After 2 Year Delay, Garth Brooks to Finally Release “Fun”
Leave it to Garth Brooks to figure out how to finagle life to make sure he has some product to place on an end cap come Christmastime. This year it will be a re-release of his Triple Live Deluxe package, which is a 30-song, 3-CD set from the Garth Brooks World Tour with Trisha Yearwood originally released in June of 2018, that also will include some new tracks from his recent stadium tour. Brooks is the master of selling you the same songs two, three, four, or seven, or eight times in separate packaging, and this November 20th release fits the profile.
But most importantly, Garth Brooks will finally be letting loose of his latest studio album Fun on November 20th as well, which some fans have had money tied up in via pre-orders for nearly 2 1/2 years. The 14-song record will include 7 songs already released intermittently beginning in 2018, as well as a rendition of the song “Shallow” with wife Trisha.
Garth’s latest studio album was put up for pre-order as part of his exclusive distribution deal with Amazon way back on June 19th, 2018. When the album was posted for pre-order, a lead single was also released called “All Day Long,” as well as a B-side called “The Road I’m On.” Aside from these two tracks, fans had no further details on the album, not even the name, let alone hints on the style, the scope, a cover, or a track list for the record to peruse over. And if you wanted to receive both of the new Garth songs, you had no choice but to pre-order the record through Amazon.
And so many people did, expecting to get the new record in the coming months. After all, this was Garth, and Amazon—not some fly-by-night up-and-comer with a crowdfunding campaign. But the final six months of 2018 passed without a word of when then new record fans had already pre-ordered would be released. It wasn’t even until January 21st, 2019—over six months later—that Garth finally revealed the title of the new record as Fun.
“It should be out probably sometime this spring,” Garth said at the time. He meant to spring of 2019.
Garth says the reason for the delay is because of the “trying and difficult times.” But of course, that wasn’t the case throughout 2019 and into the spring of 2020, as he kept filibustering while fans became more an more unruly about the matter. If you want a good cross section of the sentiment (and a chuckle), check out some of the 1-star reviews from Amazon.
But Fun is finally here. Leave it to Garth to wait over two years to release a record fans pre-ordered, and when doing so, act like he’s doing us all a big favor by finally releasing it. We still don’t have a track list, but we do have a fairly creepy cover.
Man this guy makes it so hard to be an apologist for.
October 19, 2020 @ 11:51 am
Why is this guy even remotely relevant at this point. He is a complete tool. Everything he does is just cringy and weird, and his album covers make it look like he’s either deluded into thinking he’s hot or is just a creep
Pass
March 2, 2022 @ 10:30 am
Garth brooks inspired other artists, by mixing different kinds of music like rock and country, to make his own one of a kind style! This inspires young artists, by showing them they don’t only have to have one style, but as many as they’d like!
October 19, 2020 @ 11:59 am
Six different covers for the triple live deluxe album by the way.
October 19, 2020 @ 12:03 pm
He’s taking lessons from the K-pop industry. Whenever a K-pop group or artist releases an album, there are almost always at least two different album covers.
October 19, 2020 @ 12:19 pm
Chris Gaines did have that iconic K-pop haircut ????
October 22, 2020 @ 12:22 pm
Yeah, but Garth’s been doing it since the mid-1990s. I tend to think that the Koreans got the idea from him.
October 19, 2020 @ 12:03 pm
As much of a fan of Brooks as I am, the handling of this album release has been nothing short of disastrous. “Gunslinger” was such a letdown of an album (it had its moments, but still…). I haven’t even bothered listening to the pre-released tracks from this one. So, I’m kind of interested as to what the album is going to be like.
October 19, 2020 @ 12:12 pm
Got to outsell everyone. Aside from Hitler, and maybe some other dictators, he’s the greatest self-promoter that’s ever lived.
October 19, 2020 @ 12:18 pm
Why couldn’t he change the title of the album??
“Fun” is a lame title & not very appropriate during a pandemic.
“The Road I’m On” or “All Day Long” would have been better titles.
And The King of Covering Songs is at it again with “Shallow”. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sent it to radio as a single.
October 20, 2020 @ 11:08 pm
Wow Trig…. I predicted it. “Shallow” is Garth’s next radio single.
Releasing covers to radio in the 90s was cool, but nowadays it comes across as pandering and fake. It represents that this upcoming “Fun” album has nothing earth shattering on it.
