Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Andrew Winters redirects here. It is not to be confused band recorded an albums worth of material for Elektra
with Andrew Winter.
Records in 1968. When Braunstein departed in early
1969, Elektra shelved the album.
Blue yster Cult (often abbreviated BC) is an American rock band from Long Island, New York, whose
most successful work includes the hard rock and heavy
metal songs "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Godzilla" and
"Burnin' for You". Since the release of their eponymous
debut album in 1972, the band has sold over 24 million albums worldwide, including 7 million in the United States
alone. The bands music videos, especially Burnin' for
You, received heavy rotation on MTV when the music television network premiered in 1981, cementing the
bands contribution to the development and success of the
music video in modern pop culture.
Eric Bloom (formerly the bands 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 rst to Oaxaca, then to the Stalk-Forrest
Group. The band recorded yet another albums 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 St. Cecilia: The Elektra
Recordings in 2001). After a few more temporary band
Blue yster Cults longest lasting and most commer- names, including the Santos Sisters, the band settled on
cially successful lineup included Donald Buck Dharma Blue yster Cult in 1971. (see band name section beRoeser (lead guitar, vocals), Eric Bloom (lead vocals, low for its origin).
stun guitar), Allen Lanier (keyboards, rhythm guitar, New York City producer/composer and jingle writer
backing vocals), Joe Bouchard (bass, backing vocals) David Lucas saw the band perform and took them into his
and Albert Bouchard (drums, percussion, backing vo- Warehouse Recording Studio and produced four demos,
cals). The bands current lineup includes Roeser and with which Pearlman was able to get the renamed band
Bloom, as well as Jules Radino (drums, percussion), another audition with Columbia Records. Clive Davis
Richie Castellano (keyboard, rhythm guitar, backing vo- liked what he heard, and signed the band to the label.
cals), and Kasim Sulton (bass, backing vocals).[1]
The rst album was subsequently produced and recorded
by Lucas on eight track at Lucas studio.[4] Winters would
leave the band and be replaced by Bouchards brother, Joe
Bouchard.
1.1
History
The band originated as a group called Soft White Underbelly (a name the band would later occasionally use
in the 1970s and 1980s to play small club gigs around
the U.S.) in 1967 in the vicinity of Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York, at the prompting of
critic and manager Sandy Pearlman consisting of guitarist
Buck Dharma, drummer Albert Bouchard, keyboardist
Allen Lanier, singer Les Braunstein and bassist Andrew
Winters.[2] Pearlman wanted the group to be the American answer to Black Sabbath.[3] Pearlman was important
to the band he was able to get them gigs and 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
HISTORY
from the debut album), Hot Rails To Hell, and Baby to use it on his 1982 solo album, Flat Out, but he was
Ice Dog, the rst of the bands many collaborations with convinced to use it on the Blue yster Cult album inPatti Smith.
stead. The album went platinum, and contained other fan
The bands third album, Secret Treaties (1974) received favorites such as Joan Crawford (inspired by the book
positive reviews, featuring songs such as Career of Evil and lm Mommie Dearest) and "Veteran of the Psychic
(also co-written by Patti Smith), Dominance and Sub- Wars", another song co-written by Moorcock. Several of
mission and "Astronomy". As a result of constant tour- the songs had been written for the animated lm Heavy
Metal, but only Veteran of the Psychic Wars (which,
ing, the band was now capable of headlining arenas.
ironically, was not written for Heavy Metal) was actually
used in the movie. After this album, Albert Bouchard had
a falling out with the others and left the band, and Rick
1.3 Commercial success (19751981)
Downey (formerly the bands lighting designer) replaced
him on drums.
