I originally planned on ending my post about Red Roof Hotels with a reference to Garth Brooks’ “The Red Strokes,” a song from his 1993 album In Pieces that was never officially released to country radio despite an expensive video that allegedly took 5,000 gallons of paint, 12 white Stetson cowboy hats, 18 full tuxes, and six baby grand pianos to make. Maybe the fact that the video shows Garth bathing in sheets of blood as he screams “Passions uncaged! Thundering moments of tenderness rage!” had something to do with its less-than-aggressive promotion. (It was even left off Brooks’ Ultimate Hits DVD.) The clip and a description of its most horrifying moments wait below.
0:00 - we see a pool of red paint (or blood, let’s just call it blood) on the floor of a white studio.
0:06 - Garth, head tilted, wearing a white hat and matching suit, rises out of the red mess staring at us and playing a white baby grand.
0:25 - The blood drains underneath his foot pedals, and Garth gives us a knowing stare. “Two shadows starting to softly combine…”
1:09 - Following the first chorus, Garth wipes his hand across the screen, dripping blood and revealing the silhouette of a cowboy at dusk tossing his hat in the air.
1:32 - Blood splashes across Garth and the piano every time he moans “ooohhh…the red strokes!”
1:59 - As a guitar solo begins, the camera pans away from the white-suited Garth at the piano bench to reveal another Garth in red and black, playing the six-string in question and giving us an equally creepy-ass stare.
2:23 - Garth cries “the blues will be blue…” as blue paint drips out of his fingers and onto the keys.
2:28 - “…And the jealousy’s green” accompanies a shot of dollops of green paint oozing out of Garth’s pant legs and on the floor.
2:30 - A torrent of blood far more violent than Carrie’s falls from the ceiling, staining the walls, covering the piano and pouring on Garth’s head as he screams “when love picks its’ shade, it demands to be seen!”
2:40 - The blood, like all the colours before it, disappear from the stage, but Garth’s intensity remains constant.
2:54 - Overcome with emotion, Garth clenches his right fist and shakes it as he sings “fearlessly drawn!”
3:02 - Blood seeps out from inside the piano as Garth crashing into the chorus for the umpteenth time.
3:10 - Garth flashes us a look that says “I know that blood is pouring out of my piano and I am entirely ok with that. In fact, it feels good. Patrick Bateman good.”
3:12 - Blood has covered the entire floor, as Garth kicks his feet in the red muck.
3:22 The walls are streaked with red, as the blood appears to be moving up towards the roof.
3:29 - The blood disappears again. A post-orgasmic Brooks places his hands atop the piano and sings “Steam on the windows, salt in a kiss. Two hearts have never pounded like this.” The camera pans upward, as blood drips from above, covering the frame in red.
Oh, the red strokes
Tempered and strong
Burning the night like the dawn…
Be very afraid.
Garth Brooks - The Red Strokes [YouTube]
Video Spotlight: The Red Strokes - Garth Brooks [TwisterMC]
I, for one, was unaware of Brooks’ drug problems.
Is there any way this song can’t be about having sex with someone who is menstruating?
@baconfat: No. None.
This video is actually pretty awesome. Just put on the score from The Shining and voila! All work and no play makes Garth a dull boy.
@baconfat: Garth Brooks has a good attitude towards menstruation.
I prefer the one with the retarded athlete.
@Royfromage: That’s your answer to everything.
Hmm… suit, hat, and bare feet. The photographer’s favourite old cliche, but in a video so it’s new and meaningful!
Your ’90s country stars really understood something about spectacle. Let’s see Carrie Underwood get blood poured all over her. No, really, can we see that?
And all this time, I thought the blood was actually the result of Garth’s rampage against used-CD sellers.
The staring and fist clenching is all fine and good, but you can tell Garth’s really into a song when he starts kicking his feet like a kid in a high chair that wants more Cheerios.
Good to know that, just like me, Garth is a big fan of old Peter Jackson movies.
@Maura Johnston: FTW.
The KISS fandom makes even more sense now.
This video always made me cringe. Bad song. Bad everything. But I am impressed at the time you spent chronicling the horrifying moments. It’s going to require a hefty shrink bill to get over that, I’m sure.
@Royfromage: Ha! Yes! Standing outside the fire… there was work for Corky after Life Goes On.