'Blue Öyster Cult' is an American
rock band formed in 1967 and still active in 2007. The group is probably best known for three songs: The 1976 single "
(Don't Fear) The Reaper" from the album ''
Agents of Fortune'' (featured in the movie ''
Halloween'', and in the TV movie ''
The Stand'' based on
Stephen King's
novel of the same name, and in the credits of Peter Jackson's 1996 movie
The Frighteners as covered by
The Mutton Birds); the 1981 single "
Burnin' for You" from the album ''
Fire of Unknown Origin'' and "Godzilla" (1977) from ''
Spectres.'' The song "
Veteran of the Psychic Wars," with lyrics penned by
Michael Moorcock, appeared in the soundtrack of the movie ''
Heavy Metal'' and "
Astronomy" (1974) from ''
Secret Treaties'' was covered by
Metallica on 1998's ''
Garage Inc.''. The band has sold over 14 million albums worldwide.
[1]
Live staples from the band's vast catalog include "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll," from the debut album, and "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)," also from ''
Agents of Fortune.'' Other singles, many of which the band still plays live, include "Dr. Music," "In Thee," (both from 1979's ''
Mirrors''), "Take Me Away," "Shooting Shark" (both from 1983's ''
The Revölution by Night''), "Dancing In The Ruins" and "Pocket."
History
The band was formed under the name ''Soft White Underbelly'' in 1967 in the vicinity of
State University of New York at Stony Brook on
Long Island, New York, at the prompting of critic and manager
Sandy Pearlman.
[1] Pearlman was very important to the band—he was able to get them
gigs, recording contracts with
Elektra and
Columbia, and he provided them with his
poetry for use as lyrics for many of their songs, including "Astronomy". Writer
Richard Meltzer also provided the band with lyrics from their early days up through their most recent studio album. The band (with original lead vocalist
Les Braunstein and bassist
Andrew Winters) recorded an album's worth of material for
Elektra Records in 1968. When Braunstein departed in early 1969, Elektra shelved the album.
Eric Bloom (formerly the band's acoustic engineer) replaced Braunstein, and the band continued to perform as Soft White Underbelly. However, a bad review of a 1969 Fillmore East show caused Pearlman to change the name of the band - first to
Oaxaca, then to the
Stalk-Forrest Group. The band recorded yet another album's worth of material for Elektra, but only one single ("What Is Quicksand?" b/w "Arthur Comics") was released (and only in a promo edition of 300 copies) on
Elektra Records. (This album was eventually released, with additional outtakes, by Rhino Handmade Records as '' in 2001). After a few more temporary band names, including the
Santos Sisters, the band settled on Blue Öyster Cult in 1970 (see
"Band Name" section below for its origin).
The Black & White years
Their debut album ''
Blue Öyster Cult'' was released in January of 1972, with a black and white cover designed by artist
Bill Gawlik. The album featured the songs "Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll," "Stairway to the Stars," and "Then Came the Last Days of May." The album sold well, and BOC began touring with artists such as the
Byrds,
Alice Cooper and the
Mahavishnu Orchestra. Their next album was written while touring for the first, and ''
Tyranny and Mutation'' had more of a
Black Sabbath feel, with songs such as "The Red and The Black" (an ode to the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police), and "Baby Ice Dog", a song co-written by punk singer
Patti Smith who was at the time in a relationship with Lanier, though she usually wrote with drummer Albert Bouchard.
The next album, ''
Secret Treaties'' (1974) received positive reviews, featuring songs such as "Career of Evil" (also co-written by Patti Smith), "Dominance and Submission" and "Astronomy."
Commercial success
The band's first live album ''
On Your Feet or on Your Knees'' (1975) achieved greater success and went gold, and was followed up by one of their first platinum albums, ''
Agents of Fortune'' (1976). It contained the hit single "
(Don't Fear) The Reaper", written and sung by Buck Dharma, which reached #12 on the Billboard charts. Other major songs on the album were "(This Ain't) The Summer of Love," "E.T.I. (Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence)," and "The Revenge of Vera Gemini." For the tour, the band added lasers to their light show, which they became known for.
Their next album, ''
Spectres'' (1978), had the cult hit "Godzilla", but its sales were not as strong as the previous album. So for the next work, they released another live album, ''
Some Enchanted Evening'' (1978), followed by the studio album ''
Mirrors'' (1979). For ''Mirrors'', instead of working with previous producers Pearlman (who instead went on to manage
Black Sabbath) and Krugman, BOC chose
Tom Werman, who had worked with acts such as
Cheap Trick and
Ted Nugent. However, the resulting album was criticized as being too commercial, and did not sell well.
