Wesley Willis was someone I had heard of before on YouTube. Let me get this out in the open first: his music annoys the hell out of me. As in, makes me want to gouge out my ears with golf pencils. It might even be a little bit of a stretch to call his "songs" actual "music". However, one look at the documentary below made me think.
After seeing this, I realized something was just... unique... about Willis. A quick Google search showed me that he was paranoid schizophrenic, as well as fighting leukemia. It explained his odd behavior in the documentary. For me, this documentary changed Wesley Willis from just some weird talentless hack to a man who used his "music" to escape from the demons that plagued him. If playing these songs allowed Willis to get away from the paranoia, then more power to him.
I think the point of this documentary was not to critique Willis' music one way or another, but instead was supposed to show the life and man behind the music. I have a feeling there are two types of Wesley Willis fans: the ones who treated him as a comedy act, and the ones who were there to support a lonely, tormented soul. He actually managed to gain a lot of support... not just from the Chicago community or his record label, but from other artists and performers as well.
Two of his songs were featured in rather popular pieces of culture. First, in the documentary Super Size Me, Willis' song "Rock and Roll McDonald's" made an appearance. Then, on the DVD for the Adult Swim show Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, "Birdman Kicked My Ass" plays on the DVD menu. The game designers of the game Kingdom of Loathing feature an entire area as a tribute to Wesley, starring characters based off of the demons Wesley had named during his more serious bouts with paranoid schizophrenia: Heartbreaker, Nervewracker, and Meansucker. Musicians have paid attention to Willis, too: Katy Perry mentions him in her song "Simple", Blue Meanies had Willis on-stage to introduce them for a concert in Chicago, and People under the Stairs use a Willis lyric in their song "Outrun".
On top of the short YouTube documentary seen above, Willis also had two documentaries made about his life: the first was the 2003 The Daddy of Rock 'N' Roll which followed Willis on the bus, at Kinko's writing a song, at a concert, and more. The 2008 documentary Wesley Willis' Joy Rides focused on his impact after his death. Willis' life sincerely impacted some, fascinated others... and definitely caused him to be remembered. Maybe you hadn't heard of Wesley Willis before reading this blog or watching this video, but chances are... you'll remember him now.
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