1991 Passionate Garth Brooks Cover Became His Seventh No. 1 Hit and Ranks Among His All-Time Best Songs

Garth Brooks racked up his seventh No. 1 hit with a cover song written by one of his favorite artists, helping "Shameless" to rank as one of the country superstar's all-time best songs.

The country superstar covered the Billy Joel song in 1991. The tune was originally written for Joel's LP Storm Front.

Brooks famously covered the song for his 1991 LP Ropin' The Wind. But he never expected the passionate song to connect so deeply with his audience, who took the tune all the way to the top.

"Shameless" reached the top of the Billboard Country Charts in November, 1991. It remained there for two weeks and on the charts for a staggering 20 weeks. The Boot reported that the song became Brooks' seventh No. 1 single.

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Ranker placed "Shameless" at the seventh spot on their list of Best Garth Brooks Songs. The 2025 list features some of the entertainer's most beloved tunes, including "The Dance," "Friends in Low Places," "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)," and "Unanswered Prayers."

According to Wide Open Country, Brooks explained his connection to the song in the liner notes to his compilation album The Hits. His exposure to the tune came from a 1990s mail-order music club.

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"'Shameless' was the longest shot we took with a song," Brooks wrote. "I was talked into becoming a member of a CD club...you know, the 40,000 CD's for a penny deal. With those clubs, they write you with the selection of the month. If you don't write back and cancel, then they send it to you and charge you for it."

He continued, "I was on the road for six months with no one to check the mail, and came home to find six compact discs in my mailbox. Storm Front by Billy Joel was one of them. I hadn't listened to Billy Joel since the late seventies, probably since Glass Houses. I fell in love with the album and fell back in love with Billy Joel's music."

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Brooks concluded, "One of his songs really captured me, a song called 'Shameless.' I kept watching it, and when he did not release it as a single, we contacted his people in the hopes that we could cut it. His people sent us a letter acknowledging that he knew who I was and was very honored that I was cutting it. That was quite a compliment for me then, as it is now."

Billy Joel later said of Brooks' version of the song, "I had never had a record played on country-western radio. I am very grateful to Garth Brooks for making something that I wrote available to hear to people who wouldn't ordinarily have heard the music that I do."

Garth Brooks and Billy Joel famously performed "Shameless" at Joel's Last Play at Shea concerts on July 16 and 18, 2008, at Shea Stadium in New York.

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This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 5:02 AM.