Hailing from NYC, the members of the band that was to become BLUE ÖYSTER CULT (BÖC for short) began to come together in the late 1960s, as a band called "Soft White Underbelly"; then changed into "Stalk-Forrest Group" in 1968. The name BLUE ÖYSTER CULT probably came from a 1960s poem written by manager Sandy Pearlman, though there are different versions of the story. It was part of his poetry, later used more extensively in their 1988 album "Imaginos". In Pearlman's poetry, the "Blue Oyster Cult" was a collection of aliens who had to secretly guide Earth's history. The addition of the umlaut above the vocal "o" was suggested by either Allen Lanier or Richard Meltzer. Other bands, such as Motörhead and Queensrÿche, later copied the practice of using umlauts or diacritic marks in their own band logos. The band's logo is the alchemical symbol for lead, one of the heaviest of metals. Pearlman considered this, combined with the heavy and distorted guitar sound of the band and coined the description "heavy metal" to describe BLUE ÖYSTER CULT's music.
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Nicknamed 'the American Black Sabbath', or 'the thinking man's hard rock band' BÖC released their self-titled debut album in 1972. Its striking black-and-white cover prominently featured the now famous hook & cross symbol which the band adopted as their logo, and one of their most famous tracks to date, "Cities on Flame (With Rock and Roll)". Their second album, "Tyranny and Mutation", was built on the first album's basis, but moved towards harder (The Black side) and richer sounds (The Red side). After that, the band aimed to make an album with more emotional impact for their third outing. When "Secret Treaties" was released in 1974, it gained critical acclaim, and it's still now by many considered their "proggiest" effort of the Seventies, with such songs as "Astronomy" and "Flaming Telepaths". The lyrics to "Career of Evil" were written by punk icon Patti Smith, whose collaboration with the band lasted several years, since she was the girlfriend of keyboardist Allen Lanier.
Then came "Agents of Fortune" (their first gold record) that contained their most famous track ever, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", which reached #12 on the US Billboard charts. For its follow-up, "Spectres", the band tried to come up with an even better record; however, for a lot of hardcore fans "Agents." was too "soft", and "Spectres" was even softer! Others, though, found the diversity of thesongwriting on "Spectres" a pleasant experience. As regards their next album, "Mirrors", the majority of the fans felt the record was far too poppy and commercial, although it features some of their best songs, including "The Vigil" and "The Great Sun Jester" (whose lyrics were written by fantasy and sci-fi writer Michael Moorcock).
After that, at the end of the Seventies, BÖC decided to get back to 'being BÖC', rather than trying to write in order to have commercial success, and released the critically acclaimed "Cultösaurus Erectus". Critics wrote that Birch (who worked also with Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and later Iron Maiden) brought out the best in the band, with clean and polished production and classics such as "Black Blade" and "Monsters". Birch was again in the producer's seat for the following album, "Fire of Unknown Origin". This album included the hit single "Burnin' For You"; but it was only with "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" (with lyrics by Moorcock, like "Black Blade") and "Joan Crawford" that the band's proggy vein was revealed.
In later years, after the minor success of more radio-friendly releases like "The Revölution by Night" (1983) and "Club Ninja" (1986), and a series of departures (Albert and Joe Bouchard, Allen Lanier), the band reunited to complete a 20-year-long project titled "Imaginos", possibly their proggiest effort of all, which included many guest appearances, such as former Doors guitarist Robby Krieger and a certain Joe Satriani. Their live shows were also consistently exciting, as witnessed by the band's live albums - in particular, "On Your Feet On Your Knees" (1975), "Some Enchanted Evening" (1979) and "Extraterrestrial Live" (1982).
Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, BÖC are still performing live. Two studio albums, "Heaven Forbid" and "Curse of the Hidden Mirror", were released in 1998 and 2001, followed by another live record and DVD, "A Long Day's Night" (2002).
Raffaella Berry (Raff)