History YMMV / BlueOysterCult

* SignatureSong: (Don't Fear) the Reaper", "Godzilla", and "Burnin' For You".

* WeirdAlEffect: Mention this band or "Don't Fear (The Reaper)" to anyone nowadays and count how many people don't respond with "I need more cowbell!" It's surprisingly easy.

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** The same LP also self-covers ''SubHuman'' from ''Secret Treaties'', reworked on ''Imaginos'' as ''Blue Öyster Cult''.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: In "The Symbol Remains", "Florida Man" is a tribute to the meme of the same name, and "The Machine" is an edgy anti-cellphone song. Both are probably subjects chosen to pander to younger listeners.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: ''Don't Fear The Reaper'', ''Godzilla'' and ''Burnin' For You'' are obvious first choices.

* SignatureSong: (Don't Fear) the Reaper" and "Godzilla".

* CompleteMonster: In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdzbPX8vrec Nosferatu]]", from ''Music/{{Spectres}}'', [[AntagonistTitle The titular Nosferatu]] is a malevolent [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] who leaves Transylvania for Germany with [[PestController plague rats under his command]], killing the crew of the ship transporting him. Upon arrival, he [[{{Plaguemaster}} unleashes a deadly epidemic]] and terrifies the population. When a pure-hearted woman named Lucy [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices herself]] by offering her blood to him, he spends the night slowly killing her by feeding on her until dawn.

** "More cowbell" and every variation thereof from the ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''.

** Many of the lyrics from "Godzilla" are now heavily associated with [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} the film franchise}} [[FilkSong it's about]] (the entire first verse is the page quote for the franchise on ThisVeryWiki). Not surprisingly, many news reports about the 2014 reboot quoted the lyrics "With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound" and "Oh no, there goes Tokyo!".

* MemeticMutation: "GUESS WHAT?! I've got a fever! And the only prescription... is '''more cowbell'''!"
** Many lines from "Godzilla" are memetic as well. With the release of the 2014 film, many news items about it featured the phrases "With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound" and "Oh no, there goes Tokyo!".

* CompleteMonster: [[YMMV/{{Spectres}} Nosferatu]]. See that page for details.

* NightmareFuel: Buck Dharma specifically named "nightmares" as a source of song ideas.
** "Joan Crawford" depicts a New York City in rioting chaos, as Joan Crawford's zombified corpse claws its way out of the Earth to get its final revenge against Christina. "Christiinaaaaaaaaaaaa!...Mommy's hommmmmeeeee."
** "Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl)" seems to have one of the oddest titles ever, until one realizes [[FridgeHorror that it's about a New Orleans hoodoo queen who uses quicklime to dispose of the corpses of her rivals]].
** "Harvest Moon" seems rather tame, until the ending reveals that some THING, referred to only as "some evil" takes away the people who settle on the land.

* HilariousInHindsight: After the release of ''Film/Godzilla1998'', the band made a parody version of their song called "''No-zilla''" as a response to their song not making it into the movie. 21 years later and their song does make it into an [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 official Godzilla movie via a cover]].

* TearJerker: "Live For Me", a ballad about what happens to telepathic twin brothers when one of them ends up in a fatal car accident.

** Aware Allen's death was only a matter of time, Patti returned to the group as a guest performer for their fortieth anniversary celebration gig. Eric Bloom has posted rehearsal footage of Patti performing ''Career of Evil'' with the band on his Facebook page. This was her first association with the group in over twenty years - her last collaboration was to co-write the song ''Shooting Shark'' for the 1985 album ''Revolution By Night''. In a way and aware of the backstory, this is also a little bit of a tear-jerker.

* SignatureSong: (Don't Fear) the Reaper"

* OneOfUs: Many of their lyrics are inspired by horror and science fiction.
* ShoutOut: the back cover of ''Cult Classic'' (and indeed elements of the front cover) look suspiciously like homage to British fantasy writer Creator/TerryPratchett, 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.
** Removed from the main page for some reason. Although anyone reading ''Discworld/ReaperMan'' and then looking at the back cover art of ''Cult Classic'' will surely see an unmistakeable link. The artwork visually alludes to Pratchett's book. It would be far too great a coincidence otherwise.

* EpicRiff: "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."

** Aware Allen's death was only a matter of time, Patti returned to the group as a guest performer for their fortieth anniversary celebration gig. Eric Bloom has posted rehearsal footage of Patti performing ''Career of Evil'' with the band on his Facebook page. This was her first association with the group in over twenty years - her last collaboration was to co-write the song ''Shooting Shark'' for the 1985 album ''Revolution By Night''. In a way and aware of the backstory, this is also a little bit of a tear-jerker.

* BizarroEpisode: "Tenderloin," from ''Agents Of Fortune'', practically invents the vocal style used by Music/{{ABC}}'s Martin Fry six years early.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The band is much more popular in Japan than in the United States, probably due to "Franchise/{{Godzilla}}" more than anything else.

* UnfortunateImplications: It's easy to think "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" is about a SuicidePact, especially with its mentions of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', but it's really about being TogetherInDeath.

** In Great Britain, the band might well have been hampered by the existence of [[OopNorth folk singer and comedian]] MikeHarding, who affected a big bushy curly perm, a beard, and glasses, and who played assorted string instruments, including banjos and ukeleles. At the time "Don't Fear The Reaper" was in the British charts, this Eric Bloom comedy lookalike charted with a song called "Rochdale Cowboy". Which ''does'' make it hard to view anyone who looks like that as a guitar hero.