History Music / BlueOysterCult

* {{MIB}}: Since so many of their songs are sci-fi oriented, this was bound to show up at least once. Most notable in the songs Take Me Away (even featured in its music video) and "E.T.I."

* DevelopmentHell: Sandy Pearlman wrote the bulk of ''Imaginos'' before he even ''met'' the future members of [=BOC=]. It was initially to be released immediately after ''Secret Treaties'', but it kept getting pushed back due to CreativeDifferences. After Albert Bouchard quit the band in 1982, he recorded it himself with the intent of releasing it as a solo album, but CBS Records balked and [[ExecutiveMeddling insisted]] it be billed as a [=BOC=] album - leaving it in limbo for another six years until it was released with vocal overdubs from Buck and Eric and a ''massive'' number of session musicians billed as "The Guitar Orchestra of the State of Imaginos" - including two song with lead vocals by non-members - one, the ''title track'', featuring songwriter Jon Rogers, and another by Joe Cerisano, a session vocalist best known for recording [=KFC=] jingles and singing lead on "Hands Across America". And on top of all ''that'', the published album had the tracks out of order.

* DevelopmentHell: Sandy Pearlman wrote the bulk of ''Imaginos'' before he even ''met'' the future members of [=BOC=]. It was initially to be released immediately after ''Secret Treaties'', but it kept getting pushed back due to CreativeDifferences. After Albert Bouchard quit the band in 1982, he recorded it himself with the intent of releasing it as a solo album, but CBS Records balked and [[ExecutiveMeddling insisted]] it be billed as a [=BOC=] album - leaving it in limbo for another six years until it was released with vocal overdubs from Buck and Eric and a ''massive'' number of session musicians billed as "The Guitar Orchestra of the State of Imaginos" - including two song with lead vocals by non-members - one featuring songwriter Jon Rogers, and another by Joe Cerisano, a session vocalist best known for recording [=KFC=] jingles and singing lead on "Hands Across America". And on top of all ''that'', the published album had the tracks out of order.

* DevelopmentHell: Sandy Pearlman wrote the bulk of ''Imaginos'' before he even ''met'' the future members of [=BOC=]. It was initially to be released immediately after ''Secret Treaties'', but it kept getting pushed back due to CreativeDifferences. After Albert Bouchard quit the band in 1982, he recorded it himself with the intent of releasing it as a solo album, but CBS Records balked and [[ExecutiveMeddling insisted]] it be billed as a [=BOC=] album - leaving it in limbo for another six years until it was released with vocal overdubs from Buck and Eric and a ''massive'' number of session musicians billed as "The Guitar Orchestra of the State of Imaginos" - including one song with lead vocals by Joe Cerisano, a session vocalist best known for recording [=KFC=] jingles and singing lead on "Hands Across America". And on top of all ''that'', the published album had the tracks out of order.

* CoverVersion: several on the live albums; their choices of covers give a pretty good idea of who their main influences were. ''On Your Feet Or On Your Knees'' includes the Yardbirds' "I Ain't Got You", while ''Some Enchanted Evening'' features the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" and the MC5' "Kick Out The Jams", while ''Extraterrestrial Live'' features a cover of "Roadhouse Blues" by TheDoors, with Robbie Krieger himself guesting on guitar.

* AscendedExtra: In 1974, John Shirley wrote the novel "Transmaniacon", deriving its title from a song on BOC's debut album. 20 years later, the band recruited him as their principal lyricist for "Heaven Forbid" and "Curse of the Forbidden Mirror".

[[http://www.blueoystercult.com/ Blue Öyster Cult]] is an American HardRock[=/=]Music/HeavyMetal band. Their manager, Sandy Pearlman, formed the group as Soft White Underbelly in 1967. The group cut its teeth playing CountryMusic in biker bars before, at Pearlman's urging, their music turned in a harder, psychedelic direction inspired by Music/BlackSabbath. After some trials and tribulations, including the departure of lead singer Les Braunstein and his replacement with acoustic engineer Eric Bloom, the band eventually took the name Blue Öyster Cult [[HeavyMetalUmlaut (with a trope-making umlaut over the O)]] and released their self-titled album under Columbia Records in 1972. The original lineup consisted of lead singer/guitarist Eric Bloom, lead guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, guitarist/keyboardist Allen Lanier, and drummer Albert and bassist Joe Bouchard.

