1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,440 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,319 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Disgraceland is 3 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. The stories about country megastar 4 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: Garth Brooks are insane. He has more albums that have 5 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: sold over ten million copies than any other artist in history. 6 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: He cut one of the biggest record deals of all time, 7 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 1: bigger than Madonna, bigger than Prince, a deal matched at 8 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 1: the time only by Michael Jackson. He triggered an earthquake 9 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,319 Speaker 1: at a concert in Baton Rouge. His touring route has 10 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: been scrutinized by online detectives looking to suss out a 11 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: rumor about missing persons cases, a rumor that alleges people 12 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: vanish when Garth Brooks stops by to play music, great music, 13 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: some of the greatest country pop songs of all time. 14 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: Unlike that loop. I played a few at the top 15 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: of the show that wasn't great music. That was a 16 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,040 Speaker 1: preset loop from my melotron called millions of People Now 17 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 1: Vibing MK One. I played you that loop because I 18 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: can't afford the rights to all about that bass by 19 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: Megan Trainer, And why would I play you that specific 20 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: slice of right Junk in the Right Places cheese? Could 21 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: I afford it? Because that was the number one song 22 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:34,399 Speaker 1: in America on November eleventh, twenty fourteen, And that was 23 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,839 Speaker 1: the day that Garth Brooks joined Facebook with a video 24 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: so bizarre that it launched a conspiracy theory, one that 25 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: continues to have ripple effects to this day. On this episode, 26 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: online videos, conspiracy theories, earthquakes, missing persons in Garth Brooks. 27 00:01:54,680 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan and this this disgrace slant country music 28 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: television entertainment tonight, the Today Show. Just a few media 29 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: outlets that have at one time referred to Garth Brooks 30 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 1: as groundbreaking. Others still have called him earth shattering. Why 31 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,800 Speaker 1: because Garth Brooks is a megastars megastar He's got more 32 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: albums that have been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry 33 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: Association of America than any other artist in history. And Diamond, 34 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: for those of you keeping score at home, is more 35 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: than ten million copies sold per album. Garth has nine 36 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: albums that have done that, The Beatles on six. I 37 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: could go on and on with data numbers, the world 38 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:06,639 Speaker 1: records that Garth Brooks has left in the dust over 39 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 1: and over again. But I don't want to get ahead 40 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 1: of myself. My point here is that the words Garth 41 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 1: Brooks and earth shattering are often mentioned in the same sentence. 42 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: But here's the thing that's not actually true. Garth Brooks' music, 43 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,919 Speaker 1: his career, they aren't literally shattering anything. People can love music, 44 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: and anyone can be in awe of the career, but 45 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,239 Speaker 1: when it comes to shattering the earth, to literally breaking 46 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: the ground that we walk on, it takes more than 47 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: a shit ton of number one songs. Garth Brooks couldn't 48 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: shatter the earth on his own. To do that, he 49 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: needed the assistance of one hundred thousand people. April twenty 50 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: twenty two, Louisiana State University. Garth Brooks was doing what 51 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: he was born to do, putting on a show, the 52 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: kind of show that made him the biggest musical act 53 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: on the planet some three decades prior, a show that 54 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: generated mucco fomo. Garth sprinting across the raised platform, Garth 55 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: swinging from a rope, Garth and his bandmate smashing two 56 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: guitars together. A Garth Brooks concert was a spectacle, and 57 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 1: this particular concert was his first in Baton Rouge in 58 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,239 Speaker 1: twenty four years, over one hundred and two thousand fans. 59 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: One hundred and two thousand fans let him know that 60 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: they were glad to have him back, and the roar 61 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:31,839 Speaker 1: from the crowd was deafening. Garth rode the high of 62 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 1: his fans adoration as he transitioned from one of his 63 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:38,239 Speaker 1: oldest hits, much too young to feel this damn old, 64 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: into a cover of the Oakridge Boys colin Baton Rouge. 65 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 1: The unofficial LSU anthem made the audience go crazy. Hundreds 66 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: of thousands of feet stomping in the stands of Tiger Stadium, 67 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: every person in attendance singing along. People with Apple watches 68 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,919 Speaker 1: felt their wrist vibrate and then saw the alert. The 69 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: sound level, now at ninety five decipels and climbing as 70 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,359 Speaker 1: loud as an approaching subway car, loud enough to cause 71 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: hearing losses. Sustained for too long, the ground shook beneath 72 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 1: their feet. Inside LSU's nearby geosciences building, a seismic graph 73 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: began to spike. The machine recorded actual seismic waves in 74 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,159 Speaker 1: the ground as a direct result of the concert. Seismic 75 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: waves as in the kind triggered by volcanic eruptions, explosions, landslides, 76 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: and avalanches. Garth Brooks and the LSU audience triggered an 77 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 1: actual earthquake, scientifically proven by equipment already located on campus. 