October 19, 2020 @ 12:22 pm
He should just drop the “N” from the title:
F
U
October 19, 2020 @ 2:18 pm
Could be your best comment ever.
October 19, 2020 @ 4:29 pm
sometimes in reading SCM we get:
-links to music
-an article about the music
-comments about the music
-comments about the article about the music
-comments about the comments about the article about the music
definitely a highlight of my life during COVID times…
October 21, 2020 @ 8:46 am
Could be your best comment ever. LOL
October 21, 2020 @ 1:50 pm
Too many to pick from. Quite frankly, I think all my comments are great.
But I appreciate the sentiment ????
October 19, 2020 @ 12:29 pm
I will forever defend Garth circa ’89-’93, but he is one weird dude.
October 19, 2020 @ 1:05 pm
What changed in 1994??
I think most people realized he was different in ’99
October 19, 2020 @ 2:04 pm
I’ve always considered In Pieces the final great album, culminating in his ’94 The Hits compilation CD that I listened to over-and-over in my older brother’s Mustang on the way to school. Everything after that was hit-or-miss, at least as I can recall. The phenomenal success of those early albums that led-up to The Hits is incredible. Maybe the fame got to him. I don’t know. He’s obviously not a terrible person or anything even close to that. He’s just been milking those first five years for everything they’re worth and hasn’t found his artistic groove since ’93 in my opinion. But, wow, what a phenomenal first five years, for any artist, and it was well-earned. So, I obviously disagree with anyone who says that Garth during his heyday was the beginning of the end of country radio.
October 19, 2020 @ 5:30 pm
Garth gets a lot of hate. But he’s a legend, an outstanding entertainer, and he always kept it country.
I’ve said before that George Strait is the Johnny Carson of country music.
Garth would be the Jay Leno of country music.
October 20, 2020 @ 8:02 am
This is 100% spot on. I love the guy and there’s no greater showman in all of country music. I’m so glad he’s come back to tour, but man he’s made it hard to be a fan when it comes to new material since 2013. “Machine” was halfway decent and “Gunslinger” was unlistenable in places (“Whiskey to Wine” and “Cowboys and Friends” are exceptions).
I’ve always believed the debut Garth Brooks album through In Pieces were solid gold. There’s almost no filler on any of his first 5 albums and even the non-singles are great, even if some of them veer to the rock/pop side. Fresh Horses and Sevens had some fantastic songs, but weren’t as complete as the previous albums. After that—it was all down hill because I believe he lost his artistic bent somewhere after ‘95 and simply got so drunk on stardom and becoming the GOAT in every commercial aspect of the business that he lost what made him great early on. Garth was at his best in the early days when he was honest and sincere in his writing and song selection. That changed after The Hits.
Since then, I would argue that The Lost Sessions is actually his most solidly country album to date and I honestly believe that if he had released that album now instead of 2005 when country was already steaming toward pop, it would be incredibly popular because of how starved the market is for actual country music. It’s so frustrating too because at the time he came out of retirement, Someone with Garth’s mass appeal and clout could have single handedly righted the ship back toward a more traditional sound. I think most of us would have even settled for a return to the early 90’s sound which is saying a lot.
I agree with Trigger—the man makes it incredibly hard to support him the older he gets. If he could scuttle that ego and rediscover who he was circa 1988-ish, his material and his fans would be better off.
October 24, 2020 @ 2:39 am
I mostly agree with you, with the exception of the so called ‘the lost sessions’, which to me had more of that earlier sound. His later stuff doesn’t really do anything for me, except for a few songs. That’s just me tho’.
October 19, 2020 @ 12:30 pm
That album art should be called “FUN… with Filters”. Yikes!
October 19, 2020 @ 12:31 pm
Garth is a disgrace to country music at this point and whether people want to admit it or not he was the beginning of the end of good country radio. These days I just try to pretend that he doesn’t exist, which he makes pretty easy to do considering he only puts his songs on Amazon.
October 19, 2020 @ 3:36 pm
I would argue that the beginning of the end was shania …but you may be able to talk me into your garth argument . I do think he’s recorded some decent songs in recent outings .but production is ALWAYS iffy and …well its garth .
