ONTD Original: A Retrospective Deep-Dive Into Chris Gaines
Today we take a look back at the short, mystifying and fleeting career of iconic soft pop-rock singer Chris Gaines, an alter ego born from the creative frustrations of Country singer Garth Brooks.
Beginnings
Concept for Chris Gaines began in collaboration with Paramount Pictures in the year 1999, when Brooks began to work on a secret film project entitled “The Lamb”, a biopic/thriller about an Australian sex addict / rock star named Chris Gaines whose mysterious death is investigated by a dedicated Gaines stan as a possible murder. The movie was to have a tie-in album that was produced by Don Was, with songs written in a collaboration between Wayne Kirtpatrick, Tommy Sims and Tony Arata. Tony Arata had written for Garth Brooks before and gave him his number one hit single “The Dance”.
Though we cannot say with certainty why Brooks decided Gaines was Australian (in the VH1 Special, Gaines seems to have no discernible accent) we speculate his obsession began with his appearance on Hey, Hey It’s Saturday in 1994. The screenplay for “The Lamb” was to be written by Die Hard screenwriter Jeb Stuart.
The film would tell, through flashback, several aspects of Gaines’s troubled life leading up to his murder. Amongst the many shocking revelations were:
+ Gaines had begun his music career in a band called “Crush”, which he started with a friend named Tommy Levitz. Gaines would find early success with the band, until Tommy’s death in a plane accident would force him into a contractual conflict with his manager (who was also sleeping with him) and result in a successful solo career with a debut album named “Straight Jacket”
+ After Gaines gets robbed by his Manager, and loses his father to cancer, he would release a second album named ...‘Fornucopia’. This album title would no doubt probably be foreshadowing the beginning of Gaines spiraling sex addiction. Gaines’s career included the releases of three additional albums: Apostle, Triangle, and The Lamb.
+ Gaines would initially, in the first half of the film, not be played by Garth Brooks, but by another actor. Several different sources, including the Daily Beast, allege that this actor had been cast in Seven Years in Tibet as a “young Brad Pitt”, though we could not find a cast listing for this actor anywhere online. The VH1 Special “Behind the Life of Chris Gaines” shares several promotional stills/cast shots of this actor along with several other actors who would play the other members of Crush.
+ The VH1 Special shows several promotional stills/cast shots of this actor along with several other actors who would play the other members of Crush. A music video was shot for their hit single “My Love Tells Me So” but outside of the footage shown in the VH1 special, the music video has not been released in its entirety.
+ Brooks would emerge as Gaines in the film after Gaines’s Corvette accident. So he would, in other words, essentially be playing a disfigured version of himself. In the film, Gaines would get corrective surgery but then lose his home in a wildfire and would enter rehab for his sex addiction before releasing his second to last album.
+ Did we mention that this film was also supposed to be a murder/thriller as well? And that his murder would be solved by a Chris Gaines super stan?
Primetime Specials
In conjunction with the release of the album, and because the Lord works in mysterious ways, two TV specials were also filmed to help promote the album and upcoming box office smash hit of 1999. One was a faux Behind the Music episode about the Life of Chris Gaines, which provided fans with more background on the brooding Australian rock star, and another was an NBC special called “Garth Brooks….In the Life of Chris Gaines”. Unfortunately, this special isn’t available anywhere but provided more behind the scenes footage of “The Lamb”.
The good news is that you can see the VH1 “Behind the Music” special both on Vimeo and Dailymotion. The VH1 special is especially an incredible watch because of Garth’s barely there Australian accent, his weird whispering of the word “Sex”, the hilarious album covers, the mock re-enactments in typical VH1 Behind the Music style, and the serious dedication from everyone involved who don’t break character. Look for special appearances by a stone-faced Billy Joel, Don Was, and Joe Smith, executive of Capitol Records.
Chris Gaines on SNL
This brings us to Chris Gaines on SNL. On Nov 13, 1999, Chris Gaines would make his debut and bless us with a performance of “The Way of the Girl”. Unfortunately, no one was ready for Garth’s artpop, because Tracey Morgan would appear in a skit right afterwards where he made homophobic jabs at Gaines’s sexuality. Brooks was a good sport nonetheless, but it would signify a growing backlash against the project, bringing the life of Chris Gaines to an abrupt end.
Though the experience left many Garth Brooks fans scratching their heads, “Lost in You” would remain one of Brooks best charting singles, earning him one of his first Top 40 singles, with the album charting to No 2. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for album sales, with many stores liquidating their stock. Overall, less than 2 million copies were sold. The bad press would cement Chris Gaines fate, and Garth would avoid speaking about the project for several years to come.
Update
Since 1999, the world has been trying to make amends for recognizing the brilliance of Chris Gaines too late. There has been a renewed interest in Chris Gaines, thanks to Childish Gambino’s cover of “Lost in You” and a Gainesfest in Nashville held in 2019.
Though Brooks has announced that he will not revisit Chris Gaines again, he did mention in an interview held via Facebook Live for Inside Studio G in March of 2021 that there is an upcoming re-release of “The Life of Chris Gaines” on both Digital and Vinyl. As of yet there is no release date, but Brooks assured his audience that the album would come with never before heard Gaines material, which is sure to be a treat for the Gaines connoisseur.
"You're going to have it in every format you can possibly imagine. It's coming," he revealed. "You're going to have Chris Gaines stuff nobody's ever heard before, either... I love that project, so I'm excited."
