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Blue Öyster Cult was the thinking man's heavy metal group. Put together on a college campus by a couple of rock critics, it
maintained aclose relationship with a series of literary figures (often in the fields of science fiction and horror), including Eric Von
Lustbader, Patti Smith,Michael Moorcock, and Stephen King, while turning out some of the more listenable metal music of the
early and mid-'70s. The band thatbecame Blue Öyster Cult was organized in 1967 at Stony Brook College on Long Island by
students (and later rock critics) Sandy Pearlmanand Richard Meltzer as Soft White Und ...read more
Blue Öyster Cult was the thinking man's heavy metal group. Put together on a college campus by a couple of rock critics, it
maintained aclose relationship with a series of literary figures (often in the fields of science fiction and horror), including Eric Von
Lustbader, Patti Smith,Michael Moorcock, and Stephen King, while turning out some of the more listenable metal music of the
early and mid-'70s. The band thatbecame Blue Öyster Cult was organized in 1967 at Stony Brook College on Long Island by
students (and later rock critics) Sandy Pearlmanand Richard Meltzer as Soft White Underbelly and consisted of Andy Winters
(bass), Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (guitar), John Wiesenthal-- quickly replaced by Allen Lanier -- (keyboards), and Albert
Bouchard (drums), with Pearlman managing and Pearlman and Meltzer writingsongs. Initially without a lead singer, they added
Les Bronstein on vocals. This quintet signed to Elektra Records and recorded an album thatwas never released. They then
dropped Bronstein and replaced him with their road manager, Eric Bloom, as the band's name was changed toOaxaca. A second
Elektra album also went unreleased, though a single was issued under the name the Stalk-Forrest Group.
Cut loose by Elektra, they changed their name again, to Blue Öyster Cult, and signed to Columbia Records in late 1971, by which
time Wintershad been replaced by Albert Bouchard's brother Joe. Blue Öyster Cult, their debut album, was released in
January 1972 and made thelower reaches of the charts. Columbia sent a promotional EP, Live Bootleg, to radio stations in
October, and followed with BÖC's secondalbum, Tyranny & Mutation, in February 1973. Their third album, Secret Treaties,
was released in April 1974 and became their firstto break into the Top 100 bestsellers. (It eventually went gold.) BÖC
released a live double album, On Your Feet or On Your Knees, inFebruary 1975. In May 1976, came their fourth studio
album, Agents of Fortune, including the Top 40 (Top Ten on some charts) hit single"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (featured in
the classic John Carpenter horror film Halloween), which became their first gold and thenplatinum album. (On Your
Feet went gold shortly after.) BÖC's sixth overall album, Spectres, was released in October 1977 andwent gold in
January 1978. In September 1978 came a second live album, Some Enchanted Evening, which eventually would
becomeBÖC's second million-seller, followed by the studio album Mirrors in June 1979. A year later, BÖC released its ninth
album,Cultosaurus Erectus, with the gold Fire of Unknown Origin, containing the Top 40 hit "Burnin' for You," following
in June 1981.
In the summer of 1981, drummer Albert Bouchard was replaced by the band's tour manager and lighting designer, Rick Downey.
BÖC's thirdlive album, Extraterrestrial Live, was released in April 1982, followed by the studio album The Revolution by
Night in October1983. Downey left in 1984 and was replaced in 1985 by Jimmy Wilcox. The same year, Lanier left and was
replaced by Tommy Zvonchek. BÖCreleased its 13th album, Club Ninja, in January 1986. Bassist Joe Bouchard left in 1986
and was replaced by Jon Rogers. In 1987, Lanierreturned to the group, and Ron Riddle replaced Wilcox on drums. BÖC's 14th
album, the concept recording Imaginos, became their finalnew album on Columbia Records in July 1988. BÖC scored the
movie Bad Channels in 1992, by which time Chuck Burgi had replaced RonRiddle on drums. In 1994, Blue Öyster Cult
released Cult Classic, an album of re-recorded favorites, in connection with the use of theirmusic in the TV miniseries of
horror novelist Stephen King's The Stand. Numerous lineup changes ensued throughout the '90s (as theband kept on
touring the world), and in 1995, were the subject of a double disc anthology, Workshop of the Telescopes. By the late
'90s,BÖC had signed with the CMC label, resulting in their first album of all-new studio material in ten years, 1998's Heaven
Forbid, andthree years later The Curse of the Hidden Mirror. The group's music reached a whole new generation of hard
rock fans when Metallicacovered the BÖC classic "Astronomy" for their best-selling Garage Inc. album in 1998, as a few
other best-of collections surfaced aroundthe same time -- Super Hits and Don't Fear the Reaper: The Best Of. In
2001, Columbia/Legacy reissued BÖC's first four releaseswith a newly remastered sound and added bonus tracks. « hide |
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