John Hinckley Jr., the would-be assassin of President Ronald Reagan, has suddenly become very active on social media, even sharing his own music to Spotify. 

Hinkcley is best known for his attempted assassination of Reagan in Washington D.C. in 1981. He wounded the President and a police officer and Secret Service agent, and also made Press Secretary James Brady permanently disabled from a critical wound.

The reason for the incident is notorious: Hinckley reportedly wanted to gain fame in order to impress actress Jodie Foster, whom he was obsessed with at the time. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was placed under psychiatric care for over three decades.

Then in 2020, a ruling was made that Hinckley could showcase own art, writings, and music under his own name in public, rather than anonymously as he had been doing for a while. Just recently, a judge approved his unconditional release.

And so here we are. Last month, people started to spot that someone named John Hinckley had just joined Twitter. On October 20th, he confirmed it was indeed who everyone thought it was: “Hello everybody, this is the real John Hinckley,” he wrote. “I’m now a singer/songwriter. I have 10 original songs on Spotify and the other streaming sites. Check them out. Also, check out my YouTube channel.”

In just a matter of weeks, Hinckley has gained over 17K followers and has shared many a huge opinion on music. “No one can touch Hank Williams Sr.,” he insisted. “By the way, it took 4 Beatles to equal one ELVIS,” was another take. He even surprisingly tweeted out his love of Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, one of the best and weirdest albums of the 90’s that has since been given the meme treatment.

And honestly, Hinckley’s taste in music is pretty good. “Furthermore, I like Daniel Johnston, Leonard Cohen, Velvet Underground, Half Japanese, The Clash, early Elvis Costello, early Kinks,” he stated, before promoting his Spotify once more.

I listened to the 66-year-old’s Spotify today and it’s quite something. It’s not ‘bad’ by any stretch of the imagination. In its DIY quality and raw emotion, it vividly recalls the beloved outsider artist Daniel Johnston, who also famously struggled with mental illness (interestingly, Hinckley calls himself an outsider artist in his Twitter bio).

‘We Have Got That Chemistry’ is a little swirling country ditty, where that fondness of Hank Williams Sr. comes to the fore. ‘Everything is Gonna’ Be Alright’ is sappy and sincere, and could honestly be a Johnston cut. Much of the lyrics deal with themes of overcoming adversity and finding some form of contentment.

He’s already amassed 9,672 monthly listeners, which is more than many bands will get. Spotify also thinks fans will also like several excellent musicians if they also like Hinckley (and strangely for me, some of my personal favourites), including Purple Mountains, Jonathan Richman, Jeffrey Lewis, John Cale, and The Magnetic Fields (and also, for some reason, comedian Tim Heidecker). It’s truly one of the most curious music stories of 2021.

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