BURTON C. BELL: Did Fear Factory's Obsolete See the Future Coming?

Nearly 30 years later, Fear Factory’s Obsolete isn’t sounding quite as fictional as it once did.GREAT DEAL OF FEAR FACTORY’S OBSOLETE ON SPECIAL EDITION VINYL: https://amzn.to/4xnBYliOn this episode of CHRIS AKIN PRESENTS..., Burton C. Bell takes a deep dive into the story behind Obsolete and the completely different way he’s now bringing that story to an audience.Burton explains “Obsolete by Word of Mouth,” his intimate performance built around the original material he wrote for the album, including his handwritten and typed manuscripts, the stories behind the songs, and a theatrical reading of the Obsolete narrative.And here’s where things get weird.Ideas that sounded like futuristic science fiction when Obsolete was released can now hit a lot closer to home. Burton talks about his fascination with apocalyptic science fiction, how writers often use imagined futures to reflect the world they’re actually living in, and why revisiting his own material today has produced some pretty startling reactions from audiences.He also goes back to the making of Obsolete and tells the story of how Fear Factory’s version of Gary Numan’s “Cars” came together — including Numan flying to Vancouver to record his vocals, knocking them out in one take, and then hanging out with Burton for an unlikely trip to the movies to see Dark City.But Burton isn’t simply cashing in on another anniversary by playing the album live.Instead, he’s created an intentionally small and personal experience limited to roughly 50 people, where the audience becomes part of the performance and the story is delivered without the distance of a massive concert.So after almost three decades, the question is pretty damn obvious:Was Obsolete really ahead of its time?Watch and decide for yourself.Watch commercial free and without delayed publishing by becoming a CMS VIP at https://classicmetalshow.locals.comAll comments are merely the opinions of the people speaking them, are for comical performance, and are in no way stated as factual. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cmspn.substack.com/subscribe