How and why is Garth Brooks the second best selling music artist in the USA?

[Dedalus]

The man's threads always grow to multiple pages even though it's the same template every time. He sucks us all in to the objectivity condundrum. We're suckers.

He’s a DT Forum hit maker. He knows what sells.

He knows the audience and offers what is needed.

 

[425]

To be fair, the objectivity thing is perhaps partly my fault this time since I brought it up as a joke response.

While country had a little bit of a surge in the late 70's, with Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell and Kenny Rogers having cross-over hits, by the early to mid 80's, country was a dead issue beyond the core fanbase.   Garth's debut was in '89, and even though Shania Twain gets mentioned here, her first album with Mutt Lange wasn't until 1995, and by then, Garth had five or six records out (he was doing basically an album a year for the first few years).

I'm not that well-versed in the history of country music, but I would think George Strait merits a mention here. He's also been absurdly successful in terms of record sales (Wikipedia has him as the third or fourth best-selling country artist, depending on whether you count Taylor Swift), and I think he was a significant influence for Brooks, although ultimately Brooks moved into more of a crossover style while Strait remained very traditionalist.

[Stadler]

To be fair, the objectivity thing is perhaps partly my fault this time since I brought it up as a joke response.

While country had a little bit of a surge in the late 70's, with Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell and Kenny Rogers having cross-over hits, by the early to mid 80's, country was a dead issue beyond the core fanbase.   Garth's debut was in '89, and even though Shania Twain gets mentioned here, her first album with Mutt Lange wasn't until 1995, and by then, Garth had five or six records out (he was doing basically an album a year for the first few years).

I'm not that well-versed in the history of country music, but I would think George Strait merits a mention here. He's also been absurdly successful in terms of record sales (Wikipedia has him as the third or fourth best-selling country artist, depending on whether you count Taylor Swift), and I think he was a significant influence for Brooks, although ultimately Brooks moved into more of a crossover style while Strait remained very traditionalist.

Brooks has been pretty outspoken that Strait was the template for his career.  He's as much an influence on Brooks as Rush was on DT, for example.

[ErHaO]

It is interesting to me that I really have never heard of one of the bestselling artists in the US.

[Anguyen92]

To be fair, the objectivity thing is perhaps partly my fault this time since I brought it up as a joke response.

While country had a little bit of a surge in the late 70's, with Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell and Kenny Rogers having cross-over hits, by the early to mid 80's, country was a dead issue beyond the core fanbase.   Garth's debut was in '89, and even though Shania Twain gets mentioned here, her first album with Mutt Lange wasn't until 1995, and by then, Garth had five or six records out (he was doing basically an album a year for the first few years).

I'm not that well-versed in the history of country music, but I would think George Strait merits a mention here. He's also been absurdly successful in terms of record sales (Wikipedia has him as the third or fourth best-selling country artist, depending on whether you count Taylor Swift), and I think he was a significant influence for Brooks, although ultimately Brooks moved into more of a crossover style while Strait remained very traditionalist.

Brooks has been pretty outspoken that Strait was the template for his career.  He's as much an influence on Brooks as Rush was on DT, for example.

I should listen to more George Strait.  I heard one of his songs, Somewhere Down in Texas, when WWE played it in a video package at the end of one of Stone Cold Steve Austin's documentary and I liked the vibe in it.

[Zook]

The Beatles have never clicked for me. Of all the songs I've heard, and admittedly, I haven't heard a lot, I'd rank them from meh to so boring I have to change the station. Other bands from that era like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin are far superior.

I couldn't name or even recognise a Garth Brooks song. Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Carrie Underwood are the only country related music I can tolerate.

But what I'd really like to know is does WildRanger write his own threads?

[425]

I heard a rumor that Jaden Smith writes some of them. Don't know if it's true.

[HOF]

The Beatles have never clicked for me. Of all the songs I've heard, and admittedly, I haven't heard a lot, I'd rank them from meh to so boring I have to change the station. Other bands from that era like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin are far superior.

I couldn't name or even recognise a Garth Brooks song. Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Carrie Underwood are the only country related music I can tolerate.