Pearlman's association with Black Sabbath was tapped for the next BOC album, which resulted in Sabbath's ''
Heaven and Hell'' producer
Martin Birch being hired for the next BÖC record. The result was positive, with ''
Cultösaurus Erectus'' (1980) receiving good reviews. The album went to #14 in the UK, but did not do as well in the U.S. One of the notable songs on the album was the song "Black Blade," which was written by Bloom and sci-fi author
Michael Moorcock. The band also did a co-headlining tour with Black Sabbath in support of the album, calling it the "Black and Blue Tour."
Birch produced the band's next album as well, ''
Fire of Unknown Origin'' (1981). The biggest hit on this album was the Top 40 hit "Burnin’ For You," a song Buck had written with a
Richard Meltzer lyric, intending to use it on his solo album, but he was instead convinced to use it on the BOC album instead. The album went platinum, and launched other hits such as "Joan Crawford" (inspired by the book and film
Mommie Dearest) and "Veterans of the Psychic Wars", another song co-written by Moorcock. Some of the songs had been written for the animated film ''
Heavy Metal'', which ended up using only Moorcock and Bloom's "Veterans of the Psychic Wars". After this album,
Albert Bouchard left the band, being replaced by lighting designer Rick Downey on drums during the tour.
Decline and fall
After leaving the band, Bouchard spent five years working on a solo album based on Sandy Pearlman's poem "Imaginos." BOC released the live album ''
Extraterrestrial Live'', and then went to the studio for their next album, with Bruce Fairbairn as producer, the 1983 release ''
The Revölution by Night''. Its highest single was "Shooting Shark", again co-written by Patti Smith, which reached #83 on the charts. After ''Revolution'', another band member left, Rick Downey, leaving BOC without a drummer. They attempted to re-unite with Bouchard for a California tour, but the animosity returned, and he left after the end of the tour. Allen Lanier also quit the band shortly thereafter, leaving the band without a keyboardist as well. BOC hired Jimmy Wilcox and Tommy Zvonchek to finish the ''
Club Ninja'' album, which was moderately well-received. The band toured in Germany, after which Joe Bouchard left as well, leaving only two original members, Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma. Jon Rogers was hired to replace Joe, and this version of the band finished out the 1986-87 tour, after which the band was really considered to be "broken up."
''Imaginos'' and continued touring
When BOC received an offer to tour in Greece, Allen Lanier rejoined the band. Albert, for his part, found that he no longer had support for his ''Imaginos'' project, so Pearlman arranged for it to be released in 1988 by Columbia as a BOC album, with some new additions from the other members of BOC. Columbia Records was purchased by
Sony Music, and the BOC contract was dropped.
The band spent the next 10 years touring without releasing an album, and underwent several changes in lineup. Initially, Ron Riddle played drums, and Jon Rogers was on bass. Riddle quit in 1991, and was followed a series of other drummers including
Chuck Burgi and
Bobby Rondinelli. Rogers left in 1995, being replaced by other bassists, notably
Danny Miranda, until 2004 when Richie Castellano took over, who has remained on bass to present. Castellano also has performed guitar and keyboards for the group, and on at least one occasion in 2005 took over lead guitar and vocals while Buck Dharma was ill. (Miranda now tours with
Queen + Paul Rodgers, and has occasionally rejoined BÖC onstage during its 2007 tour.) In June 2007, it was announced that Rudy Sarzo (ex-Quiet Riot, ex-Ozzy Osbourne, ex-Whitesnake) would be joining BOC on bass for the remainder of the year.
CMC/Sanctuary years
In the late 1990s, BÖC secured a recording contract with CMC Records, and are continuing to perform into the 21st century. Two studio albums have been released, 1998's ''
Heaven Forbid'' and ''
Curse of the Hidden Mirror'' from 2001. Both albums featured songs co-written by cyberpunk/horror novelist
John Shirley. Another live record, ''
A Long Day's Night'' and DVD (same title), followed in 2002, both drawn from one concert in Chicago.
Sony Legacy remasters
In 2001, Sony/Columbia's reissue arm,
Legacy Records issued expanded versions of the first four BÖC studio albums, including some previously unreleased demos and outtakes from album sessions, live recordings (from the Live 72 ep), and post-St. Cecilia tunes from the Stalk-Forrest Group era.
