new, weird and wonderful techniques to evolve guitar playing, and Brian Wilson, who applied experimental twists to simple pop music, such as new recording techniques. Do you think these figures would have ever tried the new techniques if it weren't for their mental illnesses and cognitive impairments? I'm also going to be writing about singer/songwriter, Daniel Johnston. He is known for his lo-fi recordings, and has untrained, childlike vocals which have deteriorated with time. However, he has had bipolar disorder most of his life, and has a very loyal fanbase. Do you believe there are instances where mental illness has been fetishised by audiences, who have linked mental illness with great artists? Also, if anyone has any figures which may come in handy when writing the piece, feel free to share them. Thanks a lot, James Clarey