But what I'd really like to know is does WildRanger write his own threads?

If this is the de facto country thread, I’m just here to say that the best country-related singer is Alison Krauss hands down.

[Cool Chris]

It is interesting to me that I really have never heard of one of the bestselling artists in the US.

I have lived in the US my whole life and I haven't heard of some of our most best selling artists.

[Dedalus]

But what I'd really like to know is does WildRanger write his own threads?

I heard that they are written by bosk1, because he wants engagement and participation in the DTF.

[jammindude]

You would literally have to be living in a cave to have not heard “Friends in Low Places”. I DESPISE country. Try to avoid it at all costs. But that song is about as prevalent as a Michael Jackson single. Every speaker in the known world played that song at one point.

[Dedalus]

I live in a cave in the middle of a rainforest in South America.

I don't even know how I get an internet signal here. 

[kirksnosehair]

It is interesting to me that I really have never heard of one of the bestselling artists in the US.

I have lived in the US my whole life and I haven't heard of some of our most best selling artists.

I am absolutely positive that I have never heard more than about 30 seconds of any Garth Brooks song.  I'm about as interested in country music as I am in getting an enema with rubbing alcohol

[Stadler]

Not at all intended to change anyone's mind; we like what we like.  But the thing about country is that it is like any other genre.  "Rock"?  Sabbath isn't really like Rush isn't really like Marillion isn't really like Van Halen.  There are similarities, but stark differences too.  Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson aren't at all like Garth Brooks, who isn't all that much like Thomas Rhett or Sam Hunt.  And Roy Clark and Glen Campbell aren't like any of those.

There is some STRONG musicianship on some of those records, both in the name artists - Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Vince Gill - and in the backup players - Reggie Young, for one.  There is also some excellent songwriting.  I would be stunned if James Hetfield didn't cop to being influenced by Waylon Jennings (I think he even appeared on a Waymore tribute album) and I'd be speechless if Myles Kennedy didn't acknowledge Kris Kristofferson as an influence.

[jammindude]

Agreed. When I say I hate country, I am always referring to the high profile cookie cutter twang-pop that passes for country nowadays. There is some country I like, but you’d be hard pressed to find a country fan that’s ever heard of them.

[Cool Chris]

A favorite local cover band often did Friends in Low Places. I loved it, yet had to ask my buddy what the heck song it was. They specialized in classic rock and it was one of a couple songs I saw them play over the course of a decade that wasn't familiar to me. Once I knew what it was, I found the original on the internet. I found it so underwhelming I couldn't listen to the whole thing. But what that cover band played it, I marked out hard.

That is the only country song I can name off the top of my head.

[Anguyen92]

I seriously need to make an effort to listen to more George Strait.  I don't mind listening to country if I can find something in the genre I can enjoy like EDM or JPop/JRock.  This guy set the record of largest indoor concert in North America, having 104k people in Dallas show up to see this guy's headlining show (here's something that WildRanger can have his head explode about).

[pg1067]

You would literally have to be living in a cave to have not heard “Friends in Low Places”. I DESPISE country. Try to avoid it at all costs. But that song is about as prevalent as a Michael Jackson single. Every speaker in the known world played that song at one point.

If I've heard it, I don't remember it.  I wouldn't say I "hate" country, but I don't like what I've heard, so I don't listen to it.  I don't have friends who like country music, and even if I did, I don't have occasion to listen to what they listen to.  Is it in a TV commercial?  If so, I might have heard it.  Otherwise, the only way I'd have heard it would have been if it were on the speaker at a restaurant where I wouldn't have paid attention.

[HOF]

Truthfully the only Garth Brooks songs I can come up with off the top of my head are Friends in Low Places and The Thunder Rolls, but I don’t really listen to country music either. I do have a brother who was a big fan at one point. He was everywhere for a period in the 90s, but it’s not that hard to avoid him (like I’ve avoided lots of popular artists over the years).

[KevShmev]

I can handle some old school Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers, and I will admit to liking a handful of Shania Twain songs, but I otherwise have little to no interest in country music.   Even with as much of a fan as I am now of Taylor Swift, I still pretty much avoid most of the country stuff like it's got a scorching case of herpes, although there are a few I dig.

