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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BlueOysterCult.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:[[Series/SaturdayNightLive I've got a fever, and the only prescription... is]] '''[[Creator/ChristopherWalken more cowbell!]]''' (From left to right; Jules Radino, Eric Bloom, Buck Dharma, the late Allen Lanier, Richie Castellano.)]]
3
4->''All our times have come''
5->''Here but now they're gone''
6->''Seasons don't fear the reaper''
7->''Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain''
8->''We can be like they are...''
9-->-- "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
10
11Blue Öyster Cult is an American HardRock[=/=]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 musical style shifted 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 ümlaut over the "O")]] and released their self-titled debut album under Creator/ColumbiaRecords 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.
12
13BÖC reached mainstream success in 1976 with the release of their first platinum album, ''Music/AgentsOfFortune'', and its hit single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," followed by ''Music/{{Spectres}}'' and the FM hit "Franchise/{{Godzilla}}".
14
15In 1981, BÖC recorded ''Fire of Unknown Origin''. The band had written several songs on this platinum album for the upcoming animated film ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'', but the producers chose "Veteran of the Psychic Wars," which wasn't done with the movie in mind. Meanwhile, it's lead single "Burnin' for You" reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, and #40 on the Hot 100 overall. Its music video was a staple of MTV's early years, and helped to establish the format as both a viable means of promoting music and an artistic statement in its own right. Albert Bouchard left the band midway through the album's supporting tour.
16
17Between 1985 and 1987, Allen Lanier and Joe Bouchard quit the band, leaving Eric Bloom and Don Roeser as the only original members. The band took 1987 off, Lanier returned, and they resumed touring with Jon Rogers and Ron Riddle. The band has released several studio albums since then, but none for the 19 years between 2001's ''Curse of the Hidden Mirror'' and 2020's ''The Symbol Remains''. Their motto since the late '90s has been "On Tour Forever!", and they live up to it, continuously touring at fairs, clubs, festivals, casinos, and auditoriums across North America and Europe (often hitting the same venue more than once a year).
18
19Founder 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.
20
21!!Blue Öyster Cult's current lineup:
22* Eric Bloom: Lead vocals, "stun guitar" (his style of rhythm guitar), keyboards
23* Buck Dharma: Lead guitar, vocals on various songs (including "Don't Fear the Reaper")
24* Richie Castellano: Keyboards, guitar, bass, lead vocals on various songs
25* Danny Miranda: Bass guitar
26* Jules Radino: Drums, percussion
27
28!!Former members:
29* Chuck Burgi: Drums
30* Albert Bouchard: Drums, lead vocals on various songs
31* Joe Bouchard: Bass, lead vocals on various songs
32* Les Braunstein: Lead vocals
33* Rick Downey: Drums
34* Allen Lanier (1946-2013): Keyboards, guitar, backing vocals
35* Kasim Sulton: Bass
36* Al Pitrelli: Guitar
37* Bobby Rondinelli: Drums
38* Jon Rogers: Bass, Guitar, songwriting
39* Ron Riddle: Drums
40* Rudy Sarzo: Bass
41* Music/PattiSmith: Vocals on "The Revenge of Vera Gemini" from ''Agents of Fortune''. Has written or co-written many songs for the group.
42* [[Creator/WillFerrell Gene Frenkle (1950-2000)]]: [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Cowbell (No, not really.)]] [[note]] The famous cowbell was suggested by producer David Lucas and played either by Albert Bouchard or David Lucas himself, depending on who you ask. [[/note]]
43
44!!Studio album discography, with notable songs:
45* ''St. Cecilia'' (1970, unreleased until 2001): "What Is Quicksand?", "Donovan's Monkey".[[index]]
46* ''[[Music/BlueOysterCult1972 Blue Öyster Cult]]'' (1972): "Transmaniacon M.C.", "Cities On Flame With Rock & Roll".
47* ''Music/TyrannyAndMutation'' (1973): "The Red and the Black", "Hot Rails To Hell", "Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl)".
48* ''Music/SecretTreaties'' (1974): "Dominance and Submission", "M.E. 262", "Astronomy".
49* ''Music/AgentsOfFortune'' (1976): "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "This Ain't the Summer of Love", "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)".
50* ''Music/{{Spectres}}'' (1977): "Godzilla", "R.U. Ready 2 Rock".
51* ''Music/{{Mirrors|Album}}'' (1979): "Dr. Music", "In Thee".
