, a collection of Kiss cover songs by popular artists from all genres. As the only country performer to participate, some worried that Brooks would turn his cover of the song originally sung by drummer Peter Criss, "Hard Luck Woman", into a country song. Brooks instead insisted on remaining true to the song, and requested that the members of Kiss perform the music on the track, the only song on the album that the band musically contributed.
The unlikely collaboration performed the song live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in promotion of , and, despite its hard-rock appeal, Brooks's version did appear on the country charts. August 7, 1997, when he gave a free concert in New York City's Central Park, drawing hundreds of thousands of people in a city that many would say is far removed from the country music world. Estimates of the actual crowd size varied considerably, from 250,000 to 750,000 or even higher, primarily because many people were enjoying the show from outside the full-to-capacity venue.
Brooks himself has estimated the crowd at close to 900,000. An additional 14.6 million viewers watched the performance live on HBO.
Billy Joel and Don McLean made guest appearances. After showing that he still had the ability to draw such a large crowd, it was not surprising that Brooks won the award for the ACM Entertainer of the Year in 1998. The following year the Recording Industry Association of America announced that Garth Brooks was the best-selling solo artist of the 20th century in America.
This conclusion drew criticism from the press and many music fans who were convinced that Elvis Presley had sold more records, but had been short-changed in the rankings due to faulty RIAA certification methods during his lifetime. , a collection of Kiss cover songs by popular artists from all genres.
News RSS