[pg1067]

I can handle some old school Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers, and I will admit to liking a handful of Shania Twain songs, but I otherwise have little to no interest in country music.   Even with as much of a fan as I am now of Taylor Swift, I still pretty much avoid most of the country stuff like it's got a scorching case of herpes, although there are a few I dig.

I liked a couple of her big songs in the late '90s, but I'm not sure how much of that had to do with the songs and how much had to do with how ridiculously sexy she was in those videos.

[Cruithne]

You would literally have to be living in a cave to have not heard “Friends in Low Places”. I DESPISE country. Try to avoid it at all costs. But that song is about as prevalent as a Michael Jackson single. Every speaker in the known world played that song at one point.

North America is not the world... I just looked up the song and I've literally never heard it before.

I do remember them having a vague pop at pushing Garth Brooks in the UK around the mid-90s and he did ok but looking up his "World" tours from around that time the very next tour he stuck to the US, Canada... and Ireland.

I'm trying to think of how many male country singers have crossed over into the global mainstream and it's a struggle. I suspect this is in part because female country singers don't have the same stigma attached to their image that's the product of a long history of negative media stereotyping of the stock Texan.

[Spiritus]

Can't hum a single note of his music, Chris Gaines on the other hand...

[KevShmev]

I will admit to liking a handful of Shania Twain songs

I liked a couple of her big songs in the late '90s, but I'm not sure how much of that had to do with the songs and how much had to do with how ridiculously sexy she was in those videos.

Haha, that sure didn't hurt, but I think a few have held up well as good pop songs (and I have long said I am a sucker for a good pop song, probably as a result of growing up watching MTV in the 80's). 

[WildRanger]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-certified_music_artists_in_the_United_States

It's really surprising to see that George Strait (another country guy) has sold more records than Bruce Springsteen's in the US.
Is he really bigger than Springsteen? Do his live shows have a bigger attendance than Springsteen? I doubt it.

[WildRanger]

There is some STRONG musicianship on some of those records, both in the name artists - Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Vince Gill - and in the backup players - Reggie Young, for one.  There is also some excellent songwriting. 

I've heard a few Urban songs on Youtube (maybe 6 or 7) and they're formulaic, generic and samey modern country-pop stuff. I didn't see any diversity.

[425]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-certified_music_artists_in_the_United_States

It's really surprising to see that George Strait (another country guy) has sold more records than Bruce Springsteen's in the US.
Is he really bigger than Springsteen? Do his live shows have a bigger attendance than Springsteen? I doubt it.

WildRanger, Anguyen literally pointed out just a few posts above this that George Strait had the most-attended indoor concert in North American history, with 104,793 people in attendance. This was also the largest single-ticket show in North American history. You can literally look these things up. You can look up Springsteen's most recent tour and see that he wasn't coming close to 100,000 for a single show (the six-figure numbers in that chart are cumulative numbers for multiple dates).

It's not directly comparable seeing as that 104,793 show was the last stop on what was supposed to be Strait's farewell tour, but it's enough to show that Strait is absolutely in the same weight class as Springsteen in terms of live attendance, if not a higher one.

[King Postwhore]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-certified_music_artists_in_the_United_States

It's really surprising to see that George Strait (another country guy) has sold more records than Bruce Springsteen's in the US.
Is he really bigger than Springsteen? Do his live shows have a bigger attendance than Springsteen? I doubt it.

WildRanger, Anguyen literally pointed out just a few posts above this that George Strait had the most-attended indoor concert in North American history, with 104,793 people in attendance. This was also the largest single-ticket show in North American history. You can literally look these things up. You can look up Springsteen's most recent tour and see that he wasn't coming close to 100,000 for a single show (the six-figure numbers in that chart are cumulative numbers for multiple dates).

It's not directly comparable seeing as that 104,793 show was the last stop on what was supposed to be Strait's farewell tour, but it's enough to show that Strait is absolutely in the same weight class as Springsteen in terms of live attendance, if not a higher one.

