At the height of his fame, Garth Brooks dominated the music charts in the 1990s. Notable for songs like “Friends in Low Places” and “The Thunder Rolls” he popularized country music in an age where grunge and alternative music had mostly taken over. Then, after divorcing his wife, Brooks went into “retirement”. He used this time to help raise his daughters, get married again, and re-connect with his family. The documentary was originally a two episode special for A&E Television.
It details the beginning of his journey, from playing in local bars, to filling up Madison Square Garden.
While most country artists are notably non-political, with conservative, family views of family, home, god and country being slipped into songs Brooks was surprisingly more open minded than his counterparts. Brooks came under fire for portraying domestic violence in his music video for the song “The Thunder Rolls” about a man coming home from an affair. The video portrayed a domestic dispute gone wrong, and was viewed as controversial at that time and pulled from the air.
Later on, after the Rodney King riots in 1992, he released the song “We Shall Be Free”. The lyrics were deemed controversial as they included the lyric, “When we’re free to love anyone we choose…” Brooks had formally had number one hit after number one hit. But because the song was deemed as having expressed support for lgbtq views, the song only went to number twelve. It also one him a GLAAD Media award in 1993.
The song seems even more important now, and the artist worth a second look as it seems that there was more to Garth Brooks then anyone ever knew.
