Here’s something I wrote over on Substack. Blue Oyster Cult was a little different than all of the other bands that were already established headliners when I got into hard rock/heavy metal in 1978/79. I tried a few of their records here and there over the years and they didn’t go down well for me because I wasn’t expecting them to be so far off the track of their radio hits at the time. I’ve always liked the band, but it wasn’t until MANY years later that I did the deep dive through their catalog and figured out their brilliance.
When I was in eighth grade and I started listening to rock radio, Blue Oyster Cult was one of the heavyweights on the scene. This was 1978/79 and their identity for me at the time was “Godzilla” from the Spectres album that came out in 1977. I also knew they were famous for “Don’t Fear The Reaper” from 1976’s Agents Of Fortune album, but “Godzilla” was right in line with what was getting my attention in my early days of being a rocker.
It took a while for me to realize that BOC wasn’t about heavy, rock radio-friendly singles.
This band is complicated, and it has taken me many years to get to where I appreciate what they do. When I was in high school, I bought the Spectres ablum and found it a little odd and, overall, a disappointment. By that time, my favorite bands were Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Triumph and The Cars. I was veering towards the heavy stuff with Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Judas Priest, and for whatever reason, I thought that was the space Blue Oyster Cult should be operating in.
While still in high school I bought the live record, Some Enchanted Evening, and I heard how they were an incredible live band and that, maybe, their stuff comes out better live than on their records. But this only fed into my misconception of them being an arena rock icon. They were, they definitely had their day in the upper echelon of rock acts, but the records cover a lot of ground that I didn’t catch on to for a while.
The next record I got was 1981’s Fire Of Unknown Origin and that was one I dug all the way through and helped me get through some tough times in the military. The title track, “Burnin’ For You”,” “Veteran of the Psychic Wars,” “Heavy Metal: Black and Silver,” and “Joan Crawford” hit just right.
Next, I got Agents of Fortune and those songs didn’t land quite right, for whatever reason. Besides “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” I liked the way the album rolled alright, but still, after all that time, I didn’t completely get the band.
Fast forward to just a few years ago, maybe 2018, and I bought this package of five Blue Oyster Cult cd’s for what I used to pay for one. Blue Oyster Cult, Tyrranny and Mutation, Secret Treaties, Agents Of Fortune and Mirrors, all in one box. (Yeah, I got two copies of AOF now.) Even this took a while, but I found the key in those first three records.
I often look back at bands that had great success and wonder how in the hell they got signed because it seems odd to me that somebody at a record company could see beyond the radio single or image. David Cassidy sold records and so did Led Zeppelein. Maybe I’m not giving record companies of the day the proper credit, but, in BOC’s case, it must have taken some incredible vision.
This band is all over the place and if you’re going to package them as anything, they belong in the hard rock space. But they had a bunch of guys who wrote and sang, including two guys capable of being “the voice” of the band. And they were heavy, they jammed, they were progressive, they could do true ballads and ballads that were dark or had a twist.
The lyrics were deep and meaningful, or smart-ass and cheeky. Sci-fi, paranormal, stoner logic, melancholy, we’re-all-gonna-die someday, whatever. Godzilla smashing through Tokyo or, on the same record, a dreamy ballad about loving the night.
So, I played Blue Oyster Cult, Tyranny and Mutation and Secret Treaties a bunch and I finally got it. Secret Treaties became my favorite Blue Oyster Cult record and I have their third live album, Extraterrestrial Live in regular rotation. The band is absolutely a live powerhouse, but those early studio albums make perfect sense to me now. I see Agents of Fortune differently now and I see where it fits in with the first three. Fire Of Unknown Origin is still a favorite and very accessible, but there’s a different kind of raw brilliance in the early records.
Secret Treaties has a great three-song start (“Career Of Evil,” “Subhuman” and “Dominance and Submission”) but the two songs that finish the record are epic. “Flaming Telephaths” is probably my favorite song on the record and “Astronomy” is one of the best songs they have ever done.
As big as they were commercially on their run from Secret Treaties to Fire Of Unknown Origin, Blue Oyster Cult didn’t put up the sales numbers that they should have, and they fell off pretty quickly when hard rock shifted to heavy metal and then to glam metal and thrash. Secret Treaties, Spectres and Fire Of Unknown Origin went gold and Agents of Fortune was the only studio album to go platinum. Their first live record, On Your Feet Or On Your Knees went gold and Some Enchanted Evening went platinum.
Not a bad haul, and they definitely made an impact with their live shows. The catalog deserves better, though. I couldn’t care less that they’re not in the Rock n Roll Hall of Whatever. But this band is royalty in my world. It took me a good, long while to clue into the greatness of Blue Oyster Cult and I’m glad I did.