52* ''Music/CultosaurusErectus'' (1980): [[/index]] "[[Literature/TheElricSaga Black Blade]]", "The Marshall Plan". [[index]]
53* ''Music/FireOfUnknownOrigin'' (1981): [[/index]] "Burnin' For You", "[[WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal Veteran of the Psychic Wars]]", "Joan Crawford". [[index]]
54* ''Music/TheRevolutionByNight'' (1983): "Take Me Away", "Shooting Shark".
55* ''Music/ClubNinja'' (1986): "Dancin' In The Ruins", "Perfect Water".
56* ''Music/{{Imaginos}}'' (1988): "Astronomy", "Blue Öyster Cult".
57* ''Cult Classic'' (1994) (Re-recordings of the group's concert standards).
58* ''Heaven Forbid'' (1998): "Harvest Moon", "See You In Black".
59* ''Curse of the Hidden Mirror'' (2001): "Pocket", "Dance On Stilts".
60* ''The Symbol Remains'' (2020): [[/index]] "That Was Me", "Box In My Head", "Tainted Blood", [[OnlyInFlorida "Florida Man"]], "The Alchemist".
61* ''Ghost Stories'' (to be released April 2024). Previously unreleased original material plus cover versions such as "[[Music/TheDoors Roadhouse Blues]]" and "[[Music/TheAnimals We Gotta Get Out Of This Place]]"
62
63!!Live albums:
64* ''On Your Feet or On Your Knees'' (1975)
65* ''Some Enchanted Evening'' (1978)
66* ''Extraterrestrial Live'' (1982)
67* ''Live 1976'' (European import, 1994)
68* ''A Long Day's Night'' (2002)
69
70----
71!!"I'm troping, I'm troping, I'm troping for you":
72
73* AlbumTitleDrop: The album ''Agents of Fortune'' is named after a lyric from the included song "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)".
74* AlienGeometries: The LP sleeves for ''Blue Öyster Cult'' and ''Tyranny and Mutation'' depict scenes which appear to be inspired by the artwork of M.C. Escher and Bridget Riley.
75* AnachronicOrder: ''Music/{{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.
76* AudienceParticipationSong: Live performances "Dominance and Submission" would feature Al Bouchard and the audience calling the title of the song back and forth at each other.
77* AuthorAppeal:
78** Joe Bouchard wrote a ''lot'' of songs about vampires.
79** Much of the lyrics, as well as the band's name, are inspired by the works of Creator/HPLovecraft.
80* BigApplesauce: The band are mainly from, and based in, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.
81* BigRockEnding: "The Red and The Black" is a notable inversion, containing a big rock ''beginning''.
82* BloodySmile: ''Joan Crawford'' 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.
83* TheCameo: Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma make a cameo appearance at the end of ''The Stoned Age'' (a movie where one of the main characters was a hardcore BÖC fan), selling bootleg BÖC merchandise.
84** Fun fact: originally all the Blue Öyster Cult references in the movie were going to be references to Music/TheWho. The Who refused to allow their names or music to be featured in the movie due to its content (teenagers getting drunk and having sex), so all Who references became Blue Öyster Cult references, complete with the ending cameo.
85** Original drummer Albert Bouchard pops up halfway through the video for "That Was Me" banging away on the cowbell.
86* 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. [[note]]The album does include a version of "Astronomy", but when played live they perform the version of the song from their third album, ''Music/SecretTreaties''.[[/note]]
87* CardCarryingVillain: The narrators of "Career of Evil" and "That Was Me".
88* CatchPhrase: "On your feet...or on your knees! From New York City--the amazing BLUE ÖYSTER CULT!"
89* CatholicSchoolGirlsRule: The otherwise-impenetrable video for "Joan Crawford", in which quite a lot of the said Catholic Schoolgirls get up to shenanigans, aided and abetted by Allen Lanier looking ''extremely'' seedy.
90** "Unknown Tongues" (off ''[[Music/CultosaurusErectus Cultösaurus Erectus]]''), in which a devout Catholic schoolgirl called Margaret explores glossolalia and the mysteries of the holy Stigmata. (i.e., the voices in her head tell her to self-harm with a razor blade).
