But this bold column that Cal Thomas (former head of Falwell's Moral Majority) wrote in defense of Pat Boone's brilliant (temporary, 1997) "heavy metal" era is priceless.
Pat Boone had some fun tweaking his squeaky clean and Christian image, and recorded an album of metal songs (accompanied by folks like Dio and Blackmore). And even (jn a MacPhisto-like move) appeared alongside Alice Cooper (also a deep Christian, in case you didn't know) in leather biker gear
at the American Music Awards.
Video here:
Watch the video, and (other than the typical dumb scripts at award ceremonies), and decide if you would agree with TBN..
Who, a result, cancelled his "Christian" show.
Cal Thomas responded:
Man is not supposed to live by bread alone, but in the matter of the cancellation of singer Pat Boone's cable TV program, "Gospel America," it would appear that for some TV evangelists, man does live by bread quite a bit.
The owner-hosts of the Trinity Broadcasting Network dropped Boone's show when viewer-contributors threatened not to send more money because Boone wore a homogenized "heavy metal" outfit to promote his cleaned-up album...
Which is the more offensive image: Pat Boone in a modified heavy metal outfit, or some overweight religous TV hosts who sit on overstuffed couches,with makeup so thick it resembles a death mask, and tacky sets that mimic the interior of Graceland? Boone demonstrated uncommon Christian charity in his response to the show's cancellation. He said he judged the harder rockers without even listening to their music or trying to understand them as human beings with value.
-Cal Thomas, complete column here, it's a must read
...and all this was before the scandal broke..
Funny heading.
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