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Why was Garth Brooks so popular in Ireland?

lazygal

He played Croke Park loads of time, sold shedloads of records and seemed to be here all the time. What was it about him that Irish people like, and would a comeback tour sell out? I think he's playing Vegas now.

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Comments

wishmaster200

cause this country is full of rednecks

Sir Arthur Daley

All the old sheilas loved him, buying his tapes in HMV after mass on Sunday and playing it flat out on the way home while eating a 99.

CrowdedHouse

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

Mike Denver even did 'Seasons in the sun', a Westlife song

ROFL

MRnotlob606

Hes coming back on tour !

MRnotlob606

my step brother was a garth fan and often sang his songs,I'm looking im not his full brother.

Planemo

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

ROFL

Yeah, everyone knows it was a Nirvana song :P

BuilderPlumber

Planemo wrote: »

Yeah, everyone knows it was a Nirvana song :P

Of course, 'Seasons in the sun' was an old 1960s song. Jacques Brel, Kingston Trio, Terry Jacks, Beach Boys, etc. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana loved this song and he sang it from time to time too.

Westlife had the massive recent hit with it though. Coupled with ABBA's song 'I have a dream, it was pretty hard to get away from in 1999.

Denver's version is by far the worst of the crop. He is not the business and he clearly patterns it after the Westlife hit (artists like him are very shallow and are not really all that innovative with their material).

Burt Macklin

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

A lot of this is what I term 'boyband folk' or 'Louis Walsh folk'. Mike Denver, Derek Ryan, that type of stuff. It is not really country music and is all a more urban cross between boybands and Garth Brooks-style country rock. Mike Denver even did 'Seasons in the sun', a Westlife song. Mike Denver is a Westlifer with a stetson hat! That is why this quare hybrid goes down well with younger audiences!

Ah now, Garth Brooks was hardly a million miles from boyband folk either. He's closer in spirit to country-pop artists like Nathan Carter than he is to other modern country artists like Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, etc.

Agree with your basic point though, that kinda stuff is easily marketable to the young ones.

Edit: sorry just read your above post re. westlife

BuilderPlumber

NiallMH93 wrote: »

Ah now, Garth Brooks was hardly a million miles from boyband folk either. He's closer in spirit to country-pop artists like Nathan Carter than he is to other modern country artists like Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, etc.

Oh and seasons in the sun is not a Westlife song.

Of course, Garth Brooks had a huge pop styling (he would not have become a worldwide superstar in the 1990s otherwise) and like many other major stars, he has recorded both excellent and very poor material along the way. Of course, Brooks was a major influence on the fledgling boyband scene in Ireland, too (Ronan Keating has covered 'If tomorrow never comes' and Boyzone's original 'No matter what' is not unlike a Garth song either!).

Steve Earle is known for just one song in Ireland: 'Galway girl', and his original is the best version with Mike Denver's version being the worst. Denver's other hit 'Day of my return' is 'Galway girl' with different words!

I can't judge this Nathan Carter guy as have not heard enough (although one of his songs I have heard called 'The dancer' - not to be confused with Brooks' 'The dance' - is an awful song, whereas 'Wagon wheel' is fine) but this Mike Denver stuff is horrible music. It is an attempt to marry boybands, Garth and Irish folk all in one.

I already explained 'Seasons in the sun' is not a Westlife original but was a huge hit for them and this is where Denver was coming from.

MRnotlob606

I'm a culchie and we learned his song "the dance "at school !! I should be receiving compensation right now !

Jamsiek

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

I can't judge this Nathan Carter guy as have not heard enough (although one of his songs I have heard called 'The dancer' - not to be confused with Brooks' 'The dance' - is an awful song, whereas 'Wagon wheel' is fine)

Wagon Wheel is another song that many Irish people think is Irish. Seems all these "artists" can do is cover songs.

BuilderPlumber

Jamsiek wrote: »

Wagon Wheel is another song that many Irish people think is Irish. Seems all these "artists" can do is cover songs.

'Wagon wheel' was originally a Bob Dylan outtake. He wrote most of it. Then, bluegrass band Old Crow Medicine Show made it famous and then country/blues performer Darius Ruckus did it.

I am not much aware of Nathan Carter but while his 'Wagon wheel' is ok, it is not as good as either the Dylan, Old Crow or Ruckus versions. Carter's 'The dancer' is a horrible song, though, just like all the rest of that 'boyband folk'/'countrified Westlife' Mike Denver muck.