78 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 1: Three months later in August in Houston, the crowd wasn't 79 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:50,120 Speaker 1: expecting earthquakes per se. Capacity at NRG Stadium, home of 80 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 1: the Houston Texans football team, was only sixty seven thousand, 81 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: But no matter the size of the audience, Garth delivered 82 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: and the crowd loved it. They held up handmade signs, 83 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: hoping theirs would make it to the JumboTron screen about 84 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:08,840 Speaker 1: the stage. Some did make it, like one that read 85 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 1: we love Garth, so wholesome and so representative of how 86 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: everyone in that stadium felt at that moment. A camera 87 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: zoomed in on it, and then the image was up 88 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: on the jumbo tron, But within seconds, the person holding 89 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: the sign dropped it, revealing another sign behind it, this 90 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:29,919 Speaker 1: one with a message hastily written in black sharpie, a 91 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:35,919 Speaker 1: message that read, where are the bodies g The JumboTron 92 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: camera suddenly flailed around and then quickly cut away back 93 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: to a tight shot of Garth. But everyone saw it, 94 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: sixty seven thousand people, people who are now thinking, what 95 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:49,039 Speaker 1: the fuck was that? Where were the bodies? G bodies? 96 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:53,279 Speaker 1: What bodies? They had no clue. These obsessive Garth Brooks 97 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:56,479 Speaker 1: fans first and lined by a ticket knew every word 98 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: and every melody to every deep cut, completely unaware of 99 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: the rumor. It's so easy to turn a blind eye 100 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:07,039 Speaker 1: to rumors, to truth, even when you love something. We 101 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: all do it. The flaws that some of our favorite 102 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 1: performers possess we are willing to ignore, separating the art 103 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: from the artists and all that. But this particular rumor 104 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: was sinister to its core, so evil that one simply 105 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: had no choice but to reckon with the information the 106 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: data upon learning about it, just like we're about to 107 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: do right now. Stick with me here. This isn't simple, 108 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: and this isn't easy, but it's necessary to understand what 109 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:41,400 Speaker 1: the sign was trying to communicate. Back up to the 110 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: yearly nineteen nineties, Garth Brooks is on a swift and 111 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: unprecedented rise to fame, on the rise at the exact 112 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: same time the number of missing persons cases in the 113 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: United States. And this is a simple fact. You can 114 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 1: Look it up. Plot the graph of Garth Brooks's success 115 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 1: alongside the graph of the missing person's epidemic in the 116 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: country and you'll see what I'm talking about. By nineteen 117 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 1: ninety seven, the number of missing persons peaked just under 118 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:13,559 Speaker 1: nine hundred and eighty one thousand. This was the same 119 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: year that Garth was at his most powerful, playing to 120 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,679 Speaker 1: over a million fans in Central Park, releasing his seventh 121 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:25,040 Speaker 1: studio album, a record called Seven's Seven as in the 122 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: Seven Deadly Sins the Seventh Seal. You know I'm the one. 123 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: I'm the one, the one they call the Seventh Sun. 124 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: Missing person cases dropped a bit after this, but they 125 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:39,199 Speaker 1: spiked again two years later in nineteen ninety nine, at 126 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: the very moment Garth Brooks went full Ziggy starred us 127 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: and unleashed his rock and roll alter ego, Chris Gaines. Coincidence, 128 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: You can make the argument. You could also argue that 129 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: Chris Gaines was some kind of publicity stunt. But Chris Gaines, 130 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: and we'll get to him later, Chris Gaines is so 131 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: obviously the quote unquote dark side of Garth have the 132 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:05,440 Speaker 1: same person good and evil. It was all there out 133 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:09,200 Speaker 1: in the open or so this particular conspiracy theory alleges. 134 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: Check out the titles to some of the songs Garth 135 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 1: covered on a box that he released in twenty thirteen. 136 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: You ain't going nowhere, don't close your eyes, act naturally, 137 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,480 Speaker 1: hold on, I'm coming. These are the things a predator 138 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: says to his prey right before he grabs them and 139 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: stuffs the chloroform soak rag against their face, and then 140 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: you can only imagine what happens next. But consider this, 141 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: People kept turning up missing even years later, and many 142 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:37,959 Speaker 1: of these missing persons had the same eerie thing in common. 