In February 2007, the Sony Legacy remaster series continued, releasing expanded versions of studio album ''
Spectres'' and live album ''
Some Enchanted Evening'', leaving the first live album ''
On Your Feet Or On Your Knees'' still without the treatment. However, the liner notes for the second round of remasters differ from the photos and in-depth analysis of the first four releases, and did not include lyrics as the earlier releases had.
Band name
The name "Blue Öyster Cult" came from a 1960s poem written by manager
Sandy Pearlman. It was part of his "Imaginos" poetry, later used more extensively in their 1988 album ''
Imaginos''. Pearlman had also come up with the band's earlier name, "Soft White Underbelly", from a phrase used by
Winston Churchill in describing
Italy during
World War II. In Pearlman's poetry, the "Blue Öyster Cult" was a collection of aliens who had collected to secretly guide Earth's history.
The addition of the
umlaut was suggested by either
Allen Lanier or Richard Meltzer. Other bands later copied the practice of using umlauts or diacritic marks in their own band logos (see
Heavy metal umlaut), such as
Motörhead,
Mötley Crüe,
Queensrÿche, and the parody band
Spın̈al Tap, which, along with a dotless letter ''i'', put an "umlaut" over the n (a symbol found only in the
Jacaltec language of
Guatemala and in some orthographies of
Malagasy).
[[2]]
The hook-and-cross logo is that of
Kronos, the king of the
Titans and father of
Zeus in Greek mythology, and is the
alchemical symbol for lead, one of the heaviest of metals. Sandy Pearlman considered this, combined with the heavy and distorted guitar sound of the band and decided the description "
heavy metal"
[2] would be aptly applied to Blue Öyster Cult's musical sound. It was designed by Bill Gawlik
[1] and appears on all of the band's albums.
Lineup
The current members of the band are
★ Eric Bloom: lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
★ Buck Dharma: lead guitar, vocals
★ Richie Castellano: keyboards, guitar
★ Rudy Sarzo: bass, vocals
★ Jules Radino: drums, percussion
The original lineup of the band was
★ Eric Bloom: lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
★ Buck Dharma: lead guitar, vocals
★ Allen Lanier: keyboards, guitar
★ Joe Bouchard: bass, vocals
★ Albert Bouchard: drums, percussion, vocals
Lead vocal duties
While Eric Bloom has always been the band's official lead singer, other members of the band have contributed lead vocals throughout its history.
★ 'Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser'
"Then Came the Last Days of May," "Before the Kiss, a Redcap," "Teen Archer," "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," "Godzilla," "Golden Age of Leather," "I Love the Night," "In Thee," "Mirrors," "The Vigil," "Lonely Teardrops," "Deadline," "Burnin' for You," "Don't Turn Your Back," "Shooting Shark," "Veins," "Dragon Lady," "Dancin' in the Ruins," "Perfect Water," "Spy in the House of the Night," "Madness to the Method," "Astronomy (Imaginos version)," "Les Invisibles," "Magna of Illusion," "Harvest Moon," "X-Ray Eyes," "Damaged," "Real World," "Live for Me," "Still Burnin'," "Dance on Stilts," "Pocket," "Here Comes That Feeling" and "Stone of Love"
★ 'Joe Bouchard'
"Screams," "Hot Rails to Hell," "Wings Wetted Down," "Morning Final," "Celestial The Queen," "Nosferatu," "Moon Crazy," "Fallen Angel," "Vengeance (The Pact)," "Light Years of Love," "When the War Comes"
★ 'Albert Bouchard'
"Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll," "Dominance and Submission," "The Revenge of Vera Gemini," "Sinful Love," "Debbie Denise," "Death Valley Nights," "Cagey Cretins" (Trades off with Eric Bloom) "Fireworks," "You're Not the One (I Was Looking For)," "Hungry Boys" and "Blue Öyster Cult"
★ 'Allen Lanier'
"True Confessions"
★ 'Jon Rogers'
"Imaginos"
★ 'Joey Cerisano'
"The Siege and Investiture of Baron Von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria"
Former members
Vocals
★ Les Braunstein (1967–1969)
Bass
★ Andrew Winters (1967–1970)
★ Joe Bouchard (1970–1986)
★ Jon Rogers (1987–1995)
★ Greg Smith (1995)
★ Danny Miranda (1995–2004)
★ Richie Castellano (2004–2007)
Drums
★ Albert Bouchard (1967–1981, 1985–California tour)
★ Rick Downey (1981–1984)
★ Thommy Price (1985)
★ Jimmy Wilcox (1985–1987)
★ Ron Riddle (1987–1991)
★ Chuck Burgi (1991–1992, 1992–1995, 1996–1997)
★ John Miceli (1992, 1995)
★ John O'Reilly (1995–1996)
★ Bobby Rondinelli (1997–2004)
Keyboards
★ Tommy Zvonchek (1985–1987)
★ Kasim Sulton (1998)
Guitars
★ Al Pitrelli (1999)
References in popular culture
★ The "Kronos" symbol appears in the form of stigmata upon the arm of a character in John Carpenter's 1987 film ''Prince of Darkness''.