However, I can't blame the likes of Denver themselves in a way if their wannabe Louis Walsh managers want them to sing 'folksy pop' and look like 'Nicky Byrne plus hat'. It gets the attention of that idiot, Tubridy who is besotted with the boyband look no matter what the genre!

Mars Bar

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

Of course, 'Seasons in the sun' was an old 1960s song. Jacques Brel, Kingston Trio, Terry Jacks, Beach Boys, etc. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana loved this song and he sang it from time to time too.

Westlife had the massive recent hit with it though. Coupled with ABBA's song 'I have a dream, it was pretty hard to get away from in 1999.

Denver's version is by far the worst of the crop. He is not the business and he clearly patterns it after the Westlife hit (artists like him are very shallow and are not really all that innovative with their material).

1999? ****.

I remember our teacher making us learn "Seasons In The Sun" in primary school.

SpaceTime

We had to learn Imagine (Lennon and Yoko)...

BuilderPlumber

Mars Bar wrote: »

1999? ****.

I remember our teacher making us learn "Seasons In The Sun" in primary school.

The song was popular ever before Westlife came along. Your teacher could have learned it from the 1970s.

laugh

There are a lot of key similarities between most of Ireland and the Deep South.

Da Shins Kelly

Country music seems to do well in general in Ireland, and Garth Brooks isn't totally pure country either. He's kind of a crossover artist, probably the first real pop phenomenon of country music, which probably helped his wide appeal. He's also a showman, which helps with the live aspect of things. I can't stand his music personally, but I can understand why he's popular.

As for country music itself, I don't really get why anyone would just write it off. Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, John Denver are all great artists. Hank Williams is also one of the greatest singer/songwriters of all time in any genre of music. He wrote a sh*t ton of songs in his day, including I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, which is just a brilliant song.

The amount of Irish country and western singers there are that sing that kind of music, with the Southern accent and everything intact is kind of baffling though. It's like fake country music. Weird phenomenon that.

Augmerson

laugh wrote: »

There are a lot of key similarities between most of Ireland and the Deep South.

Do go on.

LoonyLovegood

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

The amount of Irish country and western singers there are that sing that kind of music, with the Southern accent and everything intact is kind of baffling though. It's like fake country music. Weird phenomenon that.

I think it's more because if you're singing a song with similar lyrics to the popular country songs, unless you have that twang, you'd be called a trad performer. Nothing wrong with trad, like, it's just not what lots of them would like to be called.

conorhal

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Country music seems to do well in general in Ireland, and Garth Brooks isn't totally pure country either. He's kind of a crossover artist, probably the first real pop phenomenon of country music, which probably helped his wide appeal. He's also a showman, which helps with the live aspect of things. I can't stand his music personally, but I can understand why he's popular.

As for country music itself, I don't really get why anyone would just write it off. Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, John Denver are all great artists. Hank Williams is also one of the greatest singer/songwriters of all time in any genre of music. He wrote a sh*t ton of songs in his day, including I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, which is just a brilliant song.

The amount of Irish country and western singers there are that sing that kind of music, with the Southern accent and everything intact is kind of baffling though. It's like fake country music. Weird phenomenon that.

Good Post.

I wouldnt be a fan of Country myself, but I suspect that the Irish oral tradition of storytelling through song and ballads, and country's similar storytelling structure may explain some of the afinity.

gobnaitolunacy

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

The amount of Irish country and western singers there are that sing that kind of music, with the Southern accent and everything intact is kind of baffling though. It's like fake country music. Weird phenomenon that.

There was a similar thing going on in country areas of Australia, Slim Dusty and all that sort of stuff. Fairly inoffensive and goes down well with the over 50's and oul' lads that wear cowboy hats, go to vintage rallies with pig-on-a-spit and used think Roy Rogers was the biz back in the day.

Wouldn't be my thing, but the mongrel Irish/C & W stuff is truly awful ****e.

gobnaitolunacy

laugh wrote: »

There are a lot of key similarities between most of Ireland and the Deep South.

Funny you say that, there was something that got a lot of airplay in pubs in wildest Kerry during last year, sort of a new age country thing with a bunch of young lads singing and fighting the US Civil War in the video. Don't know what it was though.

[Deleted User]

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

'Wagon wheel' was originally a Bob Dylan outtake. He wrote most of it. Then, bluegrass band Old Crow Medicine Show made it famous and then country/blues performer Darius Ruckus did it.