143 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: They all disappeared when Garth Brooks's tour buses rolled through town. 144 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: January twenty fifteen, Gareth Brooks plays Tulsa, Oklahoma. A seventy 145 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 1: four year old man disappears. That same night, May twenty sixteen, 146 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: Garth Brooks plays Grand Rapids, Michigan. A guy known only 147 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:01,080 Speaker 1: as Gary vanishes from the near by a town of Hamilton, 148 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: just thirty minutes away. February twenty seventeen, Garth Brooks plays 149 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: a week of shows in Edmonton, Alberta. On his night off, 150 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:13,839 Speaker 1: you guessed it, another person gone. Okay, so let's say 151 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,199 Speaker 1: you've been clocking all these developments in real time, or 152 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:19,160 Speaker 1: maybe it's only in hindsight that you realize something's going on. 153 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 1: So you start asking that question, where are the bodies 154 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:25,480 Speaker 1: get But no matter how much you ask the question, 155 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: and no matter how many handmade signs you hold up 156 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 1: at stadium shows, you get no answer. So you keep 157 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: digging into the past. You find an old clip from 158 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:38,439 Speaker 1: the TNN show Crook and Chase in nineteen eighty nine, 159 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: long before Garth Brooks was a household name, Charlie Chase 160 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:46,199 Speaker 1: and his Music City mustache asking his guests Garth if 161 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: he ever thought about acting. I'd love to be a 162 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:52,360 Speaker 1: bad guy. Garth says, no, Charlie, Lass, you don't want 163 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:55,480 Speaker 1: to do that. You look like a good guy. Garth 164 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:59,720 Speaker 1: just smiles and says, I'd rather kill somebody. That'd be fun. 165 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 1: Then there's an interview Gareth gave to the Music City 166 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:08,080 Speaker 1: News in nineteen ninety in which he said about his 167 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: backing band, quote, the band's contract is that if they leave, 168 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: I have to kill them. And what about the profile 169 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: of Gareth and Rolling Stone Magazine nineteen ninety three, He's 170 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:21,800 Speaker 1: on top of the world. Over one hundred million albums sold. 171 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: His recording contract allegedly as lucrative as Michael Jackson's, a 172 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 1: contract that unbelievably put Madonna's in Princess Cush Deals to shame. 173 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,559 Speaker 1: Gareth's talking about quote stomping the other guy's guts out, 174 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,680 Speaker 1: who's in competition with you unquote just to get what 175 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:40,680 Speaker 1: he wants, which is at number one spot, and then 176 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:44,160 Speaker 1: doing whatever it takes to stay there. How does one 177 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:48,680 Speaker 1: do this? You're like an athlete, competitive hungry. Losing is 178 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:53,040 Speaker 1: not an option. You've get to have drive, determination and 179 00:11:53,160 --> 00:12:22,599 Speaker 1: a killer instinct. Lightning flashed outside and lit up the 180 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:26,960 Speaker 1: darkened room, nice house, new or built. He'd been out, 181 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:31,079 Speaker 1: laid again, unfaithful again. She confronted him when he got home. 182 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 1: He didn't want to hear it. He hit her so 183 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 1: hard that she went flying over the couch, and as 184 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:40,520 Speaker 1: he did, more lightning outside illuminated the whole scene, bright 185 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,320 Speaker 1: enough for their young daughter to watch from the stairs above. 186 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: He looked up, and the girl backed against the wall 187 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:49,480 Speaker 1: and began to sink, like she wasn't there at all. 188 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: But he held his gaze, eyes dead mine, made up, 189 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 1: determined to do what he'd just done to his wife 190 00:12:56,679 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: to his child as well. At least that's what the 191 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,960 Speaker 1: girl was afraid of. He made his move, but his 192 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:07,080 Speaker 1: wife moved faster. The gun there in the drawer, now 193 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:11,680 Speaker 1: in her hand, she aimed. She fired. Thunder crackled just 194 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:14,320 Speaker 1: beyond the windows and made the gunshot sound louder than 195 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: it really was. And the girl watched as he was 196 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:22,760 Speaker 1: struck down. This man her daddy. The man playing her daddy, 197 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,080 Speaker 1: a man who sort of looked like Garth Brooks. If 198 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:29,680 Speaker 1: Garth Brooks had curly black hair, a tightly groomed beard, 199 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: and glasses inverse, Garth Evil Garth, perhaps Garth's vision of 200 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:37,400 Speaker 1: what a bad guy looked like, if he thought about 201 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: bad guys at all, which, as we know from that 202 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 1: bizarre Crook and Taste interview back in eighty nine, he 203 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:48,080 Speaker 1: most certainly did. Two years after that interview, in nineteen 204 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: ninety one, Garth did more than think about bad guys. 205 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 1: He was a bad guy, at least for a day, 206 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 1: playing an abusive husband in the music video for his 207 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: song The thunder Rolls, the first track on his second album, 208 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 1: No Fences, released the previous summer. No Offences, was huge. 209 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:14,240 Speaker 1: It reinvigorated the country music market in America, specifically country pop, 210 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:17,000 Speaker 1: turning on a new generation to a genre which it 211 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:20,520 Speaker 1: bottomed out in the previous decade. This might be hard 212 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 1: to imagine now in our current landscape, when last year alone, 213 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: thirty six percent of the streams on Spotify's Top fifty 214 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 1: songs in the US were country songs. But just prior 215 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:35,480 Speaker 1: to Garth's arrival, country music was in crisis. No fences 216 00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: signaled a sea change. Millions sold big singles like The 217 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: thunder Rolls, Garth six number one on the Country chart 218 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: upon its release. One hundred and eighty three radio stations 219 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,840 Speaker 1: put the song into rotation, the most in country chart 220 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: history at the time. But The thunder Rolls wasn't a 221 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: shit kicking rock. It was no friends in low places. 