Glen Benton vs. Bob Larson: Part 1
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Glen Benton vs. Bob Larson: Part 2
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Glen Benton doesn’t attract controversy like he did before. He seems downright likeable now. He loves motorcycles, wrote a record about his divorce (Till Death Do Us Part), and records anti-Christian music with guitarist Ralph Santolla, a practicing Catholic. The pre-show bomb threats, squirrel shootings, and pledges to commit suicide are long gone. The good music still comes at times, including career highlight The Stench of Redemption.
There was a time when Benton was the poster boy for everything the religious right hates about heavy metal. Benton played his part as Satanic provocateur so well that even fans believed he meant every word. He branded an upside-down cross on his forehead (an act he appeared to regret in recent interviews) and was never off message.
He also took the fight to the other side. The recordings above capture Benton’s now legendary sparring with evangelist and radio host Bob Larson. The calls took place in 1992. I don’t think Benton could get away with some of this in our sensitive post 9-11 world; at one point, he threatens to leave Larson “spattered like a dead animal on the road”.
“My Lord is going to spare no mercy on you, Larson”, Benton says. Glen’s having the time of his life; Larson sounds horrified, but also lets Benton spout at will. Larson claims to have exorcised demons from a child wearing a Deicide shirt and invites Benton to Denver for a face-to-face meeting.
The repartee must have been good for ratings; Benton kept appearing on the show. At one point, Larson offers to pray for Benton. “Go save Bon Jovi or somebody like that. You aren’t going to save me”, Benton says. He does his best to sound like a possessed Regan in The Exorcist.
These calls also mark a time that has passed, when a metal artist could scare the general public. Just a year later, Varg Vikernes killed Euronymous and was implicated in numerous church arsons. Metal musicians – a few misguided ones – had moved from words to deeds.
Benton is still making music. Larson was back on the air as of 2004.
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A girl I dated went to a Deicide show about 1992, said when the crowd was lined up outside Glen walked by. Some kid took off his pentagram necklace and gave it to him.
Glen ate it.
My hero.
I always wished Deicide’s music was half as fun as Glen’s antics. The first album’s all right and Stench of Redemption is somehow (accidentally?) amazing, but the rest bores me to bloody tears.
I saw Deicide earlier this year, and Glen was rather subdued, to say the least. Ralph Santolla is quite the jokester, though.
I bought a used Deicide Legion cd from Reckless once, and the original price tag was still in it. The word “COMEDY” was in the price tag along with the MSRP of $13.99. I never took the price tag off.
Boyd Rice did some great Bob Larson interviews also. I love the mutual infamy Bob and his “evil” guests were able to accomplish through these interviews. Much more entertaining than Glenn Beck.
Here’s a link to Boyd’s interviews: http://www.boydrice.com/audio.html
This takes me back to freshman year of college in 1999. I would get a little high and spend hours listening to these recordings, as well as tapes of Bob attacking Harry Potter and Marilyn Manson. Ah, a simpler time.
Is it just me, or does Bob Larson look like Billy Mays’ christian twin?
I kinda hate these interviews. Glenn is probably just trollin’ and selling his brand/band, and I’m fine with that. Neither Glenn nor Larson should be taken seriously.
If Glenn’s not trolling, he comes off as a buffoon. He sounds like the cartoonish stereotype so many Christians hold of metal fans, pagans, etc. I wish that Glenn had taken the time to give dignified, intelligent, coherent answers. There are many issues with the tenets of Christianity, particularly the type that Larson hawks. Articulate answers to Larson’s questions wouldn’t have accomplished anything, but I suspect that Larson has rarely heard meaningful criticism of his religious beliefs.
These interviews are very lame and boring. Benton is a loser.
Here is a great video of Glenn answering questions on stage, and talking about Larson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzpBxFsZAjI
2 goofballs at his best, or worst. very entertaining.
These recordings features two clowns making their silly theater to each other. Deicide had something for them with the first two albums and they’ve been riding the wave ever since. Glen just proved all his antics were stunts to boost record sales and it worked to some point. There’s no way he could pull this off these days. The last real felon of Metal was Varg Vikernes and his deed (outside of getting us rid of this childish sami and blazing a few useless buildings) was to be a little too open on his ideas and speaking too quickly on some issues.
There are no more dangerous people in rock n’ roll at large. The genre has been coined like everything else by the industry and accepted by the mainstream. Even in art in general there are no villains to be offended by.
The Internet kind of took down most people’s barrier and taboos. Now teens 1/3 my age knows more about porn/gore/crime than I do. They’ve witnessed more violence and controversy in their childhood than I did in the first 25 years of my life. What could offend them, really? A guy burning an inverted cross on his forehead looks just silly.
Yes, I remember buying The Anarchist Cookbook as a kid and thinking it was some forbidden thing. How times have changed!
Perhaps the only dangerous ideas left are individuality and high quality.
Then Im a reeeeeally dangerous old man!
There will always be new ways to offend people and there will always be people willing to explore these ways. Maybe not in rock music anymore, but somewhere else..
Anyone else think he sounds like an evil Macho Man Randy Savage? Too soon?
Benton does a great impersonation of Macho Man Randy Savage around 4:24.