I am not much aware of Nathan Carter but while his 'Wagon wheel' is ok, it is not as good as either the Dylan, Old Crow or Ruckus versions. Carter's 'The dancer' is a horrible song, though, just like all the rest of that 'boyband folk'/'countrified Westlife' Mike Denver muck.

However, I can't blame the likes of Denver themselves in a way if their wannabe Louis Walsh managers want them to sing 'folksy pop' and look like 'Nicky Byrne plus hat'. It gets the attention of that idiot, Tubridy who is besotted with the boyband look no matter what the genre!

Carters version of wagon wheel is rubbish. Anytime its played in the pub we go up and ask for the proper version to be played (old crow medicine show). I can't see why anyone would play the carter version over the old crow medicine show version.

topper75

laugh wrote: »

There are a lot of key similarities between most of Ireland and the Deep South.

Deep south - wrong. We don't have bayous or cotton fields or tornadoes in Ireland.

More like the upper southern states. Backwoods of Kentucky on a rainy day. Or rural SW Virginia.

BuilderPlumber

laugh wrote: »

There are a lot of key similarities between most of Ireland and the Deep South.

Unfortunately, that does not extend to the truly great musical genres of that region taking hold in Ireland .......

BuilderPlumber

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Country music seems to do well in general in Ireland, and Garth Brooks isn't totally pure country either. He's kind of a crossover artist, probably the first real pop phenomenon of country music, which probably helped his wide appeal. He's also a showman, which helps with the live aspect of things. I can't stand his music personally, but I can understand why he's popular.

As for country music itself, I don't really get why anyone would just write it off. Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, John Denver are all great artists. Hank Williams is also one of the greatest singer/songwriters of all time in any genre of music. He wrote a sh*t ton of songs in his day, including I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, which is just a brilliant song.

The amount of Irish country and western singers there are that sing that kind of music, with the Southern accent and everything intact is kind of baffling though. It's like fake country music. Weird phenomenon that.

I like all the American country in bold from your post above and a lot more besides. Plus, I don't mind Irish acts like Daniel O'Donnell, Big Tom, Crystal Swing or Brendan Shine. What I hate is all that Mike Denver and Three Amigos sh.t. It sounds so fake: an attempt to put on an American accent and to sing totally fake, soulless versions of the songs and it is 100% the folk scene's answer to the boybands.

The real good old country is meant to be blues like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlyuACmOkr0

or this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HJE7VOspzk

Now, compare the above to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DctQ9F9yzg4

There is something drastically wrong with modern Irish country.

mickydoomsux

laugh wrote: »

There are a lot of key similarities between most of Ireland and the Deep South.

Weird. Was just saying that in the "trial in a pub" thread the other day.

laugh

Augmerson wrote: »

Do go on.

People love Jesus and football and make a living from agriculture.

Da Shins Kelly

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

I like all the American country in bold from your post above and a lot more besides. Plus, I don't mind Irish acts like Daniel O'Donnell, Big Tom, Crystal Swing or Brendan Shine. What I hate is all that Mike Denver and Three Amigos sh.t. It sounds so fake: an attempt to put on an American accent and to sing totally fake, soulless versions of the songs and it is 100% the folk scene's answer to the boybands.

This is the thing. When done well, country music can really feel quite heartfelt and real, especially since all the best country artists do write their own material, so a lot of it does come from a genuine place. And even if a song isn't about some really heartfelt issue, songwriters in country tend to capture a certain mood very well, with all the right imagery. A lot of them have a great ear for melodies too. It's like how there are different brands of pop music - some pop can be quite meaningful, and other times it's totally vacuous.

For example, Dolly Parton gets a lot of flack unfairly, but she has written a bunch of hits, not to mention being able to play multiple instruments. She has a knack for writing a great tune, a lot more than a lot of people working in music. And Jolene is an absolute classic, no two ways about that.

Not to mention all the great vocalists in country music. Obviously Johnny Cash is one of the most distinctive and recognizable voices in music, but Merle Haggard has a fantastic voice also. The unmistakable huskiness of Patsy Cline is wonderful to listen to and despite crossing over, Linda Ronstadt owes a great deal to country music. Roy Orbison cut his teeth as a singer in country. Even Ray Charles dabbled in it, releasing two albums of country songs, including I Can't Stop Loving You. Actually Ray Charles' recordings of country songs really shows how well country lends itself to a soulful sound.

boobar

Because he had friends in low places