Mike Knott is among the songwriters who had the greatest influence on my life. I discovered Knott’s music as a strange underworld below the depths of the strange world of “Christian music” when I was a kid. As a typically disgruntled teenager, his music was everything that the Christian music industry was not: raw, honest, and sometimes ugly.
I learned today that Mike Knott has died. See this obituary from NPR.
I’m grateful to my friend and personal music consultant, Dennis, for introducing me to the music of Mike Knott.
Among the loads of music he made, the albums that resonated most with me were:
- The Rocket & A Bomb, Fluid, and Strip Cycle solo albums
- His LSU album Grace Shaker
- The first album he made with the band Cush (go listen to Heaven Sent now)
- The Aunt Bettys album (now go listen to Rock & Roll)
In 2000, when a flight to Ontario would have cost me several months of income, I flew to see Mike Knott perform in London, Ontario. I knew at the time it might be my only opportunity to see him live, and it was. I’m so glad I look the time.
Knott never quite broke through with mainstream popularity, but was deeply influential on those who knew his music. It’s only an accident of history that he isn’t in the pop culture pantheon of rock stars.
At this 2000 show, Mike was mourning the loss of his friends Gene Eugene (another of my favourite songwriters) and Dennis Dannell. He put two paintings up on stage with him, one reading “MISS YOU DENNIS” and the other “MISS YOU GENE”.
Miss You Mike.