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Where Are The Bodies Garth Brooks

I remember very well, in the ’90s, as early as the “No Fences” album, that it was “cool,” in certain circles, to either not care much for Garth and his music, or to actually be actively hostile towards them. I never went full-on with the scorn, but I do admit, for a time during the early ’90s, that I fell, somewhat, for the “hardcore country purist” Party line which seemed to hold that Garth was sullying country music by making it “more commercial,: “too pop,” “watered-down,” etc. I don’t begrudge people not liking his persona or his music, because we all have the right to our opinions, but for myself, now, I look back on my wary-to-skeptical view of Garth in the ’90s, and honestly, I think I was an idiot.

Garth has never, ever, claimed to be some kind of ultra-traditional, country music purist type of artist, and it was silly, if not ridiculous, for me to ever judge him by that kind of standard. The “No Fences” album title, itself, was a tip-off that not only he was *not* going to defined by others’ potentially rigid ideas of what his music should sould like, but that he, himself took a view of his music that was very open to different styles/genres and decidedly *non-rigid*.

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I’m not necessarily a fan of each and every song that the man has recorded, but overall, I have a lot of respect for him. Really, much of his music, from the ’90s and on, sounds so much better, and much more “country,” to me now, than much of what I hear when I am unfortunate enough to come across the auto-tuned bro-country dreck that is played on so many country radio stations today.

On his persona, I’m not sure if it really is a “persona,” as such. In interviews that I’ve seen, from his early days and later, he has always been up-front about having been a KISS fan, as a young man, who then became a country music fan and, in his performing career, decided to take some of the theatrics of big rock shows to the country music stage. I get that this rubs some people the wrong way, but it doesn’t bother me. People have a great time at his shows, partially because *he* visibly seems to be having a great time with his band and with the audience. Personally, I don’t think that he is putting anyone on there, period.

Sometimes I wonder, is there something that certain people just have to find “un-cool,” or even suspect, about men, especially, who are, by turns, earnest, optimistic, a bit goofy, and simply unashamed of all three of those attributes? I think back to male friends of mine in college who had more macho personalities than I did, and who, at times, seemed to take my *lack* of machismo, and my not *particularly caring* about that lack in my personality, as a sort of embarrassment, or even a personal affront, to them. Maybe Garth is just so at ease with who he is, earnest, goofy, or not, that it’s hard for some people to believe that it’s *not* an act?

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Either way, I like what I’ve seen of the guy, and I enjoy a good bit of his music. 30 years ago, I was ridiculously concerned about whether or not it was “cool” to be a Garth Brooks fan among hardcore country purists, and as silly as it seems now, I actually allowed that concern to keep me from giving a lot of his music a fair listen. Now, I could not care less about whether it’s “cool” or not, and I am very happily a fan.

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