October 20, 2020 @ 3:27 am
Man, you guys make me feel old. I stopped listening to Country music about a decade before Garth came along, as the noise it was making was just not for me, and for the most part hasn’t been since. My “end” came a lot sooner than you guys (I came back to Country relatively recently, after accidentally discovering this site).
I missed the whole Garth thing, the only song of his I know is Friends in Low Places, which I actually quite like.
October 19, 2020 @ 1:23 pm
I find it interesting he didn’t want to release the album due to the struggles of people in the pandemic yet he went ahead and charged 100 dollars for a drive in theater show that was disappointingly short
October 19, 2020 @ 1:50 pm
I don’t know how to check album sales, but do people still buy all these re-released and live albums he puts out? You would think even hardcore fans would get tired of buying the same songs 10 times
October 19, 2020 @ 2:34 pm
I don’t know if he is a disgrace but I agree he was the beginning of the end of good country radio. So many people on this site love(d) Garth and I just never got his appeal. Before Garth, I was enjoying Dwight, Earle, Hank Jr., Strait, The Judds, Jason and the Scorchers, Rank and File, etc. (Admittedly not all straight country). I thought Garth was only ok even in his heyday and not nearly as good as Marty Stuart, Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson and several others in the early 90’s. I would take any Dwight record in the 2010’s over Garth in his prime.
October 19, 2020 @ 6:18 pm
Matsfan/Jatsfan – Exactly.
October 19, 2020 @ 2:45 pm
I hope you are going to review the album once it’s released.
October 19, 2020 @ 2:57 pm
Garth isn’t a resident in Branson, Missouri, playing 1PM sets for retirees at Presleys’ Country Jubilee yet?
October 23, 2020 @ 11:24 am
A Bubba Ho-Tep reference. Pure gold!!
October 19, 2020 @ 3:59 pm
This is just cruddy. But, Garth doesn’t care what I think and so many people will belly up to his crappy new music that it will be worth his while. If this model ceases to make him an appreciable amount of money, he will change and maybe even stop producing those ridiculous album covers.
October 19, 2020 @ 5:29 pm
Creepy ass Garth looks like he is going to have some “fun.”
October 20, 2020 @ 3:14 am
Most don’t know that Garth Brooks’ college major was MARKETING – and despite the fact he’s a decent vocalist and has a “good ear” for picking his material (and inserting himself while his team of songwriters created some of his best work) Garth’s major talent has always been marketing himself – constructing a carefully contrived image and then putting it on “blast” so to speak – for public consumption.
And that’s not a negative – to some extent – all artists create an image and market it.
It’s simply a carefully planned process of constructing a public mage and then strong-arming the people into eventually falling head-over-heels-in-love with it
It’s not being phony, it’s more about sincere manipulation.
And Dolly Parton is a genius at it – she’s the only artist who ever bested Garth at this process – and these two are actually quite-a-bit the same – both are master manipulators who had big money to make – empires to create and over-sized egos to soothe.
And both artists will do what it takes – no matter what – to get attention.
For example – and I’m going to be as delicate as possible – here – but – no honest comment about Garth’s public image & career could overlook perhaps the most obvious of his over-sized public manipulations – which would be his ritual of free-balling himself into a pair of extra-tight jeans . Basically Garth used “it” – the same way that Dolly has used her most famous attributes – to get attention – and even if the public isn’t as likely to comment about Garth’s “package”- the affect is the same – all eyes on them and their “assets” – while they “sell” the public on their music – even if some of it was great enough – to prevail without the extra efforts to “give ’em a show”.
At this point – perhaps I should offer that I believe both artists are seriously talented – both can “sell” a song as very few can – my point here is to remind – that neither would have had the same impact or the lasting success – without their savvy marketing skills and doing whatever it took – to get to the top and stay there.
The trouble with Garth is – it became ALL ABOUT the marketing after 1999 – especially that faked “taking time off to be with my girls” yarn about his layoff – that was about supply and demand – folks – Garth knew that a lay-off would make people miss him – so he could eventually “come back” to their loving arms – so to speak – and return to touring – etc – and the big bucks – which might have fallen-off – otherwise.
And that plot actually worked – for a awhile – until his “ear” seemed to give out on him – resulting in “Fun”.
