What do you guys think was the strangest events in the music world? The strangest things artists have done, strangest albums (compared to previous works), just music-related stuff that's odd.
For my answer, I'd have to say it was when Garth Brooks decided to try his hand at a different genre of music...and a different identity altogether.
Meet Chris Gaines, an Australian Alternative rocker. Yes, that is indeed Garth behind that hair and dark glare. From Wikipedia...
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Chris Gaines began in 1994 when Brooks, attempting to expand his career boundaries, collaborated with his production company Red Strokes Entertainment and Paramount Pictures to develop a movie Brooks was meant to star in as Chris Gaines. The Lamb was to have revolved around Chris Gaines, a fictional rock singer and his emotionally-conflicted life as a musician in the public eye. To create buzz for the project, Brooks took on the Gaines identity in the October 1999 album Garth Brooks in ... The Life of Chris Gaines, which was intended as a 'pre-soundtrack' to the film. Brooks also subsequently appeared as Chris Gaines in a television mockumentary for the VH1 series Behind The Music and as the musical guest on an episode of Saturday Night Live which Brooks hosted as himself.
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Brooks' endless promotion of the album and the film did not seem to stir much excitement and the success of the Chris Gaines experiment became fairly evident mere weeks after the album was released. Although critics admired Brooks for taking a musical risk, the majority of the American public was either totally bewildered or completely unreceptive to the idea of Garth Brooks as anything but a pop-country singer. Many of his fans also felt that by supporting the Gaines project they would lose the "real" Garth Brooks. Sales of the album were unspectacular and although it made it to #2 on the pop album chart, expectations had been higher and retail stores began heavily discounting their oversupply. Poor sales of the album and lack of interest in the film brought the film production to an indefinite hiatus in February 2001 and Chris Gaines quickly and quietly faded into obscurity.
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Now, despite the lack of success, it was an excellent attempt by Mr. Brooks. Of the few songs I've heard from the album, I've enjoyed all of them, especially "Right Now" (dude can rap, let me tell you) and "Way of the Girl". I'd love to see a Gaines revival someday.