Back in the late 90s Country singer Garth Brooks got tired of his image & wanted to go a different direction in music. So he put out an album of some pop-rock mess w/ some R &B influences produced by Babyface. He knew his loyal fans wouldn't buy it if he came out decked out in his usual tight jeans & cowboy hat so he came up with the wonderful idea to create a made up "artist" behind it.Presto! Chris Gaines was born! VH1 even did a fake Behind the music documentary & a movie was planned around the singer as if he was real ! I think he used Prince as a visual reference.What d'yall think?

Well, just a retarded attempt period.

Actually, there were two songs on that album I really loved.

Thanks for reminding me.

uhhh...looks more like he used Robert Smith moreso then Prince..

gooeythehamster said:

I'm with gooey on this one. I don't have the album, but "Lost In You" is a GREAT song.

It makes me wonder if Garth Brooks is just a fabricated personality, as well.

namepeace said:

That's the one. The other one didn't stand the test o' time. But Lost In You has this nice vocal melody that you just keep humming.

Props to Garth

sosgemini said:

'tis true

Where is he? He looked Good. I liked his Music.

Nah, I dont think the alter ego thing was an attempt to emulate prince.. it was just a failed attempt.. er.. thats it

I love that album much better then the country stuff he put out.

DJ506 said:

He's okay, from a country point of view. But I do not like modern-day commercial country.
I love the oldies, the Willie's, the man in the long black coat.
Some Emmylou and Gram.

And old Dolly, although she had a huge part in commercialising country, she also released some, may I say it, DOPE bluegrass albums.

Darla said:

That is a good word 4 him retarded !he is sooooo sad

Nikki4u said:

Ooh! I got some good words for you too!

Sad is also one of them. I am not even a Garth fan, but your comment is petty and one of the reasons why this site SUCKS sometimes.

You are prejudiced about country and Garth Brooks and then flaunt your stupidity.
Also not taking into account you might be hurting people by using the word retarded.
Please use caution with words "retarded". I know some "retarded" people that are waaay smarter than you are.

At the time,I thought it was a good idea.Too often,artists become famous for doing one type of music,and they aren't allowed to venture out and try a new approach/style.Garth Brooks wanted to reinvent himself and shed his old persona,if only for a little while.It was a great idea,but I don't think he had too much success with it.Wasn't there supposed to be a movie and a follow-up Chris Gaines album?

DavidEye said:

Yeah, I thnk their were much bigger plans in the works, but due to the lukewarm reception, everyone involved agreed to just letitgo (couldn't resist).

what happened was the people in "sisterfuck arkansas" potested...

First off, I thought Chris Gaines looked more like the singer from the Goo Goo Dolls than he did Prince. (Then later, we discovered he was a dead-ringer for Icenine ).

Secondly, the whole Chris Gaines thing was ALWAYS intended to be a forrunner for a movie Brooks was developing called The Lamb. The big miscalculation Brooks had was releasing the disc a year before the film to build up interest. Without the context of the film, it just seemed like Garth was being weird (at least, it did to the average person. Folks expect stuff like this from Bowie, but not from a country star). The album tanked, and the film was ultimately scrapped.

I remember my best friend being reaslly upset about that VH1 Behind the Music thingy, saying that this is the Info Age and we shouldn't be bullshitting with information like this. My point to him was that the music biz is so lame anyway, so what's the difference between what Garth is doing now and what's always been done in the past...it's all a facade.

Adisa said:

Well, the whole thing is entertainment, and it WAS intended to be a character. Garth Brooks never tried to pull the wool over people's eyes and make them think that Chris Gaines was a real person. He was pretty forthcoming about it all being an act.

Sdldawn said:

Oh. I bought that single, 'Lost In You'. I really love it. It's the best song George Michael never wrote.

I'm going to dig it out now and play it.

Back when NPGMC.com was NPGonlineLTD.com there was a news blurb about Prince, "The Lamb", Steven Tyler and Chris Gaines... To the horror of most fans...

This was a news blurb from July 12th 1999:

***
Aerosmith Recording A Song With Prince!!
Pop/Rock: Prince, Aerosmith and Garth Brooks
(Los Angeles-AP)-- It's a weird meeting of talents: Prince and Aerosmith. It's even weirder who got them together: Garth Brooks. Brooks has created a rock-icon character called Chris Gaines, who will put out a greatest-hits album and be the subject of a movie. Brooks says he always wanted to see Prince and Aerosmith together, so he brought them together for the Gaines project for a song called "The Way of the Girl". The film, called "The Lamb", will be released next year.
***

Neversin.
[Edited 10/3/04 14:46pm]

Dug the Chris Gaines project more than words can convey. Tommy Simms is a genius.

JediMaster said:

I agree..he does look like Johnny Reznik in those pics. ALOT more so than Prince.

I also agree that this may have been cool for Bowie and company, but NOT for a country megastar like Garth Brooks. Nashville just isn't ready.

Nikki4u said:

Alright everybody, Legs has to add her . I am very familar w/Garth's country stuff and I wasn't digging it b/c it was too mainstream like Shania Twain. There were only a few songs that I like from his country efforts. However, when he did this CG project, I felt his music was sounding much better. There is no question that he had some influences of going around in his head. We can't kick Garth for wanting to smell and feel the funk. To tell you all the truth, I think this project just spotlighted what he is really like. Maybe, the country scence was getting too lame for him.

I have the "Lost in You" single and I love it

gooeythehamster said:

When it comes to country, I am the same way.My family played all kinds of music especially country. My mom used to listen to a station that played Country when I was growing up. I grew up listening to old school Country Artist like Merl Haggard, Waylond Jennings, George Jones, Dolly Pardon, Conway Twitty and Willie Nelson. I agree with you today's Country music is too darn commercial.