Remember When Garth Brooks Destroyed 6 Grand Pianos For “The Red Strokes” Music Video?
on Feb 21, 2025
Garth Brooks changed country music when he released one of the most expensive and destructive in history with “The Red Strokes.”
Garth Brooks has always been one to push the envelope, especially when it comes to his music videos. Garth’s impact on the music industry is undeniable, in part because of his willingness to take risks and think outside of the box.
Garth Brooks created one of the most impressive and jaw-dropping music videos in history in 1994. While the song was never released as a single, the dramatic and mesmerizing video for “The Red Strokes” was enough to get it on the country charts.
Filming of “The Red Strokes”
Filmed in a warehouse in Nashville, the video opens with Garth emerging from a pool of red paint. The scene was filmed in reverse with Garth being lowered into the paint, something the singer admits made him a little bit uncomfortable.
“The paint, which had been stored outside, was so cold that as I was going under I started hyperventilating,” Garth said in an interview at the time. “I thought it was the last anyone was going to see of me.”
The video seems simple and almost cold at first as Garth sits alone in a white room, wearing a white tuxedo and playing a white grand piano. Eventually, the singer and the piano are doused in red paint, something that wasn’t added using special effects. In fact, 6 baby grand pianos were destroyed during the making of the video. It also required 18 white tuxedos, 12 white Stetsons, 5000 gallons of paint, and six days of filming.
“The Red Strokes” Music Video Success
“The Red Strokes” was included in Garth Brooks‘ fifth studio album, In Pieces. It was never released as a single but, thanks to the popularity of its music video, charted on the U.S. and U.K. charts as an album cut. Despite being considered one of the most memorable songs of his career, it was never featured on any of Brooks’ greatest hits projects.
The video for “The Red Strokes” earned Brooks the ACM Music Video of the Year award in 1994.