222 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: This song was heavy. The video di and shy away 223 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: from domestic violence. TNN did not do domestic violence or 224 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: anything remotely controversial for that matter. TNN was not MTV. 225 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:13,640 Speaker 1: The thunder Rolls was immediately taken off the air. There 226 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: was one way to get the video back on TNN. 227 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: Garth simply had to tape a disclaimer that would run 228 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: before the video, something condemning domestic violence. That know on 229 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:27,240 Speaker 1: certain terms. But to Garth, a disclaimer felt like pandering, 230 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,080 Speaker 1: like he was using controversy to promote a video. He 231 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: didn't do the disclaimer on principle. His stance struck most 232 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: as genuine, authentic, and that in turn led to his 233 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:43,360 Speaker 1: first major crossover. First there were the country music stations 234 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 1: screening the band video at shopping malls and country music venues. 235 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: Then Tower Records in Nashville playing the video on loop 236 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: NonStop from four to eight pm every day for five days. Next, 237 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: Women's Shelters reaching out to Capitol Records, Garth's label, to 238 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:03,080 Speaker 1: explain how the is helping them raise awareness about domestic abuse. 239 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: And finally VH one, a cable station that played pop videos, 240 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 1: now airing Garth Brooks's country video on the regular. But 241 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: Garth Brooks wasn't country, not in the sense that it 242 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 1: confined him. He loved George Strait, but he loved Queen 243 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: and Kiss just as much. He put rock and roll 244 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: energy into the music he was making and took country 245 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: where it had never gone before. Rope in the Wind, 246 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:31,480 Speaker 1: his third studio album, went straight to number one on 247 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 1: the Billboard two hundred the same week that No Offences 248 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:37,080 Speaker 1: was holding the number two spot, and his debut was 249 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: still clinging to the number ten spot. And it wasn't 250 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:46,040 Speaker 1: just stubbornness, determination and drive to put Garth Brooks on top. 251 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: There was something else. Fear. Fear of the man in 252 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:54,640 Speaker 1: the video, who was the polar opposite of Garth's squeaky clean, 253 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: forward facing image. Fear of evil Garth, fear of the 254 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: rest to the music industry of hip hop and heavy metal, 255 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,920 Speaker 1: two genres that Forbes magazine vilified in a nineteen ninety 256 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 1: two article positioning Garth as a goodie two shoes messiah 257 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:13,080 Speaker 1: here to deliver us from evil. If you don't live 258 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:15,560 Speaker 1: in the inner city, you can't relate to those lyrics. 259 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: Garth's producer was quoted as saying, those lyrics referring, of course, 260 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:22,919 Speaker 1: to hip hop, a genre that was creatively thriving at 261 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:25,200 Speaker 1: the time, but one that was being held back from 262 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 1: the mainstream, being denied Garth level chart dominance by this 263 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: very line of thinking. Their music bad our music, good fear, 264 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: plain and simple fear was the great motivator. Magic Johnson 265 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 1: told Garth Brooks this after trying and failing to sink 266 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:46,120 Speaker 1: a ball into the corner pocket nineteen ninety four shooting 267 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:50,000 Speaker 1: Pool was equal ground for the two superstars, both competitive 268 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: players at the top of their respective games. Besides, Garth 269 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:56,480 Speaker 1: wasn't dumb enough to challenge Magic on a half court, 270 00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:59,640 Speaker 1: and Magic wasn't about to step out on stage. They 271 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 1: both sucked at pool, and that wasn't the point. Pool 272 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: was a chance to dick around. Prior to the conversation, 273 00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: they were taping for a Fox TV special called One 274 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,399 Speaker 1: on One with Magic Johnson. But first Garth wanted to 275 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:15,679 Speaker 1: know what separates an NBA player from everyone else. Magic 276 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:16,680 Speaker 1: was quick to respond. 277 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:17,520 Speaker 2: Easy. 278 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 1: The thing that pushed the Beatles to try and make 279 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:22,480 Speaker 1: better records than the Beach Boys in the sixties, the 280 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: same thing that pushed Magic to jump higher and block 281 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:29,439 Speaker 1: harder than Larry Bird in the eighties. Fear. The higher 282 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 1: Garth Brooks climbed, the more that fear sank in, fear 283 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: that his latest record wasn't going to do as well 284 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,800 Speaker 1: as the last. Fear that this new mullet on the block, 285 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 1: Billy Ray Cyrus five straight weeks at number one with 286 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 1: that Achy breaking bullshit was going to send Garth straight 287 00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 1: to the cutout biz. They humiliated him on air in 288 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: London to the Brits, he was a country bumpkin straight 289 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: out of Hicksville, but in Dublin he was a god, 290 00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:59,040 Speaker 1: at least as big as the Pope, setting a new 291 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 1: record for the largest audience since His Holiness paid a 292 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 1: visit some fourteen years prior. When he left Ireland, one 293 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:09,639 Speaker 1: quarter of all Irish households owned a Garth CD or cassette. 