91* ChangedForTheVideo: The LP version of "The Marshall Plan" (about a hopeless dreamer with minimal musical talent trying to make it big) uses the heavy rock cliché of the opening bars of Music/DeepPurple's "Smoke on the Water" from ''{{Music/Machine Head|Album}}''. It also homages an American TV rock show and its presenter Don Kirschner. Strangely enough, the video version omits both these items; it has been suggested so as to avoid paying royalties. The story told in the video still just about makes sense, but is disjointed without the jokes implicit in a hopeless loser who can only think to rehash "SOTW" and who dreams of appearing on what is assumed to be a very cheesy, corny, mainstream TV show.
92* CityShoutOuts:
93** "UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}}, UsefulNotes/{{Georgia|USA}}!", "Poughkeepsie, [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState New York]]!"
94** Their live cover version of Music/TheAnimals' "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" was recorded in Newcastle, England: {{Homage}} to the hometown of Eric Burdon and Alan Price, and a City Shout-Out by inference.
95** In their live cover of Music/TheDoors' "Roadhouse Blues", Eric Bloom namechecks Los Angeles, causing a huge roar from the crowd.
96* ConceptAlbum:
97** ''Music/{{Imaginos}}''.
98** And the whole thing was supposed to be an attempt at a Concept Band.
99* ContinuityNod: Some of the fossils on the ''Cultösaurus Erectus'' cover are mentioned as having been found in Oaxaca and the Stalk Forrest, which are names of two early versions of the band.
100* CoverVersion:
101** 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 Music/TheYardbirds' "I Ain't Got You" from ''Music/FiveLiveYardbirds'' and the Music/{{Steppenwolf}} classic "Born to Be Wild", while ''Some Enchanted Evening'' features Music/TheAnimals' "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" and the Music/MC5's ''Music/KickOutTheJams'', while ''Extraterrestrial Live'' features a cover of "Roadhouse Blues" from ''Morrison Hotel'' by Music/TheDoors, with Robbie Krieger himself guesting on guitar.
102** ''St. Cecilia'', the group's originally unreleased album as the Stalk-Forrest Group, included a cover of Bobby Freeman's "Betty Lou Got A New Pair Of Shoes".
103** ''Ghost Stories'', due to be released in April 2024, will carry remastered versions of the band's cover songs, including "[[Music/TheDoors Roadhouse Blues]]" and "[[Music/TheAnimals We Gotta Get Out Of This Place]]"
104
105* DealWithTheDevil: The live version of "7 Screaming Diz-Busters" includes an interlude where Eric Bloom describes how [[LouisCypher a slick-looking man in a shark-skin suit]] gave him a contract to sign in blood, and the very next day [[Creator/ColumbiaRecords CBS Records]] called him up to offer the band a record deal.
106** Note: that was the live version that appears as a bonus track on the remastered ''Tyranny and Mutation'' CD. This wasn't on the live version of the original live album ''On Your Feet Or On Your Knees''.
107* DeathSeeker: "Tainted Blood" from ''The Symbol Remains'' is about a vampire who wants to die after having lost his also-vampire lover of 200 years to the eponymous tainted blood. What makes it worse for him is that it was their tradition to let the woman have first taste on whoever they fed on.
108* DespairEventHorizon: Again, "Tainted Blood."
109* DomesticAbuse: "See You In Black" is about a man who is in love with a woman who is married to an abusive husband. The narrator wants to "see [the wife] in black" ([[MurderTheHypotenuse become a widow]]) so she will finally be free.
110-->''The wind plucks your black lace gown\
111You’re standin’ proudly beside his grave\
112I see you wearing black\
113Gently smiling and oh so brave''
114* DontFearTheReaper: The trope namer.
115* DragonLady: Their song provides the page quote.
116* [[DrugsAreBad Drugs Can Be Bad For Your Health]]: "Then Came the Last Days of May", "Tenderloin", "Hungry Boys".
117* DungeonMastersGirlfriend: Allen Lanier's girlfriend Music/PattiSmith, who later achieved fame as a solo artist, wrote several songs for the group's early albums and provided backing vocals on the ''Music/AgentsOfFortune'' track "The Revenge of Vera Gemini".
118* DyingCandle: ''Don't Fear the Reaper'', where the last verse heralding the arrival of Death has the lines:
119-->''The door burst open, and a wind appeared;\
120The candle blew and then dissappeared;\
121The curtains flew and then He appeared,\
122Saying "Don't be afraid"''
123* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''St. Cecilia'' is almost straight country music with some hard rock influences. ''Blue Öyster Cult'' is closer to heavy metal, but still has strong country influences on several tracks, particularly "I'm on the Lamb But I Ain't No Sheep", "Redeemed" and "Train True (Lenny's Song)".
