AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Blue Oyster Cult

Artist:Blue Oyster Cult
Song:(Don't Fear) The Reaper
Album:The Best Of Blue Oyster Cult: Don't Fear The Reaper





Blue Oyster Cult was known as the thinking man's heavy metal group probably because of their interest in literature especially science fiction. They had their biggest commercial success with the 1976 top twenty hit (Don't Fear) The Reaper which is also their signature song. The interesting thing about Blue Oyster Cult is the band was not started by musicians. Manager Sandy Pearlman and lyricist Richard Meltzer were students at Stony Brook College in Long Island, NY and both were rock critics for Crawdaddy Magazine. In 1967 they started the band Soft White Underbelly with Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser on guitar, Allen Lanier on keyboards, Albert Bouchard on drums, Andy Winters on bass and Les Bronstein on vocals. They signed with Elektra and recorded an album. But Bronstein left and Elektra shelved the album and dropped them. Road manager Eric Bloom became the new lead singer. The band went through several name changes before Pearlman settled on Blue Oyster Cult. Winters was replaced by Albert Bouchard's brother Joe Bouchard. They signed with Columbia and began to build a fanbase through touring. Their first couple of albums did OK but their 1974 album Secret Treaties broke through and reached #53 on the Billboard Hot 200. But their 1975 live album On Your Feet Or On Your Knees reached #22 and set the stage for the success of the 1976 album Agents Of Fortune. It reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 200 and was their first Platinum album. (Don't Fear) The Reaper reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was their biggest hit single and is their signature song. It helped that John Carpenter used it in his hit film Halloween. As I said, Eric Bloom was usually lead singer. But Donald Roeser wrote (Don't Fear) The Reaper and sang lead. Blue Oyster Cult continued to have success on the album charts until they started falling apart in the mid-80s. Columbia dropped them in 1988. You can get all their hits on this budget comp. Eric Bloom and Donald Roeser continue to lead Blue Oyster Cult today. Albert Bouchard has a band called The Brain Surgeons. Allen Lanier is retired. Here's Blue Oyster Cult performing (Don't Fear) The Reaper from the 70s.