294 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:17,119 Speaker 1: The fear was paying off. March nineteen ninety five the 295 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:21,200 Speaker 1: fastest selling artist of all time, fifty million albums sold 296 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:25,399 Speaker 1: in just six years. May nineteen ninety six, scratch that, 297 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: the number is now sixty million. August nineteen ninety seven, 298 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:34,240 Speaker 1: Garth stock the Central Park Concert a million people shot 299 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:38,159 Speaker 1: live for HBO, the cable network's highest rated program of 300 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: the year, and then just three months later in November, 301 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:46,760 Speaker 1: Garth Brooks released Seven's, his seventh LP in his fourth 302 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,359 Speaker 1: to debut at number one on both the mainstream and 303 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:52,960 Speaker 1: country album charts. He had the crossover video and the 304 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,200 Speaker 1: crossover albums, and now he just needed a crossover number 305 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,119 Speaker 1: one single That would be an all time high for 306 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,480 Speaker 1: Garth Brooks, just like another all time high making history. 307 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: At this very same time, the number of missing person 308 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:09,720 Speaker 1: cases in America more than nine hundred and seventy thousand 309 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: in total, a daunting number, a number that Garth Brooks 310 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:17,679 Speaker 1: may or may not have been aware of. What he 311 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: was aware of was how his own personality was beginning 312 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,120 Speaker 1: to split in two, one man on stage and another off. 313 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:28,359 Speaker 1: It that man up on stage that wasn't Troyl Garth 314 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:33,520 Speaker 1: Brooks or in nineteen sixty two Tulsa, Oklahoma superstar Garth 315 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: GB for short. He's a character. As soon as the 316 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: house lights go down and he takes those first few 317 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:43,800 Speaker 1: steps onto the stage, his heart pounding. That guy Troyle disappears. 318 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: Garth does things that Troyle would never do. He sees 319 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,160 Speaker 1: some woman riding the rail down front, screaming your head off, 320 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 1: and he reaches down from the stage, his button up 321 00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: shirt tucked neatly into his jeans, his cowboy hat looming large, 322 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 1: and he grabs a woman's hair and yankes as hard 323 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:06,200 Speaker 1: as he can. It's physical, it's thrilling. When he talks 324 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,200 Speaker 1: about moments like these after the fact, Garth talks about 325 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,480 Speaker 1: himself and the third person like he's Jimmy from Seinfeld. 326 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:15,920 Speaker 1: Garth got carried away tonight, Garth grabbed the woman's hair. 327 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:19,720 Speaker 1: Did you see that? For Garth Brooks the entertainer, like 328 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:23,960 Speaker 1: all incredible entertainers, it's all about connection, but he didn't 329 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,520 Speaker 1: have to physically touch every person to knock them on 330 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,680 Speaker 1: their asses. When my people leave the auditorium, I want 331 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: them crawling out, he told Rolling Stone. I want them 332 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,160 Speaker 1: so damn tired. I want their voices gone. I want 333 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,280 Speaker 1: them to be just like me, ringing wet, just dead, 334 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 1: just dead, hey man, he said it, not me. By 335 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 1: the late nineties, at the top of his game, Garth 336 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,040 Speaker 1: Brooks was thinking a lot about death, not just about 337 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 1: entertaining his fans to death, if only metaphorically. There was 338 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,639 Speaker 1: the death of his mother Wants, a Country Western singer 339 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: in her own right, gone after a battle with Answer 340 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:02,760 Speaker 1: at the age of seventy, And there was also the 341 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:05,399 Speaker 1: death of a fictional rock star when that Garth was 342 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,880 Speaker 1: going to resurrect and make real and doing so would 343 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: give the most popular singer in the world the one thing. 344 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: He still did not have a number one hit song 345 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:21,919 Speaker 1: on the mainstream pop chart. We'll be right back after 346 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:34,399 Speaker 1: this word word word. Fourteen year old Kenny Edmunds wanted 347 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:36,960 Speaker 1: nothing more than to meet the singer for his favorite band, 348 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: The Jackson Five, But Kenny Edmonds was nobody, and young 349 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,399 Speaker 1: Michael Jackson was one of the biggest stars in the world. 350 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,720 Speaker 1: Even now in nineteen seventy three, when the band's best 351 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 1: years were arguably behind them. Kenny knew the opportunity to 352 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: meet Michael wasn't going to fall in his lap. He 353 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:55,800 Speaker 1: had to create it himself. So he looked in the 354 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,399 Speaker 1: local paper and found the name of the show's local promoter, 355 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:02,640 Speaker 1: Charles Williams. Then Kenny opened the phone book. So many 356 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,240 Speaker 1: Charles Williams listed here in Indianapolis. He picked up the 357 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,199 Speaker 1: phone and began to call each one. Took a minute, 358 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:11,879 Speaker 1: but he got promoter Charles Williams on the line, and 359 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,920 Speaker 1: Kenny put on a fake voice, the spot on impression 360 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:17,160 Speaker 1: of Jimmy Stewart that he dragged out whenever he wanted 361 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 1: to make his friends laugh. But this was no laughing matter. 