Short-lived appearances in straight porn led to a more prolific ‘gay for pay’ career lasting around a decade (during a period that saw the major porn studios transformed by the internet and its proliferation of amateur content). Some years later in the first decade of the new century, a porn star emerged called Girth Brooks. Diehard Brooks fans were confused by his self-indulgent detour into rock, prompting Will Loomis to dub Brooks an “alteregomaniac”, “a glorified karaoke singer” and “just an actor playing at rock the same way he played at country”. Bizarre and perplexing, the Gaines mythology was scripted through songs, music videos, a screenplay for a never-to-be-made film, and a mock Behind the Music special for VH1. In 1999, country music megastar Garth Brooks designed a rock and roll stage persona for himself called Chris Gaines, who fictitiously hailed from Brisbane as the son of Olympic swimming coach father and Commonwealth Games medallist mother. The Chris Gaines thing though – the closer you look and the more you find out, you realise, Chris Gaines is Garth Brooks. I’m not playing two different people, I’m playing one.