The bands rst live album On Your Feet or on Your Knees
(1975) achieved greater success and went gold, and was At the height of their popularity, the bands success
followed up by their rst platinum album, Agents of For- spurred a host of cult-like activities, such as a Marsheld,
tune (1976). Again produced by Lucas. It contained the Mass. Blue yster Cult-themed summer camp which feahit single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", which reached num- tured competitive air guitar and lip synching contests.
ber 12 on the Billboard charts and has become a classic of
the genre. Other major songs on the album were "(This
Ain't) The Summer of Love, E.T.I. (Extra-Terrestrial 1.4 Decline and fall (19811987)
Intelligence)", and The Revenge of Vera Gemini. For
the tour, the band added lasers to their light show, for After leaving the band, Albert Bouchard spent ve years
working on a solo album based on Sandy Pearlmans
which they became known.[6]
poem Imaginos. Blue yster Cult released a live album
Their next album, Spectres (1977), had the FM radio hit Extraterrestrial Live, then went to the studio for the next
"Godzilla", but its sales were not as strong as those for the
album, with Bruce Fairbairn as producer, the 1983 reprevious album.
lease The Revlution by Night. Its highest-charting single
The band then released another live album, Some En- was Shooting Shark, co-written by Patti Smith, which
chanted Evening (1978). Though it was intended as an- reached number 83 on the charts. Shooting Shark also
other double-live album in the vein of On Your Feet Or On featured Randy Jackson on bass. After Revlution, Rick
Your Knees, Columbia insisted that it be edited down to Downey left, leaving Blue yster Cult without a drumsingle-album length. It became Blue yster Cults most mer.
popular album, eventually selling over 2 million copies.
The band re-united with Albert Bouchard for a CaliforIt was followed by the studio album Mirrors (1979).
For Mirrors, instead of working with previous producers
Sandy Pearlman (who instead went on to manage Black
Sabbath) and Murray Krugman, Blue yster Cult chose
Tom Werman, who had worked with acts such as Cheap
Trick and Ted Nugent. However, the resulting album
sales were disappointing.
nia tour in February 1985, infamously known as the Albert Returns Tour. This arrangement was only temporary, and caused more tensions between the band and
Bouchard, as he had thought he would be staying on
permanently, which was not the case. The band had
only intended to use him as a last-minute ll-in until another drummer could come on board, which resulted in
Bouchards leaving after the tour. Allen Lanier also quit
Pearlmans association with Black Sabbath was tapped
for the next Blue yster Cult album, which resulted in the band shortly thereafter, leaving the band without a
keyboardist.
Sabbaths Heaven and Hell producer Martin Birch being
hired for the next Blue yster Cult record. The result was Blue yster Cult hired drummer Jimmy Wilcox and keypositive, with Cultsaurus Erectus (1980) receiving good boardist Tommy Zvoncheck to nish the Club Ninja alreviews. The album went to number 12 in the UK, but bum, which was poorly received, with only Dancing In
did not do as well in the U.S. One of the notable songs The Ruinsone of several songs on the record writon the album was Black Blade, which was written by ten entirely by outside songwritersenjoying minimal
Bloom with lyrics by sci- and fantasy author Michael success on radio and MTV. The highlight of the album
Moorcock. The song is a kind of retelling of Moorcocks was Perfect Water written by Dharma and Jim Carroll
epic Elric of Melnibon-Saga. The band also did a co- (noted author of The Basketball Diaries).
headlining tour with Black Sabbath in support of the al- The band toured in Germany, after which bassist Joe
bum, calling the tour "Black and Blue".
Bouchard left, leaving only two members of the classic
Birch produced the bands 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 Dharma had
written with a Richard Meltzer lyric. He had intended
1.6
that year, the band took a temporary break from recording and touring.
1.5
Imaginos and
(1987present)
continued
touring
5
gious symbols gave it a air of decadence and mystery yster Cult is one of his favorite bands. He has written
...[11]
a book titled Blue yster Cult: Secrets Revealed about the
The band was billed, for the only time, as The Blue ys- discography. It is a compiled track-by-track analysis of
ter Cult on the cover and label of their second album, the entire output of the group that uses period and recent interviews with band members and those close to the
Tyranny and Mutation.
band. It is complete up to Curse of the Hidden Mirror.
Their hit single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper was featured in
the famous Saturday Night Live sketch, "More cowbell".
