In typical Garth Brooks fashion, the “Friends In Low Places” singer announced the rerelease of seven classic music videos, spanning from 1991 to 2019, directly to his website.
After being inspired by his conversation around his Anthology series, the Oklahoma native decided to release fan-favorites such as “We Shall Be Free,” “Midnight Sun,” the award-winning, “Red Strokes,” and most notably, the highly-controversial “The Thunder Rolls.”
As previously mentioned, the most noteworthy selection in this batch of rereleases from Brooks is none other than “The Thunder Rolls.” The 1991 single was nothing short of a smash for the nineties superstar, netting him a #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and a year-end Top 5 hit. It’s the music video and the controversy surrounding it that’s made the song nothing short of infamous.
Given that the song itself is centered around infidelity and domestic violence, Brooks made the decision to portray everything in the song visually and even went a step further by taking on the role of the abusive husband in the music video. He justified this decision, saying he wanted to “make sure [the character] was so despicable that the whole viewing audience wanted to shoot him.”
The depiction of domestic violence in the music video resulted in it getting banned by both The Nashville Network (TNN) and Country Music Television (CMT) just one day after it was released on April 30, 1991. Attempting to justify “The Thunder Rolls'” banning, a representative from CMT said the network was “in business to entertain, not to promote or condone gratuitous violence or social issues.”
TNN offered Brooks the opportunity to keep “The Thunder Rolls” on their station if he would film a disclaimer at the end to condone the violence depicted in the video. Though Brooks told TNN they could record a disclaimer themselves, he would not film one, believing that it would “compromise his vision.”
The banning by TNN and CMT led to television stations, newspapers and even country bars requesting copies of the music video due to the news surrounding its controversy. Additionally, radio stations started “save the video” petitions with others airing screenings at fundraisers for local battered women’s shelters due to song and video’s compelling depiction of domestic violence.
Despite the banning on multiple prominent country networks, “The Thunder Rolls” would go on to win Music Video of the Year at the 1991 CMA Awards and be nominated for Best Music Video – Short Form at the 33rd Grammy Awards.
Though the video has been floating around online, most prominently on the Facebook page, Best Music videos, this is the first major, HD release from Brooks himself.
The video can be watched here.