124* EldritchAbomination: A favorite topic of the group, found in "Les Invisibles", "Harvest Moon", "The Old Gods Return", and numerous other songs.
125* EldritchLocation: The Four Winds Bar from "Astronomy", which exists "behind the clock" (outside time), and can not be found on a map. It's the "nexus of the crisis" and "origin of storms". Its bizarre physical proportions are described, with some doors barred and others only letting people in. Susie and Carrie find themselves at the bar despite the lack of directions, and come face to face with Desdinova.
126* EpicRocking:
127** "7 Screaming Diz Busters" (7:00) on ''Tyranny and Mutation''.
128** "Astronomy" (6:47) on ''Secret Treaties''
129** "The Vigil" (6:25) on ''Mirrors''
130** "Black Blade" (6:34) on ''Cultosaurus Erectus''
131** "Shooting Shark" (7:09) on ''The Revölution by Night''
132** "Madness to the Method" (7:25) on ''Club Ninja''
133** "In the Presence of Another World" (6:26), "The Siege" (6:43), and "Blue Öyster Cult" (7:18) on ''Music/{{Imaginos}}''.
134** 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 MinisculeRocking on the original album, being barely over two minutes) that extends to almost twelve.
135* EvilLaugh: [[Literature/TheElricSaga Stormbringer]] at the end of "Black Blade".
136** Live performances of "Flaming Telepaths" would incorporate an echoing, maniacal laughter amidst the final repetition of "And the joke's on you!", as heard on the ''Keep Your Eyes On The Road'' live album.
137* ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt: "Morning Final" on the ''Agents of Fortune'' album. The track ends on a paperboy calling the murder investigation in classic ''Extra! Extra! Read all about it!'' form.
138* EyeScream: At least three examples:
139** "Harvester of Eyes" is about a SerialKiller who collects the eyes of his victims.
140** "Hot Rails to Hell" has the line "the heat from below can burn your eyes out".
141** "Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll":
142---> ''Three thousand guitars, they seem to cry''
143---> ''My ears will melt, and then my eyes''
144* FacialHorror: Featured in the album cover of ''Heaven Forbid''.
145* GasStationOfDoom: Referenced in the video of "Take Me Away", where the young couple in the car get the first inkling something is not right; the band logo of the hooked cross painted on the petrol station wall is as big a clue as the sinister proprietor.
146* GratuitousJapanese: The intermission of "Godzilla" has a Japanese newscaster talking about the beast's rampage in Tokyo and alerting listeners to run for shelter immediately. During live shows, Eric Bloom recites this part.
147* GreatBallsOfFire: The BÖC pioneered the use of lasers onstage to enhance a performance. This was in 1975, some years before MTV, in an age where most groups stuck to music only. The band's laser equipment was cumbersome and frequently unreliable, but when it worked, it was spectacular. It even provoked a Congressional investigation into how safe lasers were as a form of entertainment.
148* GreatestHitsAlbum: 1998's ''Blue Öyster Cult: Super Hits''.
149** The earlier, 2-CD ''Workshop of the Telescopes'' compilation.
150** ''Cult Classic'' is an unusual example; rather than just collecting the group's best songs, they went back into the studio and re-recorded them from scratch.
151* HeavyMeta: "Cities on Flame with Rock & Roll", "R. U. Ready 2 Rock"', "Before the Kiss, a Redcap", and "The Marshall Plan" (which includes a spoken-word interlude by Don Kirschner). They also did a cover of ''Music/KickOutTheJams'', and in a way "Heavy Metal: The Black and Silver" counts as well.
152* HeavyMetalUmlaut: The {{Trope Maker|s}}, and possibly the UrExample.
153* HeavyMithril: Creator/MichaelMoorcock wrote several songs for the group in the early '80s, including "Black Blade", a heavy metal summary of Literature/TheElricSaga.
154** As mentioned above, much of ''Fire of Unknown Origin'' was written with the intent of being a soundtrack for the film ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal''. The song "Vengeance (The Pact)" is explicitly based on Taarna's story.
155** "The Golden Age of Leather", an operatic piece about a gang of bikers who ride out into the desert and fight to the death after an all-night [[HookersAndBlow orgy and meth party]], because they've realized they've grown too old to rock anymore.
