Probably, I might have If tomorrow never comes confused with beer run, there are several where he talks about stuff like this.
Maybe two decades ago, I asked a close friend - as near a musicologist as I’ve ever known - what it was about Garth’s popularity. He said, “An antidote to Rap”. Hmmm.
He talks about both in that video. Definitely worth your time, if you haven't watched it. It's classic Snider in that you're not always sure where he's going, it takes him a while to get there, and then the payoff is *chef's kiss.* I didn't know I was gonna spend the rest of my morning watching videos of Snider telling stories on YouTube but it looks like that's where we're headed.
The Jerry Jeff Walker story and the Slash story and the playing in Alaska story are some of my favorites.
Many many artists like Garth. Look through the charity shop LPs and CDs. Huge sellers. Musically nowhere. The Montovani of his era. He is pure pop. No there, there
I don't really buy that. If you look at the context of Garth's rise, there was a major hole in mainstream popular music. 80's hair / glam rock had absorbed it's wound from Guns-n-Roses which brought some danger back to hard rock. Metallica and Nirvana were barley on the verge of breaking into the mainstream and rap was a novelty to much of America. N.W.A. and Public Enemy were either unknowns or a Newsweek cover story to those who didn't watch Yo! MTV raps or have access to urban radio, and even urban radio kept quite a bit of rap at arms length. There is a lot of revisionism about how popular rap was in the late 80's and early 90's. The only real mainstream acts were Tone Loc, Vanilla Ice, Hammer and such. To say Garth was an antidote to rap implies that the fans who embraced Garth and other new country artists at that time were looking for a remedy to rap when it was barely on the radar for his fans. I would say he was kind of in the right place, with the right sound at the right time in the way Nirvana was.
Now who can argue with that? I think we're all in debt to Greenalishi for stating what needed to be said. I am particulary glad that these lovely children are here today to hear that speech. Not only was it authentic music snob gibberish, it expressed the courage little seen in this day and age.
I heard of him around 1990 or 1991 in the news because of his phenomenal sales but his music was nowhere aired here in France. Quite strange because his music surely appealed to a larger audience than strictly country fans and i would not qualify his music as "country" but more "pop"... He wanted to be huge and made the music to achieve that goal. I have a question : the guy doesn't have a YT channel, i can't listen to his music on Qobuz. Why ?
I'm a sucker for live CDs from just about anyone. Recently I came across a used copy of `Double Live' from Garth. I couldn't pull the trigger on it. What amazes me, however, is his drawing power in 2022 - selling out stadiums! That is simply incredible.
That Double Live album didn’t seem to capture the energy and magic of his live Central Park show. Totally off topic but since you mentioned live albums try DMBand Live at Red Rocks, very good one even if not a big fan .
I might go back and snap up the `Double Live' CD. I see it's going for mucho bucks on Amazon. I don't even see a Central Park CD listed.
No far as I know just tracks from it were included on Double Live. Think the dvd is probably available though.
A combination of musical talent, excellent shows, great songs for the masses and a deliberate campaign to sell as many records as possible by clever packaging to sell multiple copies of his songs at attractive prices.
"Product" meets "Effective Marketing". Lots of touring, merchandising and enough radio play. CDs sold everywhere. As mentioned, lots of visibility on talk shows and other outlets, blanket approach. As a singer, he's about on par with anyone else in the Nashville crowd; his music is a blend of New Country, a bit of rock and balladry, nothing offensive to anyone, nor anything particularly memorable. He hit big before the Hip-Hop/Country or Contemporary Top-40/Country hybrids came on, so an older audience was built in. He was on radio one time, and what really pulled me up about his mindset was when, in the interview about his new music, he casually referred to how many "units" (CDs) they had "moved" the past week...that's accountant/marketer-speak. I wonder if he realized how it sounded to the average listener to hear Their Singer talking about his "art" in mass-production terms? C.
I apologize if these points have been brought up, I'm late to the party and not going through the whole thread. -1. Garth Brooks, in the early days, released music that appealed beyond the traditional country audience, and brought many pop and rock fans onboard, but at the same time didn't alienate all but the hardest-core of mainstream country fans. He became one of the first successful country artists that a typical Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boston or Tom Petty fan would admit to enjoying, and some of his musical stylings reflected more of these rock influences than other acts Nashville was promoting. -2. Garth's presentation onstage was more akin to a full-blown rock concert than a country concert. He knows how to command the stage. Yes, he wore a cowboy hat, but there were lasers, smoke, lighting, the whole shebang. And importantly, there were no bales of hay. Again, it brought in fans who were not previously into country. -3. Prior to Billboard adopting Soundscan in the early 90s, country acts rarely appeared in the Top-10 album charts. Sales figures were extremely underrepresented for not only country, but heavy metal and rap acts prior to the adoption of Soundscan. Brooks was there right as this change happened. -4. He always has, and still continues to charge substantially less for concert tickets than he could command. How does this affect album sales? It doesn't directly, but it builds very strong brand loyalty. You can say whatever you want about his music, but the man did just about everything right as far as building and then maintaining a loyal fan base that did not consist solely of country music fans. That's why he still can sell out stadiums even if he doesn't get played on country radio anymore. Of course, the whole Chris Gaines debacle was a misstep, but didn't cause any damage in the long run.
You can pick up a copy of the Canadian pressing for $8 on Discogs. Or 95 cents for a U.S. copy. Never price items based on what Amazon resellers try to get for out of print titles.
No offense, but I can't believe questions like this one need to be asked. Whenever an artist sold a lot of records, it was because their music resonated with many people. They just liked it and decided to buy the album, or the single, or the EP, or the digital download, or they just streamed some playlist. There is really nothing more to it. Music is an emotional thing. All of art is. There is no point in asking why a particular artist is successful. Art either clicks with you, or it doesn't. Music that emotionally connects with you is good. Music that doesn't, is not. That's it, really. No, I don't like Garth Brooks' music. It just doesn't click. I don't think it's bad either. It just doesn't speak to me. But it DOES speak to thousands of people who were/are very happy to buy his records and play them. Good for him, good for them. People making their lives less miserable and more enjoyable by listening to music is always a good thing.
if you want to buy a lot of Garth... 21 LPs and 21 CDs $35 https://www.amazon.com/Garth-Brooks...ds=garth+brooks&qid=1658006505&s=music&sr=1-8