★ The song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is featured prominently at the beginning of the Mick Garris television miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's novel ''The Stand'' (a stanza of the song having been utilized by the author as an epigram in the original book).
★ The Japanese manga series "Gunnm" (Battle Angel Alita in the US) features several references to the group. The character Zapan usually wears the group's logo on his forehead, and uses an advanced technology referred to as "Imaginos," after the BÖC album. Additionally, the main villain "Desty Nova" has a name notably similar to the BÖC character "Desdinova." Yukito Kishiro, the creator of the series, is openly a fan of 70's hard rock, and has also referenced several Judas Priest songs in his work.
★ The 1994 buddy comedy ''The Stoned Age'' follows the misadventures of two teenagers in the 1970s who are big Blue Öyster Cult fans. The soundtrack features the songs "Don't Fear The Reaper" and "Burnin' For You". At the end of the closing credits Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma make a brief appearance outside of a store selling T-shirts for $5.
★ "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", is featured in the movie .
★ During an episode of ''The Simpsons'', in which Bart and Homer were ordered by a court to be handcuffed together, Homer says he missed a school event by chasing a radio station van to get a "Blue Öyster Cult Medallion", with the bands question-cross logo on it. He later goes on to tell the judge "Your honor, if I may sing a little of 'Don't Fear the Reaper...'"; she replies "I'm familiar with BÖC." "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" also plays over the credits. Another episode was titled "Don't Fear the Roofer", spoofing the song.
★ "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" also appears as foreshadowing in the original John Carpenter film ''Halloween'', playing from the radio of two of the babysitters who will be menaced (in one case, slain) by Michael Myers later that night.
★ In the April 2006 episode "Hell House" of The WB's hit television series Supernatural, two BOC songs are featured: "Fire Of Unknown Origin" and "Burnin' For You" -- and the band's infamous logo plays a pivotal role in the plot, as well. In the episode, a pair of Texas teenagers discover and decorate an abandoned home to look like a house of satanic worship, painting symbols on the walls that they've copied off of BÖC records and from college theology class textbooks. Unfortunately, one of the symbols, the Tibetan Spirit Sigil, succeeds in summoning an actual murdering spirit through the fearful collective beliefs of everyone who sees it. Fortunately, however, BÖC's Cross of Questioning is eventually recognized by one of the show's lead characters, Dean Winchester (who it had been established in previous episodes mostly listens to classic rock) -- which in turn leads him and his brother Sam to realize that what they're facing is a "harmless" prank gone terribly awry. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," was also featured in the January 2006 episode "Faith (Supernatural)," which involves a Supernatural being called a Reaper.
★ "Burnin' For You" is featured in the 2006 film 12 and Holding, as well as sung by child actress Zoe Weizenbaum.
★ ''(Don't Fear) The Reaper'' is featured in the first scene of the 2006 video game Prey, when aliens abduct the protagonist and other characters. A BÖC song is also available on the juke box in this scene.
★ ''(Don't Fear) The Reaper'' was featured in an episode of Six Feet Under.
★ On the 1991 album ''712'' by the Japanese girl band Shonen Knife, there is a song called "Blue Öyster Cult." The song is actually about getting food poisoning from eating "blue oysters" in a restaurant.
★ On the popular internet podcast "Ask a Ninja", in the episode "College tips", the Ninja remarks that if he hadn't taken the right college courses, he might have ended up in the digestive tract of the blue cult oyster.
★ In the 1982 teen classic Fast Times At Ridgemont High a kid approaches ticket scalper Mike Damone (Robert Romanus)and asks hims if he has any BÖC tickets for sale.
★ "Godzilla" is included as a track in the 2005 Harmonix video game Guitar Hero.
★ The Police Academy movie franchise makes several references to the Blue Oyster Bar, a local gay bar. It is unknown whether or not this is a reference to the band, some other more obscure reference, or a sheer coincidence.
