History Music / BlueOysterCult

* ''Music/FireOfUnknownOrigin'' (1981): "Burnin' For You", "[[WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal Veteran of the Psychic Wars]]", "Joan Crawford".

* ''The Symbol Remains'' (2020): "That Was Me", "Box In My Head", "Tainted Blood", [[OnlyInFlorida "Florida Man"]], "The Alchemist".

* ''Club Ninja'' (1986): "Dancin' In The Ruins", "Perfect Water".

* ''Music/TheRevolutionByNight'' (1983): "Take Me Away", "Shooting Shark".

* ''Music/TheRevölutionbyNight'' (1983): "Take Me Away", "Shooting Shark".

* ''The Revölution by Night'' (1983): "Take Me Away", "Shooting Shark".

* ''Tyranny and Mutation'' (1973): "The Red and the Black", "Hot Rails To Hell", "Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl)".

** Their live cover version of Music/TheAnimals' ''We Gotta Get Out Of This Place'' was recorded in Newcastle, England: {{Homage}} to the home town of Eric Burdon and Alan Price, and a [[CityShoutOuts City Shout-Out]] by inference.
* ConceptAlbum: ''Music/{{Imaginos}}''.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: ''Cultösaurus Erectus''.

* CanonDiscontinuity: As a result of being critical and commercial failures, ''The Revölution By Night'' and ''Club Ninja'' (though "Perfect Water" still made it onto the group's 2002 live release ''A Long Day's Night''). Nothing from ''Music/{{Imaginos}}'' EVER makes it into their live shows, though.

* IconicLogo: The band's "hooked cross" logo, which appears on all their album covers and most of their merchandise, derived from the alchemical symbol for Saturn. It's also the symbol for lead--a [[{{Pun}} heavy metal]].

* [[Creator/WillFerrell Gene Frenkle (1950-2000)]]: [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Cowbell (No, not really.)]]

* {{Instrumentals}}: Not on record, but a concert staple of the original lineup was a jam section where Lanier and Albert Bouchard would don guitars, resulting in a [[UpToEleven five-man guitar solo]]. This most commonly occurred during "ME 262", but also sometimes on "Golden Age of Leather" or a cover of Music/TheDoors' "The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)".

* BloodySmile: ''Joan Crawford Has Risen From The Grave'' presents a very loose interpretation of ''Mommie Dearest'', the biography of the daughter of Creator/JoanCrawford. One among a sequence of nightmare images shows Joan Crawford's boyfriend mobbed by [[CatholicSchoolGirlsRule schoolgirls]], who overpower and kill him; one of the girls smiles at the camera, revealing vampire teeth and a mouth full of blood.

* ''[[Music/CultosaurusErectus Cultösaurus Erectus]]'' (1980): "[[Literature/TheElricSaga Black Blade]]", "The Marshall Plan".
* ''Fire of Unknown Origin'' (1981): "Burnin' For You", "[[WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal Veteran of the Psychic Wars]]", "Joan Crawford".

* ApocalypseHow: "Sole Survivor" -- unexplained, but planetary human extinction level.

* BSide:
-->''Time everlasting/Time to play B-sides...'' ("Burnin' For You")

* DeusExMachina: "Sole Survivor", averted. An alien starship lands to rescue the sole human survivor of an Earth apocalypse, but he refused the rescue:
-->''They beckoned him inside\\
But only man, he would not ride\\
Instead he found a place to hide\\
For he's the sole survivor''

* DownerEnding: "Veteran of the Psychic Wars", where the protagonist lies spent and defeated as he [[PyrrhicVictory receives the news of victory]].
-->''You see me now a veteran\\
Of a thousand psychic wars\\
My energy is spent at last and my armor is destroyed\\
I have used up all my weapons and I'm helpless and bereaved\\
Wounds are all I'm made of\\
Did I hear you say that this is victory?''

* LastOfHisKind: "Sole Survivor" tells the story of the sole surviving member of the human race.

* SanitySlippageSong: "Veteran of the Psychic Wars".

* ShellShockedVeteran: "Veteran of the Psychic Wars".