I also believe that “Chris Ganies” farce was the single misstep in Garth’s ego-driven plot to dominate the industry – becoming two mega-selling artists – instead of one – would have given in twice the clout – so to speak. Trouble was – and no – it wasn’t the stupid physical look he created – it was his VOICE – it was the same as “Garth’s” – very little difference between the two “characters” – he just didn’t have the vocal chops to create two different sounds and that caused the concept – to fall flat.
Sorry about being so long winded, here and since this comment has become far too epic – I will spare my thoughts on Garth and the entire “Miss Yearwood” situation – you know – that carefully crafted saga about their “relationship” – the one that falls apart under any careful observation. It’s simply another manipulation designed to insure the safety of both artist’s careers and paint them both in the best light – possible.
;0)
October 20, 2020 @ 11:37 am
Your comparison of Garth versus Dolly is a unique perspective. They have both elevated themselves from artists to brands, and though Garth has stuck to milking his music and touring, Dolly has diversified into Dollywood, Dixie Stampede, Pirate Voyages, film, and TV. They have both been active in charity work and giving, though Dolly has been a bit more at the forefront due to the Imagination Library and the Gatlinburg wildfire fund. One difference is that Dolly has invested way more into her community and the economy through the thousands of jobs she has created for Sevier County and other parts of the country, leading to hundreds of millions in tourism revenue for those regions. Garth’s economic impact has been very insular by design; whether that is good or bad is in the eye of the beholder, but he has shown no sign of shifting gears.
You also bring up a very good point regarding Chris Gaines. What makes more money than one Garth? Two Garths! I vividly remember Chris Gaines’ Greatest Hits lining the CD aisle at Walmart… where it sat and never sold (only Garth would dub a debut album “Greatest Hits”… I’m sure it was just for the backstory). Perhaps Chris Gaines is an early failed experiment (along with Shania’s Up! album, which had three versions at launch) for what Taylor Swift later managed to do with her jump from country to pop; it wasn’t until pop and country became homogeneous enough in the late 2010s that a country megastar could make a successful transition. One has to wonder what might have been if Chris Gaines had worked out; in reality, if Garth had just been Garth putting out a pop album (or even marketed it as some sort of adult contemporary or romance album), it probably would have flown off the shelves out of curiosity. My uncouth take: The wig ruined it all.
October 20, 2020 @ 11:41 am
*late 2000s-early 2010s
October 20, 2020 @ 2:32 pm
“Garth knew that a lay-off would make people miss him – so he could eventually “come back” to their loving arms – so to speak – and return to touring – etc – and the big bucks – which might have fallen-off – otherwise.”
And how did Garth know that?
Most people would have predicted that if you leave for 8 or however-many years, fans won’t care if you come back.
October 23, 2020 @ 11:28 am
Why did God make rats before he made marketers?
He needed the practice.
October 20, 2020 @ 3:46 am
‘Fun’ is a long awaited album and the tracks I have heard so far are good. I am looking forward to it.
October 20, 2020 @ 7:17 am
I preordered this over 2 years ago, and after that long and listening to the first 5 “songs” i do not even want to listen to the whole album. 10$ wasted i suppose.
October 20, 2020 @ 7:19 am
What a doofus.
October 20, 2020 @ 8:18 am
The album cover photo is so on-brand for Garth. Photoshopped to remove all character from his face. Just a bland version of whatever he really is.
But I have to admit the recent Grady Spencer and the Work cover of “Friends in Low Places” is pretty good.
October 20, 2020 @ 9:19 am
I love Garth. Always have, always will. His music at least. The things he does however are more often than not scummy and his entire aura over the last 10 years is confused old man who wants more money. Doesn’t taint my appreciation for him though.
October 20, 2020 @ 1:50 pm
The ego of this guy while also trying to convince people of his humbleness.
October 20, 2020 @ 3:08 pm
Man, I would love to jump in. But for fear of censorship, I will just say this is “Gurth” doing what he always does. Pass the tissue please.
October 20, 2020 @ 5:01 pm
That album cover looks like CGI lol
October 21, 2020 @ 6:32 am
The only thing I really love about Garth is that he turned my (now) 35-year old grandson away from garbage pop and rap music in the late-1990s. I’m 78 now, and I don’t give two flying fucks about this old Garth character. He only has like 10-12 good songs probably.
November 5, 2020 @ 8:25 am
Can he quit using old younger/skinnier looking promo photos? It is creepy and just ridiculous.