3 Legacy and inuence
The original recording was produced at The Record Plant
in New York by David Lucas, who sang background voBecause of their unique sound and diversity, Blue ys- cals with Roeser and played the now famous cowbell part.
ter Cult has been inuential to many modern bands that Manager Sandy Pearlman mixed the record.
span many genres, and are often viewed as important pi"(Don't Fear) The Reaper was also used in
oneers of several dierent styles of rock music that came
writer/director John Carpenter's horror lm classic,
to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s. Many heavy metal
"Halloween (1978 lm)",[19] and covered by The Mutton
bands have cited them as a major inuence, and bands
Birds for Peter Jackson's 1996 lm "The Frighteners".[20]
such as Metallica and Iced Earth have covered their songs
on studio recordings and during live performances. The The bands inuence has extended beyond the musical
song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" has also been covered sphere. The lyrics of Astronomy have been named by
by many diverse artists, notably Evanescence, HIM, The author Shawn StJean as inspirational to the later chapters
Goo Goo Dolls, The Beautiful South, Wilco, Big Coun- of his fantasy novel Clothos Loom,[21] wherein Sandy
try, and singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. The bands The Pearlmans Four Winds Bar provides the setting for a
Minutemen and Firehose, featuring bassist Mike Watt, portion of the action.
frequently performed versions of The Red & The Black
during their career. The song "Burnin' for You" was covered by Shiny Toy Guns for a 2010 Lincoln MKS com- 4 Personnel
mercial. They were also quite inuential to several early
punk rock bands. They are seen as one of the main inuences by rock noir bands such as the genre originators 4.1 Members
Belladonna,.[16] The Australian punk band Radio BirdCurrent members
man named their debut album Radios Appear after a Blue
yster Cult lyric from the song Dominance and Submis Donald Buck Dharma Roeser lead guitar, vocals
sion. Blue yster Cults song "Godzilla" has been cov(1967present)
ered by a wide variety of bands, including Racer X, Fu
Manchu, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sebastian Bach, and
Eric Bloom lead vocals, stun guitar (1969present)
more.
Richie Castellano keyboards, rhythm guitar, backBlue yster Cult has also been an inuence on many of
ing vocals (2007present), bass guitar (20042007)
the harder-edged, psychedelic bands in the modern jam
band scene because of their intimate live shows and ex Jules Radino drums, percussion (2004present)
tended improvisations. Out of these bands, fellow New
Kasim Sulton bass guitar, backing vocals (2012
Yorkers moe. have cited Blue yster Cult as one of their
present)
primary inuences. They have been greatly inuenced by
Blue yster Cult in their style of guitar-driven jamming,
their elaborate light shows, slightly tongue-in-cheek and Former members
eclectic songwriting, and the intimate atmosphere of their
live performances. moe. also frequently covers Blue yster Cult classics in their sets, and members of Blue yster 4.2 Lineups
Cult have appeared on-stage with the band several times
in the past few years, including the 2002 Jammy Awards. 4.3 Timeline
A photo of the performance can be seen here.[17]
The un-authored AllMusic page for stoner metal states: 5 Lead vocals
'"Stoner metal bands updated the long, mind-bending
jams and ultra-heavy ris of bands like Black Sabbath, While Eric Bloom has always been the bands ocial lead
Blue Cheer, Blue Oyster Cult, and Hawkwind by ltering singer, other members of the band have contributed lead
their psychedelia-tinged metal and acid rock through the vocals throughout its history.
buzzing sound of early Sub Pop-style grunge."'[18]
Heavy metal journalist Martin Popo has stated that Blue
8 BIBLIOGRAPHY
8 Bibliography
6
Album certications
Secret Treaties: RIAA (USA) Gold 500,000+
On Your Feet or on Your Knees: RIAA (USA) Gold
500,000+
References
10 External links
BOC FAQ.
Retrieved
Di-
[13] The term heavy metal was rst used by Mike Saunders
in 1970.
[14] Mythography | The Roman god Saturn in Myth and Art.
Loggia.com. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
[15] Saturn, Roman god of the harvest and a planet. Wordsources.info. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
[16] Belladonna Metaphysical Attraction.
anges. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
invisibleor-
Ocial website
http://www.markprindle.com/blue.htm
11
11
11.1
11.2
Images
11.3
Content license
11.3
Content license