* AnachronicOrder: ''Imaginos'' is not presented according to the internal chronology of the album's storyline due to ExecutiveMeddling. The album's story, which contains time travel and a number of other supernatural elements, would be confusing enough without the disjointed chronology; the meddling pushed it firmly into MindScrew territory. A possible sequence of the album's events is presented under the ExecutiveMeddling entry.

** The live ''On Your Feet or On Your Knees'' has extended versions of several songs. ''Live 1976'' has a version of "Buck's Boogie" that exceeds nineteen minutes in length, and a version of "This Ain't the Summer of Love" (which was a case of MinusculeRocking on the original album, being barely over two minutes) that extends to almost twelve.

** The live ''On Your Feet or On Your Knees'' has extended versions of several songs.

* AnachronicOrder: ''Imaginos'' is not presented according to the internal chronology of the album's storyline due to ExecutiveMeddling. A possible sequence of the album's events is presented under the ExecutiveMeddling entry.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The reason ''Imaginos'' was released in abridged format (the band wanted to release at least two [=CDs'=] worth of material) and out of order. The internal chronology of the tracks is not exactly clear, but one suggestion is:

-->7. The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria
-->8. In the Presence of Another World

-->5. I Am the One You Warned Me Of
-->6. The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria
-->7. In the Presence of Another World
-->8. Astronomy

* RepurposedPopSong: Shiny Toy Guns did a cover of "Burnin' For You" for a commercial for the 2010 Lincoln MKS. [[YourMileageMayVary It depends on who you ask,]] but some people actually like it.

* ShoutOut: the back cover of ''Cult Classic'' (and indeed elements of the front cover) look suspiciously like homage to British fantasy writer {{Terry Pratchett}}, whose ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series uses BÖC lyrics as allusions, most notably a [[CanisLatinicus latinisation]] of "Don't Fear The Reaper" as motto for the extended Death family.
** The opening of "Burnin' For You" is an allusion to JackKerouac.

* CoverVersion: several on the live albums; their choices of covers give a pretty good idea of who their main influences were (Doors and Yardbirds).

[[http://www.blueoystercult.com/ Blue Öyster Cult]] is an American HardRock[=/=]Music/HeavyMetal band. Their manager, Sandy Pearlman, formed the group as Soft White Underbelly in 1967. The group cut its teeth playing CountryMusic in biker bars before, at Pearlman's urging, their music turned in a harder, psychedelic direction inspired by Music/BlackSabbath. After some trials and tribulations, including the departure of lead singer Les Braunstein and his replacement with acoustic engineer Eric Bloom, the band eventually took the name Blue Öyster Cult [[HeavyMetalUmlaut (with a trope-making umlaut over the O)]] and released their self-titled album under Columbia Records in 1972. The original lineup consisted of Eric Bloom, "Buck Dharma" (Donald Roeser), Allen Lanier, and Albert and Joe Bouchard.

** Both ''E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)'' and ''The Old Gods Return'' refer to the CthuluMythos.

** "{{Nosferatu}}" summarizes the plot of the classic silent film of that name.

* TheMuse: A whole cycle of songs are about, or feature, a girl called Suzie who appears to have had a potent effect on the songwriter's life. If Suzie was for real, then her depiction in ''The Marshall Plan'' as feckless groupie, or in ''Dominance and Submission'' as a party to what feels like child abuse, becomes an example of MuseAbuse.

* DevelopmentHell: Sandy Pearlman wrote the bulk of ''Imaginos'' before he even ''met'' the future members of [=BOC=]. It was initially to be released immediately after ''Secret Treaties'', but it kept getting pushed back due to CreativeDifferences. After Albert Bouchard quit the band in 1982, he recorded it himself with the intent of releasing it as a solo album, but CBS Records balked at it and insisted it be billed as a [=BOC=] album - leaving it in limbo for another six years until it was released with vocal overdubs from Buck and Eric and a ''massive'' number of session musicians billed as "The Guitar Orchestra of the State of Imaginos" - including one song with lead vocals by Joe Cerisano, a session vocalist best known for recording [=KFC=] jingles and singing lead on "Hands Across America". And on top of all ''that'', the published album had the tracks out of order.