By 1999, Garth Brooks had been dominating the country charts for the entire decade, selling over 100 million albums. He was the most successful solo artist in US history, but in 1999 his career took a strange turn.
Deciding to take a break from country music, Brooks came up with a screenplay and a detailed storyline for an alter ego named Chris Gaines. The idea was the brainchild of Brooks & his production company, Red Strokes Entertainment and Paramount Pictures.
Chris Gaines and The Lamb
The name given to this film was ‘The Lamb’. The script and backstory that Garth Brooks developed for Chris Gaines was super detailed. Gaines would be born in Australia in 1967 and move to America by 1972. During his early years in school, he would show an aptitude for music, much to the chagrin of his parents who were professional swimmers.
Gaines’ first band would be Crush, an outfit he started in high school and the group had some success, but tragedy struck when the band’s frontman died in a plane crash. As a result, Gaines would pursue a solo career.
Despite having some major success, he would suffer personal tragedy after personal tragedy including losing his home in a fire, losing his father and suffering a debilitating sex addiction, while also having his money stolen by greedy music business people.
After a life-threatening car accident, Gaines would require extensive facial surgery. Garth Brooks would start portraying Gaines in his post-crash state. After surviving the accident and on the brink of a major comeback, Gaines would end up dying under some fishy circumstances.
Despite writing the extensive backstory, the film’s plot revolved around a superfan who was investigating Gaines’ death, thinking there was more than meets the eye. The film was supposed to cover Gaines’ 15 year-long career and Brooks would only appear in the film concert scenes and during interviews.
The movie was originally planned to be released in the summer of 2000. Since movies are expensive endeavours and may not find an audience, it was decided by Brooks and his record label and the movie studio that they would issue a pre-soundtrack or prequel to the movie almost a year ahead of the film’s release, in September of 1999.
Garth Brooks In The Life of Chris Gaines
The resulting album was called Garth Brooks In the Life of Chris Gaines. It’s also referred to as a Greatest Hits album, even though Gaines’ prior albums that the greatest hits were made from, were fictitious.
The idea was to release the album ahead of the motion picture in order to build the audience’s relationship and familiarity with Gaines. Brooks told the LA TImes, “We want people to go into the theatre and know Chris Gaines and care about Chris Gaines. The thing I’d like to get across is how serious we are about this.”
MTV reported in early 1999 what the forthcoming album would sound like, stating, “The 14 tracks on ‘In the Life’ bridge the musical styles of the ’80s and the ’90s, with influences ranging from the country-tinged John Mellencamp to the slightly more alternative Paul Westerberg.” In actuality, the resulting sound would range from r&b to pop to rock and Brooks’ voice is almost unrecognizable.
“This is a guy who likes going out on a limb.” – Don Was, producer
Don Was, who produced the Gaines album and worked with the likes of the Rollings Stones and Bob Dylan, told the LA Times in 1999, “Yes, I think he’s going to lose some people in cowboy hats–not for life; they just won’t want to hear him sing this stuff–and then he’s going to get new fans. But this is a guy who likes going out on a limb.”
Garth Brooks and his label made one thing clear from the start, this wasn’t a country album. Brooks’ label Capitol Records didn’t send the single “Lost In You” to many country stations, getting a mixed reaction from places who had heavily supported Garth Brooks’ career.
“Either play a pop song or ignore a superstar.” – Billboard Magazine
Despite not being serviced with a single, there was a dilemma these stations faced. As Billboard Magazine would state, “Either play a pop song or ignore a superstar.” Some stations told the magazine that some audiences appreciated the change in Brooks’ music, while others felt betrayed.
Brooks’ own record label Capitol, had some doubts about the whole thing. Pat Quigley, who was from their Nashville branch, told the LA Times, “There’s two risky elements here. Can Garth succeed in the rock, pop and r&b world? And can you put out an advanced soundtrack and succeed without the benefit of the movie being in theatres?”
“Garth is too loyal to country music to cross over himself.” – Missouri webmaster for Planet Garth
MTV interviewed the Missouri webmaster of the fan site Planet Garth. He told the network, “Garth is too loyal to country music to cross over himself. Neither I, nor other Garth fans feel betrayed with the crossover. It’s more like an added bonus, but I hope it isn’t a full-time gig.” That was something Brooks was careful to tell his fanbase, that this wasn’t a career change, but rather a temporary detour.
By 1999, Brooks was already being offered some pretty big roles in Hollywood including an offer from Steven Spielberg to appear in the 1996 blockbuster Twister and a role in Saving Private Ryan.
Garth Brooks is Sued by Former Business Partner
According to TMZ, one of Brooks’ former business partners, Lisa Sanderson took the singer to court in 2013, claiming Brooks had burnt bridges and exhibited bad behaviour that resulted in her losing large sums of money. According to court documents, Sanderson’s suit claimed Brooks said no to Twister because he didn’t want to be overshadowed by visual effects, while he said no to Saving Private Ryan because he didn’t want to be overshadowed by Tom Hanks and Matt Damon. The lawsuit also described a pretty bizarre pitch meeting for The Lamb that Brooks had with executives from Fox.
According to abovethelaw.com, the court documents stated, “During a meeting at Fox, Brooks presented music that he had in mind for The Lamb. Brooks stated that the music was especially important to him because the music expressed many of the same feelings that Brooks felt when his father died, and then he began weeping openly.”
Sanderson nearly fell out of her chair during the meeting, since she knew that Brooks’ father was alive and well in Oklahoma. After the meeting, Sanderson confronted Brooks and told him she was stunned that he would lie about his father dying. Brooks looked Sanderson in the eye, chuckled and said, “But don’t you think it made the pitch so much better?”
Garth Brooks Hosts Saturday Night Live
Two months after the Chris Gaines record came out, Garth Brooks hosted Saturday Night Live and performed as the musical guest. Brooks would host as himself, but Chris Gaines would perform as the musical guest.
The Chris Gaines album ended up being fairly successful, peaking at No. 2 on the album charts and it produced Garth Brooks’ only charting hit on the pop charts with “Lost In You”, which peaked at No. 5 on the Hot 100 charts. The album would go on to sell 2 million copies, despite some press trampling all over the character and the album. A year later and there was little to no info on the movie, The Lamb.
By 2002, it was still being reported that The Lamb movie was still a go with CMT reporting, “Producers of The Lamb — a film about Garth Brooks’ fictional rock star character Chris Gaines — hope to turn in the script to Paramount Pictures by the end of the summer. Screenwriter Jeb Stuart is back on the job after taking time off to be with his terminally ill wife.”
The Lamb never ended up being released and the lawsuit filed by Lisa Sanderson revealed the reason the film was ditched. Court documents revealed that Brooks had issues over splitting publishing money with the movie studio. Other sources pointed to the poor reception of Chris Gaines’ character and confusion that people had with the whole thing.
“I love the music and that’s what it’s all about.” – Garth Brooks
In 2015, Brooks gave a radio interview where he was asked about the movie, to which he responded, “I don’t think you’re ever going to get that movie at all. All I can say is, my ribs are still sore from getting the s**t kicked out of me for doing that one.” Despite all the hate, he had no regrets, “I love the music and that’s what it’s all about.”
As recently as last year, Brooks revealed more Chris Gaines’ music was coming. During a fan chat on Facebook, Brooks was asked whether the In The Life of Chris Gaines album would be reissued and he was quoted as saying, according to Taste of Country, “I can’t tell you anything except that you’re going to have it in every format that you could possibly imagine. It’s coming. You’re going to have Chris Gaines stuff nobody has ever heard before either. It’s all coming. I love that project so I’m excited.”
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