Blue Öyster Cult first entered my consciousness on the beloved Heavy Metal Soundtrack with Veteran Of The Psychic Wars. It was one on my favorites on that soundtrack. The next time I heard of Blue Öyster Cult it was in Fast Times At Ridgemont High while Mike Damone is trying to sell tickets. “No I don’t have any Blue Öyster Cult! I ate fourteen pairs last time around. Where were you? The next stop was John Carpenter’s Halloween and (Don’t Fear) The Reaper. It was this last step that lead to the purchase of Agents Of Fortune.
(Don’t Fear) The Reaper is such a classic song. There are a couple other cool picks here as well but the real draw is Reaper. I can see the effects of the Mix Tape in play here. The two or three songs that made it to the tapes are familiar but the rest feel almost like I’m hearing them for the first time. Definitely after the listen to the entire album all the time era.
I also see the absence of the internet at play. I realize that I know very little about Blue Öyster Cult. I can search the web for them now and in doing so found out some things that surprise me. The main being that Blue Öyster Cult was considered Heavy Metal at some point and that they were trying to be the American answer to Black Sabbath. I really don’t see that in the small sampling that I’ve acquired. In fact the dots over the O and the hook and cross symbol were in pursuit of heavy metal themes. They were one of the first dotted vowel groups. The hook and cross was a symbol from alchemy for Lead, a very heavy metal.
I still don’t think of metal when I listen to Blue Öyster Cult. I think of something more progressively album oriented like Pink Floyd or Alan Parsons Project.
This Ain’t The Summer Of Love
(Don’t Fear) The Reaper – I got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell
E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)
I could have used more cowbell