You can watch Childish Gambino’s “Lost In You” performance here:
This post was put together, written and submitted by an anonymous ONTD'er who wanted me to share with the class.
SOURCES: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Beginnings
Concept for Chris Gaines began in collaboration with Paramount Pictures in the year 1999, when Brooks began to work on a secret film project entitled “The Lamb”, a biopic/thriller about an Australian sex addict / rock star named Chris Gaines whose mysterious death is investigated by a dedicated Gaines stan as a possible murder. The movie was to have a tie-in album that was produced by Don Was, with songs written in a collaboration between Wayne Kirtpatrick, Tommy Sims and Tony Arata. Tony Arata had written for Garth Brooks before and gave him his number one hit single “The Dance”.
Though we cannot say with certainty why Brooks decided Gaines was Australian (in the VH1 Special, Gaines seems to have no discernible accent) we speculate his obsession began with his appearance on Hey, Hey It’s Saturday in 1994. The screenplay for “The Lamb” was to be written by Die Hard screenwriter Jeb Stuart.
The film would tell, through flashback, several aspects of Gaines’s troubled life leading up to his murder. Amongst the many shocking revelations were:
+ Gaines had begun his music career in a band called “Crush”, which he started with a friend named Tommy Levitz. Gaines would find early success with the band, until Tommy’s death in a plane accident would force him into a contractual conflict with his manager (who was also sleeping with him) and result in a successful solo career with a debut album named “Straight Jacket”
+ After Gaines gets robbed by his Manager, and loses his father to cancer, he would release a second album named ...‘Fornucopia’. This album title would no doubt probably be foreshadowing the beginning of Gaines spiraling sex addiction. Gaines’s career included the releases of three additional albums: Apostle, Triangle, and The Lamb.
+ Gaines would initially, in the first half of the film, not be played by Garth Brooks, but by another actor. Several different sources, including the Daily Beast, allege that this actor had been cast in Seven Years in Tibet as a “young Brad Pitt”, though we could not find a cast listing for this actor anywhere online. The VH1 Special “Behind the Life of Chris Gaines” shares several promotional stills/cast shots of this actor along with several other actors who would play the other members of Crush.
+ The VH1 Special shows several promotional stills/cast shots of this actor along with several other actors who would play the other members of Crush. A music video was shot for their hit single “My Love Tells Me So” but outside of the footage shown in the VH1 special, the music video has not been released in its entirety.
+ Brooks would emerge as Gaines in the film after Gaines’s Corvette accident. So he would, in other words, essentially be playing a disfigured version of himself. In the film, Gaines would get corrective surgery but then lose his home in a wildfire and would enter rehab for his sex addiction before releasing his second to last album.
+ Did we mention that this film was also supposed to be a murder/thriller as well? And that his murder would be solved by a Chris Gaines super stan?
Primetime Specials
In conjunction with the release of the album, and because the Lord works in mysterious ways, two TV specials were also filmed to help promote the album and upcoming box office smash hit of 1999. One was a faux Behind the Music episode about the Life of Chris Gaines, which provided fans with more background on the brooding Australian rock star, and another was an NBC special called “Garth Brooks….In the Life of Chris Gaines”. Unfortunately, this special isn’t available anywhere but provided more behind the scenes footage of “The Lamb”.
You can watch this video on www.livejournal.com
The good news is that you can see the VH1 “Behind the Music” special both on Vimeo and Dailymotion. The VH1 special is especially an incredible watch because of Garth’s barely there Australian accent, his weird whispering of the word “Sex”, the hilarious album covers, the mock re-enactments in typical VH1 Behind the Music style, and the serious dedication from everyone involved who don’t break character. Look for special appearances by a stone-faced Billy Joel, Don Was, and Joe Smith, executive of Capitol Records.
Chris Gaines on SNL
This brings us to Chris Gaines on SNL. On Nov 13, 1999, Chris Gaines would make his debut and bless us with a performance of “The Way of the Girl”. Unfortunately, no one was ready for Garth’s artpop, because Tracey Morgan would appear in a skit right afterwards where he made homophobic jabs at Gaines’s sexuality. Brooks was a good sport nonetheless, but it would signify a growing backlash against the project, bringing the life of Chris Gaines to an abrupt end.
Though the experience left many Garth Brooks fans scratching their heads, “Lost in You” would remain one of Brooks best charting singles, earning him one of his first Top 40 singles, with the album charting to No 2. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for album sales, with many stores liquidating their stock. Overall, less than 2 million copies were sold. The bad press would cement Chris Gaines fate, and Garth would avoid speaking about the project for several years to come.
Update
Since 1999, the world has been trying to make amends for recognizing the brilliance of Chris Gaines too late. There has been a renewed interest in Chris Gaines, thanks to Childish Gambino’s cover of “Lost in You” and a Gainesfest in Nashville held in 2019.
Though Brooks has announced that he will not revisit Chris Gaines again, he did mention in an interview held via Facebook Live for Inside Studio G in March of 2021 that there is an upcoming re-release of “The Life of Chris Gaines” on both Digital and Vinyl. As of yet there is no release date, but Brooks assured his audience that the album would come with never before heard Gaines material, which is sure to be a treat for the Gaines connoisseur.
"You're going to have it in every format you can possibly imagine. It's coming," he revealed. "You're going to have Chris Gaines stuff nobody's ever heard before, either... I love that project, so I'm excited."
You can watch Childish Gambino’s “Lost In You” performance here:
Click to view This post was put together, written and submitted by an anonymous ONTD'er who wanted me to share with the class.
SOURCES: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8