Exploring the failed music of John Hinckley Jr: The man who shot Ronald Reagan
If you don’t look too closely at the name, John Hinckley’s YouTube channel looks similar to thousands of other dudes in their upper middle age who’ve decided to spend their retirement living out their singer-songwriter fantasies.
An average-looking guy getting the most out of a pair of Sunglass Hut shades and only very occasionally appearing topless as he strums his way through self-penned songs like ‘Love Is Gonna Get You’ and ‘She’s My One True Love’.
It can’t help but be a little on the lame side, but cringe is nothing but the cop in your head, and if this is making the guy happy in his dotage, there’s nothing wrong with that. Why is the name ringing a bell, though? Did he front an indie band in the 1980s and is trying to mount a comeback? Is he a lesser spotted podcaster with a small, die-hard following? Then you Google the name. No. No, it can’t be him?! That guy was John Hinckley Jr, this is just John…nope. That’s John Hinckley Jr.
That’s the guy who tried to murder Ronald Reagan to impress an underage Jodie Foster. Trying to rebrand as a troubadour. Christ. Those familiar with the story of Hinckley wouldn’t be surprised by this. He’d always fancied himself as the artistic type and had a particular fixation on music. Spending his days holed up in St Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington DC, working on his guitar playing, something he’d picked up in his adolescence and finally had the time to focus on when he was released in 2016.
The issue had been that, as part of his ongoing treatment (not to mention his court sentence), he couldn’t release this music under his own name. It’s telling that his fairly basic folkie strumming didn’t make any waves when released anonymously, but that would all change in October 2020, when a federal court ruled that Hinckley could release music under his own name. After that, all bets were off. Hinckley’s music immediately picked up a fairly sizeable following online.
One that Hinckley was determined to grow as much as possible.
How did John Hinckley Jr pursue his dreams of being a musician?
Now, to be clear, we’re not talking anything serious here.
Hinckley’s online presence seems to extend to just under 50,000 subscribers on YouTube and a smattering of followers on other social media platforms. If he’s earning a living at this, it’s a small one built around donations from a few devoted followers. With respect, I don’t believe these are followers who find his music to be profoundly moving, so it stands to reason that it’s still donations from people who were inspired by the assassination attempt he made in the throes of a sexual obsession with a teenage girl. Wonderful.
Yet still, Hinckley really believed in his music. Despite the fact that he could have the whole thing shut down by his treatment team, he wanted to make a real go of his music career. So much so that in January 2022, he put the word out that he wanted to start a band and play live. Clearly, he was successful at this as he even booked a show in Brooklyn shortly afterwards. However, the gig was cancelled over security concerns as the venue had received threats for booking Hinckley. Difficult to argue with that, really.
When Hinckley announced the cancellation of the Brooklyn gig, he also announced that he was abandoning plans for similar concerts in Chicago, Hamden, Connecticut and Williamsburg, Virginia. Wisely deciding that he’s better off as a studio artist, Hinckley followed this up with the announcement of his debut album, which was released on July 12th, 2023. To this day, Hinckley still releases music on his YouTube channel. Less regularly than he used to, but he’s still there.
It should be no less weird than the thousands of other guys trying to break into the music industry later in life. Yet it absolutely is.