Garth Brooks: Changing The Meaning Of Country Music

When the 1990’s came around the country music industry gained songwriter and performer Garth Brooks, who would soon enough change the meaning of country music forever. Brooks was born on February 7, 1972 and raised in the rural area of Yukon, Oklahoma (Larkin). Growing up he was very fond of 1970’s rock bands such as Journey, Boston, and Kiss, but after hearing his idol George Strait’s song “Unwounded” in 1981 he fell in love with country music as well (Daniel). While he is known as a country artist his goal was to incorporate a rock style into his music like the bands Queen and Kiss, while also following the styles of rodeo rocker Chris Ledoux (Official Web). His mother Colleen Carrol was a country singer herself and Brooks began to follow

Initially, in 1989 he only sold 20,000 copies of his first album Garth Brooks, but his momentum grew immensely and after he became more established within the next year he sold over nine million copies of his first album. From then on no one could stop him. For instance, only over a three year span his songs No Fences (1990) Ropin’ The Wind (1991), Chase (1992) and In Pieces (1993) combined made for 46 million sold copies (Byworth, 258). Today, with 149 million albums sold the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) names Garth Brooks the #1 selling solo artist in United States history. He also is the only artist to be rewarded with seven Diamond Awards and five Entertainer of the Year awards at the Country Music Awards (CMA) (Garth Brooks Official Site). Garth got to where he is by not only his unique vocals and music, but by his energy and passion in his music and performances. He has drawn in crowds of fans and sold out hundreds of concerts and continues to do so to this day. I will discuss and analyze some videos of Garth Brooks’ greatest hits such as The Dance, Shameless, and Friends in Low Places to grasp a better understanding of the history of Garth Brooks and his

Given the lyrics of this song it seems to be about love and the ending of a romantic relationship. The main chorus of this song is “Yes my life its better left to chance, I could have missed the pain, but I’d have had to miss the dance.” What I believe this to mean is that some things happen for a reason and if we knew how things would turn out the way they do we’d be missing out on some of the most beautiful moments in life. The music video of Garth Brooks that I analyzed is of him singing a live performance in 1990. You will notice that the song has a very slow beat with the drums and bass guitar and has numerous pauses to exaggerate the emotions of sadness and acceptance. Brooks comes across as very relaxed in his performance of The Dance for this video and he seems very engaged with the words he