156--->''We made a vow to give it all we had to give''
157--->''We made a vow to die as we had lived''
158** "X-Ray Eyes" is based on ''Film/XTheManWithTheXRayEyes'', and name-drops Creator/RayMilland in the lyrics.
159** "Nosferatu" summarizes the plot of the [[Film/{{Nosferatu}} classic silent film of that name]].
160** "The Alchemist" is a retelling of Creator/HPLovecraft's short fantasy story of the same name.
161** "Godzilla" is about Franchise/{{Godzilla}} rampaging through Tokyo.
162* HumanoidAbomination: Imaginos/Desdinova from ''Music/{{Imaginos}}''.
163* IncrediblyLongNote: Eric Bloom on the last syllable of "risen" in the live performance of "Joan Crawford". As it's a live performance there's no wiggle room for post-production--what you hear is what he sang.
164** Also, Buck's final "she don't caaaaaaaaaaaaaare" at the end of "Teen Archer".
165* InfernalFugitives: While "Seven Screaming Dizbusters" suffers from WordSaladLyrics, a theme emerges of seven renegade angels who fell with Satan and later decided they were not going to serve him either. Lucifer is hunting them down to punish them for their second rebellion.
166* IKissYourFoot: A sardonic ([[CasualKink probably]]) example in "She's as Beautiful as a Foot".
167* {{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 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)".
168** "Buck's Boogie" was a jamming instrumental which appeared on the live album ''On Your Feet or On Your Knees''.
169* IronicEcho: The band's collaboration with Music/PattiSmith, "The Revenge of Vera Gemini", is built around the ironic echo; Patti Smith's lines, coming in slightly behind Albert Bouchard's, are sardonic echoes that subtly twist the meaning.
170* IronicNurseryTune: The children's music box tune deployed as a linking theme between tracks on ''Secret Treaties''. Perhaps even the symbolism used in certain lyrics, such as the following from "Astronomy":
171-->''Come, Suzy dear, let's take a walk''
172-->''Just out there along the beach''
173-->''I know you'll soon be married''
174-->''And you'll want to know where winds come from...''
175** The nature of the innocent Suzy's relationship with her older nurse Carrie has oft been speculated upon. Les Yay...
176* {{Kaiju}}: [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Take a wild guess...]]
177* LastNoteNightmare: The very faint, edge-of-hearing, last spoken line of "Black Blade".
178* [[ViewersAreGeniuses Listeners Are Geniuses]]: Piecing together the MythArc (see below) requires paying attention to the subtlest allusions in the lyrics.
179** Sandy Pearlman actually described them as "The thinking man's heavy metal band."
180*** A lot of people called them that. This reputation is why they were critical darlings at a time when if a critic referred to any ''other'' band as playing heavy metal, it was intended as an insult.
181* LeadDrummer: Albert Bouchard was the band's most prolific songwriter during his time with the band.
182* LeadSingerPlaysLeadGuitar: Lead guitarist Buck Dharma [[VocalTagTeam shares lead vocals]] with Eric Bloom and Albert Bouchard (when Albert was still in the band).
183* LongRunner: These guys have managed to last long enough well into the TurnOfTheMillennium, with a new album out in 2020 and even then, they continue to do tours and concerts even today. That's pretty impressive for a band that started in the early 70s.
184* LongRunnerLineup: Type 2; Eric, Buck, Allen and the Bouchard brothers stayed together from 1971 to 1981, when Albert left.
185* LoopedLyrics:
186** "Seven seven seven seven" ''ad nauseam'' on "Les Invisibles" from ''Music/{{Imaginos}}''.
187** "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.
188** Also the repetition of the line "Lucifer the light" at the end of ''7 Screaming Diz-Busters''--this line repeats thirty-two times in succession.
189* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: Doctor Music, your partner in the dance of death.
190* LuckyCharmsTitle: The fancy "Ö".
191* LyricalDissonance: "Harvester of Eyes", a bouncy, cheery song about...well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin someone/something that kills people and takes their eyes]]. Sandy Pearlman claimed he came up with the idea after hearing Supreme Court justice Abe Fortas talk about his ocular tuberculosis during his confirmation hearings.
192** A common trope with this band, given that so many of their lyrics are dark, and often in a tongue-in-cheek way. "Hot Rails to Hell" is another good ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin example--an up-tempo tune with surf guitar riffs and peppy vocals...about riding a subway train into Damnation.