362 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 1: This was Kenny pretending to be an adult the journalism 363 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 1: teacher at his high school. To be precise, who is 364 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:30,440 Speaker 1: now asking promoter Charles Williams if this band come into 365 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: town or what was their name? The Something five, the 366 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: Jackson five. I perhaps one of this journalism students could 367 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,919 Speaker 1: interview them when their tour arrived here in Indianapolis. Promoter 368 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:43,320 Speaker 1: Charles Williams thought this was a terrific idea. He asked 369 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: for a number to call the teacher back once he 370 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:48,920 Speaker 1: confirmed details. Just call my student directly, came the reply, 371 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 1: and then Kenny Edmunds gave the promoter his actual phone number. Opportunity, ambition, 372 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,399 Speaker 1: Kenny Edmonds had both in spades. These things landed him 373 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:01,639 Speaker 1: a face to face interview with Michael Jackson at just 374 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,679 Speaker 1: fourteen years old, and these things were driving him to 375 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 1: also made huge R and B hits. Now some two 376 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:12,119 Speaker 1: decades later under his better known professional name as the 377 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: writer and producer Babyface, Kenny Edmund's aka Babyface was behind 378 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:22,399 Speaker 1: huge hits for Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Voice to Men TLC. 379 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 1: But Babyface's ambition knew no bounds, no genre. He recognized 380 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,399 Speaker 1: the potential in a Nashville country song performed by on 381 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: Nona Judd, and he brought that song not to an 382 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: R and B singer, but to Eric Clapton. Changed the 383 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:40,840 Speaker 1: World was a bonafide smash in nineteen ninety six thanks 384 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:43,480 Speaker 1: to that ambition. Thanks to a guy who is still 385 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,679 Speaker 1: taking chances. Long after he co called the promoter of 386 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 1: a Jackson five show. His next idea was wilder than 387 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 1: a slow Ham colab. This was a very big swing. 388 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:58,320 Speaker 1: A movie called The Lamb about a fictional rock star dead. 389 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,960 Speaker 1: In the film's first scene, his life told in flashbacks 390 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:03,960 Speaker 1: as one of his fans tries to prove that he 391 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,159 Speaker 1: was murdered. The script was being written by the guy 392 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:11,400 Speaker 1: who wrote Diehard in the Fugitive and Babyface was executive producing. 393 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: But before the movie could be released, a genius level 394 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: marketing plan had to be executed. Introduced this fake singer 395 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:22,679 Speaker 1: by way of a real album. An album of the 396 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,680 Speaker 1: dead rock star is so called hits performed by an 397 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: actual musician pretending to be someone else, the same musician 398 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:33,000 Speaker 1: who would then play the dead rock star in the movie. 399 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:35,960 Speaker 1: The concept was as bonkers as a guy Babyface thought 400 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:42,119 Speaker 1: would be perfect for the gig, Garth Brooks. Garth Brooks 401 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,960 Speaker 1: may have had four records hit the top mainstream album chart, 402 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: but his number one singles were all still on the 403 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 1: country side of the tracks. Becoming Chris Gaines was going 404 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:54,840 Speaker 1: to change all of that. Chris Gaines was everything. Garth 405 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:59,399 Speaker 1: Brooks allegedly was not. He had dark hair, a soul patch, 406 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:02,600 Speaker 1: he wore eyeliner. He was a sex addict who made 407 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: albums with titles like Fornacopeia. Garth dropped weight and got 408 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,600 Speaker 1: into character. He intended to disappear, just like all those 409 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: people who were busy disappearing across America. But Garth Brooks 410 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:18,280 Speaker 1: couldn't get lost, and Chris Gaines not really. The whole 411 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,879 Speaker 1: thing looked like a joke, and it was a joke. 412 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:25,320 Speaker 1: Garth's country audience didn't get it. The thing was Garth 413 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:29,280 Speaker 1: wasn't laughing. The album Garth Brooks in the Life of 414 00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 1: Chris Gaines did sell two million copies, which is nothing 415 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,720 Speaker 1: to sneeze at, but two million was dittally compared to 416 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:38,440 Speaker 1: the numbers Garth was used to putting up. The movie 417 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,640 Speaker 1: was Shells and Babyface went looking for the next opportunity. 418 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,200 Speaker 1: Chris Gaines went back in the ground. Although the experiment 419 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,199 Speaker 1: didn't get Gareth the number one crossover single, it did 420 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 1: get him to number five, which is higher than he 421 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:54,240 Speaker 1: ever got on the pop tracks, and that's saying something. 