And honestly who cares how many people have seen either.  You like the music you go.  You don't like it, you don't go. 

[425]

Sure, it's not a big deal to me at all. I like but don't love both of those artists. I probably wouldn't pay for a stadium ticket for either, whereas I'd definitely pay stadium prices for my favorite artists, most of whom probably get less than 1/10th the attendance of either of those.

I just find it interesting how immensely popular country music is in the US, and how difficult it is for some people, including Americans who move in non-country-loving cultural circles, to believe that.

[King Postwhore]

Sure, it's not a big deal to me at all. I like but don't love both of those artists. I probably wouldn't pay for a stadium ticket for either, whereas I'd definitely pay stadium prices for my favorite artists, most of whom probably get less than 1/10th the attendance of either of those.

I just find it interesting how immensely popular country music is in the US, and how difficult it is for some people, including Americans who move in non-country-loving cultural circles, to believe that.

It's our snobbish hatred of that style of music.    I pick on 2 of my friends wives who love country music. We all get a few laughs on Facebook.   

[pg1067]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-certified_music_artists_in_the_United_States

It's really surprising to see that George Strait (another country guy) has sold more records than Bruce Springsteen's in the US.
Is he really bigger than Springsteen? Do his live shows have a bigger attendance than Springsteen? I doubt it.

Define what "bigger" means.  They're both 5'10", but Google suggests Strait weighs a bit more.  Why do you constantly ask these sorts of comparative questions based on subjective terms that have no set definition?

If "bigger" means person who sold more records in the U.S., then you've answered your own question.

Concert attendance?  Putting aside the single-show comparison previously mentioned, according to setlist.fm, Springsteen played 1,108 concerts between 2002-2021.  By contrast, Strait played only 360 concerts over the same period of time, so it would seem axiomatic that Springsteen's attendance is greater unless Strait, on average, draws 3x as many people to each show.  Attendance per show?  Heck if I know.  However, what does concert attendance have to do with record sales, which is what prompted your question in the first place?

[425]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-certified_music_artists_in_the_United_States

It's really surprising to see that George Strait (another country guy) has sold more records than Bruce Springsteen's in the US.
Is he really bigger than Springsteen? Do his live shows have a bigger attendance than Springsteen? I doubt it.

Define what "bigger" means.  They're both 5'10", but Google suggests Strait weighs a bit more.  Why do you constantly ask these sorts of comparative questions based on subjective terms that have no set definition?

If "bigger" means person who sold more records in the U.S., then you've answered your own question.

Concert attendance?  Putting aside the single-show comparison previously mentioned, according to setlist.fm, Springsteen played 1,108 concerts between 2002-2021.  By contrast, Strait played only 360 concerts over the same period of time, so it would seem axiomatic that Springsteen's attendance is greater unless Strait, on average, draws 3x as many people to each show.  Attendance per show?  Heck if I know.  However, what does concert attendance have to do with record sales, which is what prompted your question in the first place?

If we want to know who has the bigger concert attendance, don't we also need to compare the average height and weight of a Bruce Springsteen concertgoer with the average height and weight of a George Strait concertgoer?

Also, do hats count when we're measuring bigness? Because that could be a significant game-changer in favor of Strait and his audience.

[pg1067]

All y'all gotta take your hats off.

 


Also, I think the next WR poll will be "whose fans are bigger: Springsteen or Strait?"

[TAC]

I'm not Strait.


Not that there's anything wrong with that..

[hefdaddy42]

The Beatles have never clicked for me. Of all the songs I've heard, and admittedly, I haven't heard a lot, I'd rank them from meh to so boring I have to change the station. Other bands from that era like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin are far superior.

I couldn't name or even recognise a Garth Brooks song. Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Carrie Underwood are the only country related music I can tolerate.

But what I'd really like to know is does WildRanger write his own threads?

If this is the de facto country thread, I’m just here to say that the best country-related singer is Alison Krauss hands down.

I absolutely love Alison Krauss (one of the purest voices in all of music), but for me, she isn't really a country singer.  She's bluegrass (which is related in some ways, but very different in others).