History Music / GarthBrooks

** Another perspective maker: Garth's album ''Ropin' the Wind'' was the first country album to debut at #1 on the ''Billboard 200'' albums chart. This is the chart for ''all'' albums, not just country. Perspective? It first held the position between Music/{{Metallica}}'s Black album and ''[[Music/UseYourIllusion Use Your Illusion II]]'' by Music/GunsNRoses. Then it went back to #1 after two weeks of ''Illusion'', and then was knocked off the spot by Music/{{U2}}'s ''Music/AchtungBaby'' and Music/MichaelJackson's ''Music/{{Dangerous|Album}}''. Then in January 1992, it knocked off Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' off the top spot, only a week after Nirvana had done the same to ''Dangerous'', stayed there for two more weeks before ''Nevermind'' returned to #1 on 1 February, then returned with a vengeance on 8 February and stayed at #1 until ''4 April'', when it was pushed off by the ''Film/WaynesWorld'' soundtrack. Basically, ''Ropin' the Wind'' was #1 '''four separate times'''. And guess what happened whenever Metallica, Guns N' Roses, U2, Michael Jackson and Nirvana took the #1 position instead? Why, ''Ropin' the Wind'' stayed constantly on #2, of course, except for the weeks of 5 and 12 October 1991 where it was #3 after ''Use Your Illusion I'' landed at #2 instead. Even better, his previous album, ''No Fences'' (aka the one with "Friends in Low Places") was on the charts at the same time, and could only peak at #3 thanks in large part to ''Ropin' the Wind''.

** Another perspective maker: Garth's album ''Ropin' the Wind'' was the first country album to debut at #1 on the ''Billboard 200'' albums chart. This is the chart for ''all'' albums, not just country. Perspective? It first held the position between Music/{{Metallica}}'s Black album and ''[[Music/UseYourIllusion Use Your Illusion II]]'' by Music/GunsNRoses. Then it went back to #1 after two weeks of ''Illusion'', and then was knocked off the spot by Music/{{U2}}'s ''Music/AchtungBaby'' and Music/MichaelJackson's ''Music/{{Dangerous}}''. Then in January 1992, it knocked off Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' off the top spot, only a week after Nirvana had done the same to ''Dangerous'', stayed there for two more weeks before ''Nevermind'' returned to #1 on 1 February, then returned with a vengeance on 8 February and stayed at #1 until ''4 April'', when it was pushed off by the ''Film/WaynesWorld'' soundtrack. Basically, ''Ropin' the Wind'' was #1 '''four separate times'''. And guess what happened whenever Metallica, Guns N' Roses, U2, Michael Jackson and Nirvana took the #1 position instead? Why, ''Ropin' the Wind'' stayed constantly on #2, of course, except for the weeks of 5 and 12 October 1991 where it was #3 after ''Use Your Illusion I'' landed at #2 instead. Even better, his previous album, ''No Fences'' (aka the one with "Friends in Low Places") was on the charts at the same time, and could only peak at #3 thanks in large part to ''Ropin' the Wind''.

Despite being the face of a genre of music traditionally associated with conservative values, Brooks is also known for having been an advocate for gay rights for nearly his entire career, due to his half-sister/bandmate Betsy Smittle being a lesbian. Brooks was vocal about this stance far before most artists of his stature in the country sphere were, and at a time where such advocacy likely could have incurred a boycott[[note]]he got away with it due to being, well, ''Garth Brooks''[[/note]]. He insisted on having his first single on ''The Chase'' be "We Shall Be Free", a song calling for greater tolerance in the United States, and played hardball with Creator/{{NBC}} and the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague by threatening to pull out of playing the national anthem 15 minutes before the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl unless they agreed to air its music video, an act that won him a GLAAD award in 1993. This barely made a dent in his popularity, and it's a common joke/observed truth in America that few artists could reach across the political aisle like Brooks. In 2021, he performed "Amazing Grace" at UsefulNotes/JoeBiden's inauguration.

* BitterWeddingSpeech: "Friends in Low Places". Better: Singer wasn't invited.

Despite being the face of a genre of music traditionally associated with conservative values, Brooks is also known for having been an advocate for gay rights since the early '90s, due to his half-sister/bandmate Betsy Smittle being a lesbian. Brooks was vocal about this stance far before most artists of his stature in the country sphere were, and at a time where such advocacy likely could have incurred a boycott[[note]]he got away with it due to being, well, ''Garth Brooks''[[/note]]. He insisted on having his first single on ''The Chase'' be "We Shall Be Free", a song calling for greater tolerance in the United States, and played hardball with Creator/{{NBC}} and the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague by threatening to pull out of playing the national anthem 15 minutes before the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl unless they agreed to air its music video, an act that won him a GLAAD award in 1993. This barely made a dent in his popularity, and it's a common joke/observed truth in America that few artists could reach across the political aisle like Brooks. In 2021, he performed "Amazing Grace" at UsefulNotes/JoeBiden's inauguration.