Bands we Love: Blue Oyster Cult

Blue Oyster Cult

Another popular Party band. BOC's is a band with a solid brand of psychedelic/heavy metal.

Scroll down past the album listings for a history of the band.

This is probably my favorite BOC album. 13 crankin' Live tunes recorded from early 1980 through 1981 across the U.S. The only thing missing is "R.U. Ready 2 Rock" which is remedied by the next album.

Another Great Live album which also includes the missing "R.U. Ready to Rock" as mentioned above

Three great classic BOC albums. If you need a "Starter kit", this is it!

Blue Öyster Cult is a psychedelic/heavy metal band probably best known for two songs: their 1976 single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" from the album Agents of Fortune (also featured in the cult movie Halloween, and in Stephen King's novel The Stand), and their 1981 single "Burnin' for You" from the album Fire of Unknown Origin. Their song "Veteran of the Psychic Wars," with lyrics penned by Michael Moorcock, appeared in the soundtrack of the movie Heavy Metal. Two other well-known songs are "Godzilla" (1977) from Spectres, and "Astronomy" (1973) from Secret Treaties; the latter was covered by Metallica on 1998's Garage Inc..

The members of the band began to come together in the late 1960s, as a band called "Soft White Underbelly", in the vicinity of Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York, at the prompting of critic Sandy Pearlman. Pearlman was very influential for the band, getting them gigs, their first record with Columbia, and using his poetry as the basis of many of their songs, including "Astronomy". The band changed its name to the Stalk-Forrest Group in 1968. One single was released on Elektra Records under this name in 1969, though more than one album's worth of songs were recorded. The name again changed to the Blue Öyster Cult in 1970. The name comes from the famous Long Island "Blue Point Oysters." (The name was suggested by Sandy; the umlaut was added later.) They became a successful heavy metal band during the 1970s. They are still playing in the 21st century.

The umlaut on the "O" in their name started the trend for using the "heavy metal umlaut" in band names. It was suggested to Pearlman by rock critic Richard Meltzer. [1] Additionally, some have suggested Pearlman created the term "Heavy Metal" via the use of the band's logo - an alchemical symbol for lead, one of the heaviest of metals (though I'm reasonably sure the term was coined before them --Napalm)

Various other names used by the Blue Öyster Cult are the Cows, The Disciples, Travesty, and Oaxaca.

The BÖC have had a minor resurgence recently with two new albums, Heaven Forbid and Curse of the Hidden Mirror, with sixteen songs written by cyberpunk/horror novelist John Shirley.

In the Summer of 2005 Blue Öyster Cult performed at Retrofest in Chilliwack, British Columbia, with Rick Derringer, Edgar Winter, Jefferson Starship, and It's A Beautiful Day.

Lineup
The current members of the band are:
o Eric Bloom: lead vocals, guitar
o Buck Dharma: lead guitar, vocals
o Allen Lanier: keyboards, guitar
o Richie Castellano: bass, vocals
o Jules Radino: drums
The original lineup of the band was:
o Eric Bloom: lead vocals, guitar
o Buck Dharma: lead guitar, vocals
o Allen Lanier: keyboards, guitar
o Joe Bouchard: bass, vocals
o Albert Bouchard: drums, vocals

Former Members
Bass
o Joe Bouchard (1970–1986)
o Jon Rogers (1987–1995)
o Greg Smith (1995)
o Danny Miranda (1995–2004)

Drums
o Albert Bouchard (1970–1981, 1985–Californian tour)
o Rick Downey (1981–1984)
o Thommy Price (1985)
o Jimmy Wilcox (1985–1987)
o Ron Riddle (1987–1991)
o Chuck Burgi (1991–1992, 1992–1995, 1996–1997)
o John Miceli (1992, 1995)
o John O'Reilly (1995–1996)
o Bobby Rondinelli (1997–2004)
o Bevin (2004–2006)
[
Keyboards
o Tommy Zvonchek (1985–1987)
o Kasim Sultan (1998)

Guitars
o Al Pitrelli (1999)

Vocals
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 Roeser (Buck Dharma)
"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", "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", "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", "Fireworks", "You're Not the One (I Was Looking For)", "Hungry Boys", "Blue Öyster Cult"

Allen Lanier
"True Confessions"

Jon Rogers
"Imaginos"

Joey Cerisano
"The Siege and Investiture of Baron Von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria"

Cowbell
Blue Öyster Cult was parodied in a 2000 episode of NBC's famed Saturday Night Live. Actor Christopher Walken portrayed 1970s mega-rock producer Bruce Dickinson who oversaw the fictional recording of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." In the skit, a dissatisfied, somewhat psychotic Dickinson loved the song but insisted that he's "gotta have more cowbell." 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.

Bruce Dickinson is not to be confused with the singer of Iron Maiden. In reality, Bruce Dickinson was not a record producer, but a studio engineer who worked with BÖC on other recordings, but had nothing to do with "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."

Also in the skit, Will Ferrell portrays a member of the band named "Gene Frenkle." Gene was the cowbell player, and at the end of the skit memorium was shown, saying Gene Frenkle, 1950–2000, as if he had died. Eric Bloom later said in an interview that Gene Frenkle was absolutely fictional, and that during his whole career he had never met or worked with anyone named Gene Frenkle. Bloom also said that it was he who played the cowbell on that recording.

Title	Year
Studio albums
Blue Öyster Cult	1972
Tyranny and Mutation	1973
Secret Treaties	1974
Agents of Fortune	1976
Spectres	1977
Mirrors	1979
Cultösaurus Erectus	1980
Fire of Unknown Origin	1981
The Revölution by Night	1983
Club Ninja	1986
maginos	1988
Heaven Forbid	1998
Curse of the Hidden Mirror	2001
Live albums
On Your Feet or on Your Knees	1975
Some Enchanted Evening	1978
Extraterrestrial Live	1982
A Long Day's Night	2002
Movie Soundtracks
Bad Channels Soundtrack	1992

---Wikipedia

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