422 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:58,280 Speaker 1: But Chris Gaines ultimately was a failure. But ill conceived 423 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 1: plot precipitated garth'snnouncement that he was taking a break from 424 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:06,120 Speaker 1: the business and considering early retirement. Chris Gains, it seems, 425 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 1: did something Garth Brooks could never do. He lost and 426 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:12,880 Speaker 1: if you can't beat him, well, you know the rest. 427 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,159 Speaker 1: Joining Facebook did not come naturally to a guy like 428 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:24,919 Speaker 1: Garth Brooks. Noah did not. But in twenty fourteen, Garth 429 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 1: his alleged retirement, it was nothing but a memory. He's 430 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:32,000 Speaker 1: getting ready at this point to stage a massive three 431 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:35,000 Speaker 1: year comeback tour. So social media makes a lot of 432 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:38,040 Speaker 1: sense for Garth Brooks at this point. The forty five 433 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,200 Speaker 1: second video Garth Brooks post to what was his new 434 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,680 Speaker 1: Facebook page at the time made it official. The video 435 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:48,200 Speaker 1: is low quality. It's shot by Garth himself. He's sitting 436 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 1: in bed in an empty hotel room and he talks 437 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:54,200 Speaker 1: about Facebook as a conversation between himself and the fans, 438 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:58,080 Speaker 1: to which he says, I like that. But he doesn't 439 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,679 Speaker 1: say I like that in the way you thinking. He 440 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,840 Speaker 1: says it like I don't know. It's fucking creepy. Man. 441 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,399 Speaker 1: His voice drops, it's almost a whisper, like he's trying 442 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,040 Speaker 1: to stay like incognito. 443 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:12,000 Speaker 2: I like that. 444 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:14,840 Speaker 1: He keeps that tone going too as he talks about 445 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:18,160 Speaker 1: all the stuff he's gonna post on social media. Cool stuff, 446 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 1: slick stuff, raw stuff. It's like he's being sexual. It's 447 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,800 Speaker 1: fucking weird. The way he says everything in this short, 448 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 1: forty five second video is creepy. It's creepier than I'm 449 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: able to describe. You have to watch it. There's also 450 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: this like devilish, psychotic gleam in his eye when he's talking. 451 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: This is the kind of video you're gonna watch over 452 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 1: and over and over on repeat. Okay, do it after 453 00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:44,760 Speaker 1: you listen to this podcast. But you're gonna do this, 454 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,440 Speaker 1: trust me, because it's that weird and it is that strange. 455 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,400 Speaker 1: It's the kind of video that makes you want to 456 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:56,160 Speaker 1: ask questions, a lot of questions, questions like where are 457 00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 1: the bodies? Gee? The bodies of course kept disappearing Buffalo, Wichita, 458 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:07,520 Speaker 1: New Orleans, Worcester, all across America from September of twenty 459 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:12,280 Speaker 1: fourteen to December of twenty seventeen. Garth's tour buses they 460 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:16,480 Speaker 1: rolled on and people kept vanishing, sometimes on the day 461 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:19,320 Speaker 1: of an actual show and other times on Garth's days off. 462 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 1: Then long before that sign went up on the JumboTron 463 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 1: at Energy Stadium in Houston, Internet sluice were connecting the dots. 464 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,600 Speaker 1: They started calling out Garth Brooks on social media over 465 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,600 Speaker 1: the missing persons. They wanted to know where the bodies were. 466 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: You can go see for yourself. You can scroll through 467 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,960 Speaker 1: the comments of any random post on Garth Brooks's Instagram 468 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,760 Speaker 1: page and you'll see that. Over the years, a growing 469 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,160 Speaker 1: community of conspiracy theorists have been out there tuning into 470 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: the frequency, leaving comments like my family cannot rest until 471 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:51,880 Speaker 1: you tell us where our grandmother is, please Garth. Or 472 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,840 Speaker 1: for God's sake, Garth, the families, The families need closure, 473 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 1: or what did you do to Christine? And thanks to 474 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: the diligent, full court press of these people online, we 475 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:07,520 Speaker 1: are getting close now, closer to knowing the whole truth, 476 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 1: closer than we've ever been before. The truth about where 477 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:14,560 Speaker 1: the bodies are. Well, I'm going to tell. 478 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:32,320 Speaker 2: You where the bodies are. 479 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 1: Twenty eighteen a year Garth Brooks does not tour, a 480 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,480 Speaker 1: year that missing person reports in the United States plummet 481 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,120 Speaker 1: to their lowest number in three decades. People are beginning 482 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: to talk. A dirty little secret is getting out a 483 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 1: secret alleging that Garth Brooks is a serial killer, thus 484 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:56,040 Speaker 1: explaining why so many people go missing when he's on tour. 485 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 1: But consider this Exhibit one. There is no hard evidence 486 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: connecting Garth Brooks to any people who have disappeared along 487 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:08,680 Speaker 1: his tour route. Exhibit too. Despite the constant barrage of 488 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:11,760 Speaker 1: comments on his social media accounts, Garth Brooks has never 489 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:16,280 Speaker 1: addressed the rumors or accusations. He hasn't even acknowledged them. 490 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,880 Speaker 1: And you know why because he doesn't have to, because 491 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 1: none of this is true what you're saying. Okay, there 492 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,200 Speaker 1: are other comments that have cluttered up Garth Brooks's social 493 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:31,600 Speaker 1: media accounts for years, ones that aren't looking for closure 494 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,760 Speaker 1: for grieving families. These comments are more absurd, yet they 495 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: pop up over and over again, things like touch my 496 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:41,240 Speaker 1: camera through the fence, Garth, and I got a dui baby, 497 