★ ''(Don't Fear) The Reaper'' was played during the credits of Peter Jackson's movie ''The Frighteners''.
★ In the film Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey after defeating the Grim Reaper at various games, including Battleship, Cluedo, electric football, and Twister to escape Hell, Bill says to Ted "Ted, don't fear the Reaper!" to which they both air guitar.
★ "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" has been announced as a track for the "Guitar Hero" based Harmonix Video Game "Rock Band." Also, "Cities on Flame With Rock & Roll" has been confirmed as a track on Activision's "Guitar Hero III."
On an episode of That '70s Show after Hyde meets the punk rocker chick, he states that punk music is the soundtrack to the revolution to which Eric replies "I thought you said Blue Oyster Cult was the soundtrack to the revolution."
Cowbell
Main articles: More Cowbell
Blue Öyster Cult was parodied in a sketch aired on a 2000 episode of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. In the skit, actor Christopher Walken portrays mega-rock producer Bruce Dickinson, who is overseeing the 1976 studio recording of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." The band begins by performing the song, then breaks off the take in the middle, due to anger at their overly loud and vigorous cowbell player, Gene Frenkle (played by Will Ferrell). A dissatisfied Dickinson comes out from behind the glass, saying he loves the song and insisting "I gotta have more cowbell." Further takes follow.
As with many SNL skits, lines from the skit became catch phrases, even going so far as to spawn merchandise based on the skit. The band has responded to this by having a roadie play a cowbell on stage during performances.
Walken's "Bruce Dickinson" character is not to be confused with Bruce Dickinson, the singer of Iron Maiden. In reality, Bruce Dickinson was not a record producer, but a mid-level manager who worked at Columbia Records and packaged their greatest hits record, but had nothing to do with "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." Insiders say that the producer character was based on Sandy Pearlman, and cite Walken's dead-ringer impression of Pearlman's speech patterns, walk, and clothing as evidence.
At the end of the skit, an in memoriam was shown: ''Gene Frenkle, 1950–2000''. Eric Bloom later said in an interview that "Gene Frenkle" was absolutely fictional, and that he had never met or worked with anyone named Gene Frenkle. Bloom also said that it was he who had played the cowbell on that recording.
Trivia
★ Early Metallica bassist Cliff Burton was a huge Blue Öyster Cult fan - he was spotted in quite a few photos from the 1986 ''Master of Puppets'' tour wearing a vintage BÖC shirt. Metallica later covered the BÖC song "Astronomy" for their Garage Inc. covers album.
★ Another big BÖC fan is bassist Mike Watt, whose former bands, The Minutemen and fIREHOSE, both covered "The Red and the Black" on separate albums. The Minutemen song "History Lesson, Part II" contains the lyric, "I was E. Bloom, Richard Hell, Joe Strummer and John Doe". Additionally, D. Boon (born "Dennes Boon") lead singer of the Minutemen, styled his professional name after E. Bloom.
★ From the 80s glam rock movement in Los Angeles, both Bret Michaels of Poison and Stephen Pearcy of Ratt, have professed a great admiration for Blue Öyster Cult. Stephen Pearcy has even joined Blue Oyster Cult on stage at past LA shows.
★ "Red Öyster Cult" is the name of a song by alternative band Guster on on their album ''Keep It Together''.
★ Allen Lanier recorded the piano track on the Clash song "Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad", from the ''Give 'em Enough Rope'' album.
★ Blue Öyster Cult ranked number 55 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.
★ Eric Bloom sings on a Metallica tribute album, "Metallic Assault," doing "For Whom the Bell Tolls" with Al Pitrelli, Ansley Dunbar and Tony Franklin.
★ "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was covered by Finnish-based rock band HIM on their debut album Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666.
Discography
References
1. The Rough Guide to Heavy Metal, , Essi, Berelian, Rough Guides, , ISBN 1-84353-415-0
2. The term "heavy metal" was first used by Mike Saunders in 1970.[3]
3. The Rough Guide to Heavy Metal, , Essi, Berelian, Rough Guides, , ISBN 1-84353-415-0
External links
★ Official Blue Öyster Cult web site
★ Official Blue Öyster Cult discography (PDF; requires Adobe Reader)
★ Official Buck Dharma site
★ Official Eric Bloom site
★ Official Eric Bloom MySpace page
★ Official Richie Castellano site
★ Official Jules Radino site
★ Official Joe Bouchard site
★ Cellsum Records site - Albert Bouchard's record label
★ Hot Rails To Hull - the ultimate Blue Öyster Cult history site (unofficial)
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