Whatever happened to that chubby, country crooning, rodeo-loving, bard of deep thoughts.

I don't like country music. It's just too twangy and same sounding for me. Too many steel guitars, too many fiddles, too many people sad because their fillies done did them wrong and now they gotta drink some moonshine to feel better. Just not my cup of tea. But Garth is different. The man is deep and there are so many life lessons in his songs. But then he decided that instead of making music he would rather sit on his ass and retire. His performance of "Who Will Stop the Rain" the other night reminded me how much I missed me some Garth.

Garth has gone some traditional sounding country songs, and way too many odes to rodeos, but the man also has some DEEP stuff. "The Dance", about taking chances in life, with that haunting video featuring MLK and JFK to punctuate how fragile and short life can be. "The River", about the paths that we take in life, is absolutely beautiful. "Unanswered Prayers", about how what we want in life is not always the best thing for us in the end. I could go on and on but Garth could sing songs that would just make you go "What the hell am I doing with my life?!"

The cool thing about Garth is that even though he was the most popular country musician in the 90's he pretty much told the industry to go to hell most of the time. Garth ran his concerts like rock shows. He had his lesbian sister in his band. He sang a song "We Shall Be Free" where he decried racism and homophobia, much to the shock of traditional country radio ("when we're free to love any one we choose"). Garth ran things his own way and I respected that.

Then he retired. Said something about spending some time with his daughters and of course quality time snogging with Trisha Yearwood. His last few albums fell off a little but still enjoyed them. Even if you hate country, give Garth a try if you never have.

Bring him back!

No offence, but I can do without more of Garth. Although, if losers like 50 Cent, The Game etc can make millions, than why not bring back a guy like Garth!

No love for Garth? Wow! Thought somebody out there might have dug him.

Don't take it the wrong way, but I think most Prince fans are not big Country music fans. I thought Garth was hilarious during his many comedy skits on SNL.Remember the episodes where he played a French prostitue on some skit called "MY French Whore"? Or the Simmer Down Now skit, Hilarious! I also wonder if his Chris Gaines chracter/music hurt his career.

Darla said:

What in the HELL was he thinking?

I really like Garth I grew up listening to country I grew out of it, but still really like Alabama, Kenny Rogers, and Garth

reminds me I need to get his Hits CD again

You have MMM Bop in your sig line..... btw, Garth Brooks can stay missing in action.....really he can. This boy I used to ride the bus with was a huge Garth Brooks fan.....he used to always sing that song "when the thunder roars and lightning strikes"....I kinda liked that one though But ONLY because of that boy on the bus.

Please don't say Billy Ray "mullet head" Cyrus next. You should be exiled from the planet in that case

I must say that when Garth was trying to be like P with his it music didn't sound half bad all bullshit aside. Now, I've listen to his Country stuff and its allright but he definitely stepped out himself and took it to the next level with the alter ego and it was interesting especially with the NBC special and VH1 special.

I can't say yea or nay on this one. I haven't listened to his music, except for a minute here or there, so I don't know if this would be a good or bad thing. I'm guessing his retirement won't be permanent, so he'll probably be back.
I can say I thought he was great on SNL. The Mango sketch was classic.
Mangooooo!

I like Garth Brooks....I went to a show of his about 9 years ago and it was fantastic...just a 2 hour sing a long. He seems humbled at the same time gives the finger to the industry every chance he gets..

He recently left EMI/Capitol and will be taking his catalog and releasing something exclusive to Wal-Mart. I guess his audience...that's were most of them shop...he musta make $$$$$ on this exclusive deal.

I used to predict he and Trisa Yearwood would hook up and when they finally did...it just made sense...they're great singers and they're duets always leave me wanting more and the look so cute together...chubby or skinny....I like 'em chubby personally!

Garth Brooks is in pretty much every popular country song of the last 10 years. I could do with a little less Garth Brooks, actually. He was good for the entertainment value in country, but he sucked the soul out of it.

1/3 of this album is great pop..1/3 is average..and 1/3 is lame. so i'll take any cd that is 2/3 average/great. very few cd's are top notch all the way through without some hiccups. GB doing CG is really no different than Prince doing The Truth CD--stepping out of the box and showing another artistic side. even though it sold like over 2 million copies..it was viewed as a commercial disappointment...it was definitely like Lovesexy--some people "got it"--but most people filed it in the WTF category.

meltwithu said:

Well, would say to each their own Melt. To me, this album was to bad and was actually just as good as his Country material.