* RefugeInAudacity: There were so many hints of evil in their lyrics and Nazi images on their album covers that some writers began to suggest that they really were Nazis. This despite names like "Pearlman", "Bloom", and "Roeser" suggesting the sort of ethnicity that would be ''last'' to line up in support of the Nazis. Creator/MichaelMoorcock describes them as ''a bunch of nice Jewish boys from upstate New York''. YouHaveToHaveJews?

* Buck Dharma: Lead guitar, vocals on various songs

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Most of their harder-rocking songs hover around the 5-6 range, with a few (VERY few) going up to a borderline 7- the heaviest overall probably being [[Music/{{Imaginos}} ''The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria'']], which is a very firm 7. They have a number of lighter songs as well though- for example, [[BlackSheepHit "Don't Fear the Reaper"]] is a 3 or a 4 (the only "heavy" part is in the solo section).

* 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 an accomplice to man-on-man rape, becomes an example of MuseAbuse.

* AudienceParticipationSong: Live performances "Dominance and Submission" feature Eric Bloom and the audience calling the title of the song back and forth at each other.

* BadassBeard: Bloom.

* ''The Symbol Remains'' (2020): "That Was Me", "Box In My Head", "Tainted Blood", "The Alchemist".

* TheCameo: Original drummer Albert Bouchard pops up halfway through the video for "That Was Me" banging away on the cowbell.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Most of their harder-rocking songs hover around the 5-6 range, with a few (VERY few) going up to a borderline 7- the heaviest probably being [[Music/{{Imaginos}} ''The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria'']], which is a very firm 7. They have a number of lighter songs as well though- for example, [[BlackSheepHit "Don't Fear the Reaper"]] is a 3 or a 4 (the only "heavy" part is in the solo section).

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Most of their harder-rocking songs hover around the 5-6 range, with a few (VERY few) going up to a borderline 7- the heaviest probably being "[[Music/{{Imaginos}} ''The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria'']], which is a very firm 7. They have a number of lighter songs as well though- for example, [[BlackSheepHit "Don't Fear the Reaper"]] is a 3 or a 4 (the only "heavy" part is in the solo section).

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Most of their harder-rocking songs hover around the 5-6 range, with a few (VERY few) going up to a borderline 7. They have a number of lighter songs as well though- for example, [[BlackSheepHit "Don't Fear the Reaper"]] is a 3 or a 4 (the only "heavy" part is in the solo section).

Founder member Allen Lanier sadly died in August 2013 after a long illness, which had already necessitated his retirement. His last public appearance with the group was at the fortieth anniversary celebration in December 2012. Long-standing manager and band associate Sandy Pearlman, who was responsible for forming and naming the group, and production work on early LP's, as well as naming Buck Dharma and contributing most of the Music/{{Imaginos}} cycle of lyrics, died in July 2016.

* AnachronicOrder: ''Imaginos'' is not presented according to the internal chronology of the album's storyline due to ExecutiveMeddling. The album's story, which contains TimeTravel, shapeshifting, the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, 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.

* CanonDiscontinuity: As a result of being critical and commercial failures, ''The Revölution By Night'' and ''Club Ninja'' (though "Perfect Water" still made it onto the group's 2002 live release ''A Long Day's Night''). Nothing from Music/{{Imaginos}} EVER makes it into their live shows, though.

* ConceptAlbum: Music/{{Imaginos}}.

** "In the Presence of Another World" (6:26), "The Siege" (6:43), and "Blue Öyster Cult" (7:18) on Music/{{Imaginos}}.

* HumanoidAbomination: Imaginos/Desdinova from Music/{{Imaginos}}.

** "Seven seven seven seven" ''ad nauseam'' on "Les Invisibles" from Music/{{Imaginos}}.
** "Carpe diem" in the background of "The Siege and Investiture of Baron Von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria" from Music/{{Imaginos}}. The same song loops "world without end" throughout most of the last two or three minutes.

* RockOpera: Music/{{Imaginos}}, a ''fragment'' of the above MythArc, tells the story of a 19th-century adventurer imbued with magic powers by aliens, and whose efforts prove to be the cause of World War I.