"(DON'T FEAR) THE REAPER" ● Blue Oyster Cult
Blue Oyster Cult / ICM - International Creative Management Inc. Publicity Photo / IVOX MEDIA collection
"DON'T FEAR THE REAPER" ● Blue Oyster Cult
The Song● (Don’t Fear) The Reaper
Writer● Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser
Producers● Murray Krugman, Sandy Pearlman, and David Lucas
Recorded● March 1976 at the Record Plant, New York City
Released● May 1976
Players●
:: Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser--lead vocals, guitar
:: Eric Bloom--vocals, guitar
:: Allen Lanier--guitar, keyboards, vocals
:: Joe Bouchard--bass
:: Albert Bouchard--drums, vocals
Album● Agents Of Fortune (Columbia, 1976)
Also On●
:: Some Enchanted Evening (Columbia, 1978):: Extraterrestrial Live (Columbia, 1982)
:: Career Of Evil (Columbia, 1990)
:: Workshop Of The Telescopes (Legacy/Columbia, 1995)
:: A Long Day's Night (Sanctuary, 2002)
The Song, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was Blue Oyster Cult (BOC)'s breakthrough hit, peaking at Number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album Agents of Fortune was their fourth album, and their first to go gold.
Singer-guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser says "Reaper" was the first song he wrote after getting a TEAC four-track home recording machine, which significantly impacted on his writing method -- "The guitar line and the first two lines of lyrics just sort of took hold, sprang into existence, and it took about two weeks to finish the tune as far as fleshing out the lyrics and finishing the arrangements."
The spooky opening lick, he says, was inspired by the theme from the TV show One Step Beyond, which used the same interval chord progression between F Minor and G Major.
Roeser says BOC took some flack for the song's lyrics: "Oh yeah. We took a ton, mostly because people interpreted it as advocating suicide. That's never what it was about. It's basically a love story that transcends life and death. What it sort of postulates is that there is an afterlife."
Blue Oyster Cult was one of the first hard rock bands to spiff up their name by adding the "umlaut" marks, in their case over the "O" in Oyster.
The band's symbol, a combined hook and cross, is the symbol for Kronos, who in Greek mythology was the king of the Titans and father of Zeus. It is also the alchemical symbol for lead, which is one of the heaviest metals.
Agents of Fortune ● Blue Oyster Cult
Agents of Fortune is the fourth studio album by Blue Öyster Cult, released on May 21, 1976 by Columbia Records. The Platinum-selling album peaked at No. 29 on the U.S. Billboard chart, while the single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, making it BÖC's biggest hit.
Blue Öyster Cult, continues to record and tour with a lineup of Eric Bloom, Buck Dharma, and Allen Lanier from the original lineup. BÖC released their fourteenth studio album “The Symbol Remains” on October 9, 2020. The title comes from a lyric in the song "Shadow of California" on Blue Öyster Cult's 1983 LP “The Revölution by Night”. The Symbol Remains is the band's first studio release since 2001's Curse of the Hidden Mirror, making it the longest gap between the band's studio albums.
KWXY regularly plays the music of Blue Öyster Cult and the song “Don’t Fear the Reaper” is in the station’s music library and playlists. Listen to KWXY the Desert for More than 50 years, bringing independent, and iconic music to Palm Springs, the Desert Cities, and the Coachella Valley ●
KWXY Music Radio ● 92.3FM 1340AM ● streaming at kwxy.com and ivoxradio.com