Blue Oyster Cult music was the kind of music you wanted to have on the radio when you were riding around in someone's big heavy 70's muscle car...or a van!. It's the kind of music you wanted playing when you snuck out into the woods to drink beers and start a bonfire with your friends. They were mostly a 70's band, but "Burnin' For You" was a great song that came out in 1981. I remember them being played a lot on the radio, and people going to see them in concert, and wearing Blue Oyster Cult (BOC) t-shirts around the hallways at school, but I don't remember seeing their videos. I guess I now know why. I viewed this video for the first time researching 80's Quest. It's a bit dull. I had no idea what BOC looked like, but I was really surprised to see the Earth Wind and Fire-esque shiny gold outfit. Wow!
BOC is from Long Island, New York. Their 3 major hits were "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (1975), "Godzilla" (1977), and "Burnin' For You" (1981). The band got together in 1967 near Stony Brook University on Long Island and was originally called Soft White Underbelly. The band was put together at the behest of manager Sandy Pearlman and conisted of Les Braunstein (singer), Buck Dharma (guitarist), Albert Bouchard (drummer), Allen Lanier (keyboards), and Andrew Winters (bass). They put together an album that Elektra Records shelved. Braunstein left the band and Eric Bloom became their new singer.
They changed their name to Blue Oyster Cult in 1971. The name was taken from a poem called "Imaginos" that their manager, Pearlman, wrote. In the poem, the Blue Oyster Cult was a secret assembly of aliens who were guiding the earth's history. Shortly after the name change, Clive Davis signed the band to Columbia Records. Their debut album was released in 1972, and BOC toured with the Byrds, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Alice Cooper. Over the course of their career they released 14 albums and the line-up changed as members came and went. Their logo (which appeared on all of their albums) was a hook and cross, which in Greek mythology was a symbol of the king of the Titans and father of Zeus. It is also the alchemy symbol for lead (a heavy metal) By 1986 only two of the early members of BOC remained and people joked that the name of the band should be "Two Oyster Cult"!
Over the years the band collaborated often with singer Patti Smith often. They co-wrote the song "Shooting Shark" together, and Randy Jackson of American Idol fame played bass on the recording. They also wrote the song "Perfect Water" off the "Club Ninja" album with Jim Carroll.
"Burnin' For You" was on the "Fire of Unknown Origin" album. Many of the songs on this album had been written for the animated movie, "Heavy Metal", but as it turned out, the one song that was not written for the movie, "Veteran of the Psychic Wars", was the one song that actually made it into the film.
Columbia Records did not promote their 1988 album, "Imaginos". Columbia's parent company had been purchased by Sony. The album did not sell well, and subsequently Blue Oyster Cult were dropped from the label. For the next 11 years the band toured, but did not release an album again until they signed with a new record company, CMC Records in the late 1990's. The band has since left that label too.
Metallica has stated Blue Oyster Cult was a major influence on them and have covered BOC songs in their live concerts. New York jam band moe also covers BOC songs in concert too. Many artists have covered the song, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" including Wilco, The Goo Goo Dolls, Big Country, Elliot Smith, The Beautiful South, HIM, and Evanescence. Clearly Blue Oyster Cult struck a chord with many listeners.
Lyrics:
Home in the valley
Home in the city
Home isn't pretty
Ain't no home for me
Home in the darkness
Home on the highway
Home isn't my way
Home will never be
Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I can't see no reason to put up a fight
I'm living for giving the devil his due
And I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you
I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you
Time is the essence
Time is the season
Time ain't no reason
Got no time to slow
Time everlasting
Time to play besides
Time ain't on my side
Time I'll never know
Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I'm not the one to tell you what's wrong or what's right
I've seen signs of what (freezing their eyes) went through
Well I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you
I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you
Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I can't see no reason to put up a fight
I'm living for giving the devil his due
And I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you
I'm burning, I'm burning, I'm burning for you
they're one of those weird bands that ended up sounding not much like how they started out (e.g., the bangles). also, they're one of those bands whose few radio hits didn't seem to sound much like what they really sounded like. i met sandy pearlman a few times -- he was very nice but a little crazy. and I have to say, I've never liked his production work, especially what he did to the clash
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