![]() It is a song about anticipating death though not in the way Dharma describes. Listening to the song, you can’t really tell that it was inspired by someone’s health condition. It’s imagining you can survive death in terms of your spirit. I had been diagnosed with a heart condition, and your mind starts running away with you – especially when you’re young-ish. ![]() Their 1975 live album, On Your Feet or on Your Knees, outperformed all of their studio albums peaking at #22 and going gold.įor the band’s next album, Agents of Fortune, Dharma had an idea for a song contemplating his own mortality inspired by his recent heart condition as he told Songfacts, “It was sort of inspired by a personal health scare – I thought I was going to maybe not live that long. All of this started to pay off as Secret Treaties performed better peaking at #53. Like many rock acts of the time, Blue Oyster Cult built up their fanbase by touring heavily where they opened for various acts including Alice Cooper and the Byrds. Singles-wise they weren’t doing much better as all of their songs had failed to chart on the Hot 100. Their first album as well as their second, Tyranny and Mutation, peaked in the lower rungs of the album charts. (Patti Smith’s highest-charing single, 1978’s “ Because The Night,” peaked at #13.)īlue Oyster Cult did not launch to fame right away. They even collaborated with the legendary rock poet Patti Smith who contributed the songs “ Baby Ice Dog” and “ Career of Evil” which appeared on their second and third albums respectively, 1973’s Tyranny and Mutation and 1974’s Secret Treaties. The group wasted no time recording their self-titled debut album released in January 1972 which right away gave a good indication for their early sound: a blending of Black Sabbath heavy metal lyricism with psychedelia and radio-friendly hard rock. With the new name, Pearlman and the group hooked up with producer David Lucas recording a series of demos that made their way to record producer Clive Davis who signed Blue Oyster Cult to his Columbia label. The music the group had recorded for Elektra didn’t get released and Pearlman instituted several name changes for the band before settling on Blue Oyster Cult, taken from a line in one of Pearlman’s poems. Through Pearlman, Soft White Underbelly started playing local gigs and got an early deal with Elektra Records. Liking what he heard, Pearlman offered to help them becoming their manager and creative partner. Guitarist Donald Roeser (Buck Dharma) was friends with fellow student and future rock critic/producer Sandy Pearlman who had heard Dharma and his group play one day. It’s not hard to see why.Īlmost a decade before “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” Blue Oyster Cult had originated on New York’s Long Island in 1967 as Soft White Underbelly made up of students at Stony Brook University. It’s also a song that still gets plays on classic rock and Halloween playlists. ![]() It uses death to tell a love fantasy and how this couple will live together forever so why fear inevitable death. That’s what “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” the biggest and signature song for New York-based rock group Blue Oyster Cult, is essentially about. We wind up being afraid about death a lot of the time because of the unknown but considering it’s a part of the natural life cycle it helps to accept that death will eventually happen. And we’ve seen that approach a lot in our cultures and traditions through religion, literature, movies, and in today’s case music. After all, we’re all going to die at one point or another and there’s no evidence of what happens to us mentally and spiritually once we’re gone so it’s a perfect subject for people to place their own definitions. SONG AT #1 THAT WEEK: Steve Miller Band’s “ Rock’n Me”ĭeath is the kind of topic that lends itself to lots of interpretations. To make my site more interactive, if you like what I’m doing comment and let me know what random hit song you want me to review.īlue Oyster Cult- “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” In Random Reviews, I’m reviewing a random hit song from any point in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 going from the chart’s beginning in 1958.
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