Blue Öyster Cult Hard Rock band from Long Island, New York (USA). The name Blue Öyster Cult first came into use in 1971, but the roots of the group date back to 1967 to a psychedelic group called Soft White Underbelly, which featured Albert Bouchard (drums), Allen Lanier (keyboards, guitar), Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (guitar), Andy Winters (bass), and Les Braunstein (vocals, AKA Les Vegas) and operated under the guidance of manager/producer Sandy Pearlman. Braunstein departed in 1969 and was replaced by Eric Bloom. The band changed their name to The Stalk-Forrest group shortly after. Later, Winters was fired and replaced by Albert's younger brother, Joe. The band released their debut album in 1972. All the members contributed to the songwriting but lyrics were often provided by people outside of the group, including Sandy Pearlman, rock scribe [A=Richard Meltzer], poets Patti Smith (Lanier's longtime companion) and Jim Carroll, and science fiction author Michael Moorcock, amongst others. Eric Bloom served as the band's primary lead vocalist, but Donald Roeser sang what are arguably the band's most famous songs, including "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Godzilla", and "Burnin' For You". The Bouchard brothers also contributed lead vocals. 1976's "Agents Of Fortune", featuring the aforementioned "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", was the group's most successful studio album. After a commercial decline in the latter half of the 1970's, the group found renewed success with 1981's "Fire Of Unknown Origin". However, Albert Bouchard was fired after its release (he returned temporarily in 1985). The band continued but was unable to recapture their commercial fortunes. Lanier departed in 1985 and Joe Bouchard left in 1986. Lanier returned in 1987 and the band continued to tour, although they recorded very little. 2001's "Curse Of The Hidden Mirror" was the band's last studio recording until 2020's "The Symbol Remains." Roeser and Bloom continue to tour with new members (Lanier retired from the band in 2006 and passed away in 2013) . Review: Heavy friggin' rock from one of the weirdest bands in history. Blue Oyster Cult are all about the early days of heavy metal, before blurry tempos and dog-whistle vocals. You always get the feeling that the joke is on you with BOC, since these are college-educated smart-asses and fringe members of the Patti Smith literary scene singing about truly dumb stuff: Joan Crawford, Japanese monster movies, UFO's and the Grim Reaper. Getting their start in 1972, BOC were among the first bands on the American Metal bandwagon. They've always been tough to nail down, walking a fine line between big guitar indulgence and pure sarcasm. Guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser's cocky, mullet-headed leads (especially in the live version of "Godzilla" on Some Enchanted Evening) squawk and squiggle with a protean rock power coupled with an uncharacteristic (for Metal) economy. Their best songs always take that Metal clich?? to an unbelievable extreme. The final, mock-classical minutes of "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" may have lost their pasquinade punch in the subsequent years of the song's perpetual rotation, but the joke is there in the bombast of those diagonal basslines and the trilling, frantic lead -- the song can go no further at that point, the band having taken it as far as good (or bad, really) taste will allow, and they put on the brakes in the infinitesimal moment before they rock themselves right off the cliff. That's a great moment in rock history and almost nobody got it. Aliases: Soft White Underbelly Members: Allen Lanier, Al Pitrelli, Kasim Sulton, Albert Bouchard, Rudy Sarzo, Danny Miranda, Ron Riddle, Chuck Bürgi, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, Joe Bouchard, Eric Bloom, Bobby Rondinelli, Tom Zvoncheck, Jimmy Wilcox, John Miceli, Rick Downey, John O. Reilly, Richie Castellano, Greg Smith, Jon Rogers, Jules Radino

Blue Öyster Cult Discography