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: and you bet I'm coming up in May. If these 498 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,000 Speaker 1: sound like the work of trolls, well they are. This 499 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: whole thing, this theory that Garth Brooks is some kind 500 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:55,440 Speaker 1: of serial killer. It's all a joke. It's not my joke. 501 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:58,000 Speaker 1: It's a real joke. It's out there a straight faced 502 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:02,440 Speaker 1: joke started by comedians, specifically Tom Sagura, who hosts a 503 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:06,160 Speaker 1: podcast with his wife Christina Pozitski called Your Mom's House 504 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:09,600 Speaker 1: And it was. On this podcast, Tom Segura talked about 505 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,520 Speaker 1: watching Garth's now infamous first Facebook video from back in 506 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, and then watching a press conference in which 507 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:18,960 Speaker 1: Garth gets oddly emotional talking about his upcoming stadium tour. 508 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:24,920 Speaker 1: Tom Seguira couldn't believe how strange Garth Brooks was, how weird, bizarre. 509 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 1: Segura joked, so weird, so cringey, that you could just 510 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:31,720 Speaker 1: imagine the hundreds of bodies he had buried under his house, 511 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,320 Speaker 1: which it goes without saying, Garth Brooks absolutely does not 512 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 1: have bodies buried under his house. That was the whole gag, 513 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:42,560 Speaker 1: a gag with incredible legs, and that's the point. It 514 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:46,520 Speaker 1: never stopped. It's still going years later. Even now, as 515 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:50,400 Speaker 1: you listen to this podcast episode, Garth's weird little videos 516 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:54,120 Speaker 1: keep popping up, videos in which Garth's eyes go wide 517 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 1: and his smile tilts and his voice. 518 00:32:56,320 --> 00:32:58,040 Speaker 2: Drops to a creepy whisper. 519 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: The guy's an easy mark in the millions of Your 520 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,600 Speaker 1: Mom's House fans. Tom Segura fans go after Garth with 521 00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:07,440 Speaker 1: the same ambition that Garth went after the music industry 522 00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:10,480 Speaker 1: in his prime. That guy holding up the sign that 523 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:12,760 Speaker 1: read where are the Body's g the one I told 524 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:14,880 Speaker 1: you about at the top of the episode. That guy 525 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:18,800 Speaker 1: was planeted at the show by Tom Segura. That timeline 526 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:20,240 Speaker 1: I laid out for you at the top of the show, 527 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 1: the one that ties Garth Brooks's milestones and movements to 528 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:26,320 Speaker 1: the fluctuating rate of missing persons cases in America. I 529 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 1: got that online too, and shout out to at Barth 530 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:32,680 Speaker 1: Brooks on YouTube. Garth Brooks, still, like I said, is 531 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:37,200 Speaker 1: not commented. He did, however, block Tom Segura on social media, 532 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,680 Speaker 1: so perhaps that's comment enough. And at the end of 533 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:42,800 Speaker 1: the day it doesn't get at him. He's too busy 534 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 1: continuing to perform at a level that most artists can 535 00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:48,400 Speaker 1: only dream of. He's setting off fucking earthquakes and Baton 536 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,480 Speaker 1: Rouge and the Baton Rouge show at LSU is part 537 00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:53,960 Speaker 1: of his stadium tour, the one he got teary eyed 538 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,240 Speaker 1: over while talking about it at a press conference. Garth 539 00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:59,280 Speaker 1: closed out that tour back in the place where he 540 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:01,120 Speaker 1: might be loved even more than he was here in 541 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 1: the States. In Dublin, Ireland, five sold out shows, four 542 00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:09,279 Speaker 1: hundred thousand people in total gross revenue of twenty eight 543 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:13,239 Speaker 1: point six million for just those shows. On the final date, 544 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:17,360 Speaker 1: September seventeenth, twenty twenty two, Garreth left the audience the 545 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: way he always wanted to leave them. Tired, crawling out 546 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:27,920 Speaker 1: of the venue, voices shot just dead. The crowd shuffled 547 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 1: out of Croke Park, the giant football field with a 548 00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:34,840 Speaker 1: historic soil pitch. They went back to their houses and apartments, 549 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 1: many of which had a picture of Garth hanging on 550 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:40,200 Speaker 1: the wall. The next morning, they woke up feeling like 551 00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:42,200 Speaker 1: they'd been hit by a mack truck in the best 552 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:46,120 Speaker 1: possible way, made coffee, made tea, and opened the morning paper. 553 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,360 Speaker 1: In the pages of that paper they read about a 554 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:52,360 Speaker 1: boy in kill Rain, some two hours south of Dublin, 555 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:58,880 Speaker 1: just seventeen years old, disappeared two nights earlier. Meanwhile, Garth 556 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:02,160 Speaker 1: Brooks's crew packed up up and shipped down. The long 557 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:03,080 Speaker 1: tour was over. 558 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:54,760 Speaker 3: In the thunder Rold, I'm Jake Brennett, and this this disgraceland. 559 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:35,520 Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in 560 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be 561 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: found on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com. 562 00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:45,799 Speaker 1: If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank 563 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,480 Speaker 1: you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it, and 564 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:50,879 Speaker 1: if not, you can become a member right now by 565 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:55,560 Speaker 1: going to disgracelampod dot com Slash Membership. 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