193** Also the Buck Dharma solo track "All Tied Up", a sweet ballad with Music/{{Eagles}}-ish vocal harmonies. It turns out that the subject of the song is [[FridgeHorror not tied up as in ''busy'']], but as in Exactly What...oh, you know the drill by now.
194** "Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl)" drops some very dark lyrics in a tone so casual that it sounds like a garden tour. Which it actually is, but regular gardens don't use the type of fertilizer that the narrator is freely referring to.
195** "Fallen Angel" and "Burning For You" sound like love songs. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin They aren't.]]
196** And of course "Golden Age of Leather" marries West Coast harmonies, surfer music and Beach Boys-style singing to the dark topic of old Hell's Angels going out with one last gang-bang of a ''wanton child, too dead to care, that each could find his pleasure as he might..." followed by a pitched battle to the death.
197* TheMenInBlack: 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."
198** An example of [=MIB=] is shown on the album cover for ''Music/AgentsOfFortune'' [[AlbumTitleDrop (which was named after a lyric in "E.T.I.")]].
199* MotorcycleOnTheCoastRoad: ''Feel The Thunder'', ''Shadow of California''.
200* TheMuse / MuseAbuse: The recurring character "Susie" that appears in a number of songs is reputedly based on manager and lyricist Sandy Pearlman's girlfriend from college. "Dominance and Submission" and "Astronomy" are allegedly inspired by an incestuous sexual encounter and her lesbian experimentation, respectively. The character reappears in "The Marshall Plan" (not written by Pearlman) as an unfaithful girlfriend.
201* MythArc: Most of their lyrics are part of a [[CosmicHorrorStory Lovecraftian Fiction]]-oriented mythology created by Sandy Pearlman, even those that don't appear to be at first glance.
202** The songs written for the band by Creator/MichaelMoorcock draw on Moorcock's own Eternal Champion mythos, particularly Literature/TheElricSaga. the Champion Eternal might dovetail quite neatly into the Immortal Desdinova, though.
203* NewMediaAreEvil: The laser-light shows the band used in their late '70s shows were the subject of a Congressional hearing into the potential health hazards of lasers.
204** The track "The Machine" off of 2020's ''The Symbol Remains'' treats smartphones as this.
205* NewSoundAlbum: ''Mirrors'' was almost pop-rock relative to the group's earlier albums, with the sentimental guitar ballad "In Thee" as its lead single, and the Cars-inspired "You're Not The One I Was Looking For". It didn't gel, and the band returned to heavy metal for ''Cultösaurus Erectus.''
206** Mostly that's due to the production, though--get past that and two-thirds of the album still counts as HardRock or Heavy Metal. On the other hand, ''Agents of Fortune'' comes closer--more than half of the album can't be called either.
207* NoEnding: Employed on "Flaming Telepaths"
208--> ''and the joke's on you...and the joke's on you...and the joke's on you...and the jo--''
209* ObligatoryBondageSong: "Dominance and Submission".
210* OurVampiresAreDifferent: "Tattoo Vampire," "I Love the Night," "Tainted Blood".
211* OnlyInFlorida: "Florida Man" is a tribute to the weirdness of Florida, noting the state's drug problems and scary wildlife particularly. The song posits that the whole state was cursed by natives, and anyone who moves there will in time become a Florida Man.
212* PerspectiveFlip: "Transmaniacon MC" tells the story of the infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert Altamont Free Concert]] from the perspective of the Hell's Angels. ''Workshop of the Telescopes'' the rise of modern of science from the point-of-view of an astrologer (whose discipline was discredited); "ME 262" is about the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII as perceived by a German fighter ace; and "Joan Crawford" is partially ''Literature/MommieDearest'' as perceived by ''[[ZombieApocalypse a zombified incarnation of the title actress]]''. "The Alchemist" retells Creator/HPLovecraft's short story of the same name from the alchemist's point of view.
213* ProtestSong: "Divine Wind", a song attacking [[UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} Ayatollah Khomeini]] during the hostage crisis.
214** And it still worked for UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden after 9/11.
215* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: For the band's 40th anniversary show in November 2012, they brought back Albert and Joe Bouchard (left in 1981 and 1986 respectively), and Allen Lanier (left in 2007 due to health problems). This show ultimately ended up being the last-ever performance of the original five members due to Allen's death in August 2013.
216** Music/PattiSmith also rejoined the band for this gig. There is extant footage of her performing "Career of Evil" with the group.
217* 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''?
218* ReligionRantSong: "Divine Wind" is a pop at militant extremist Islam.
219** "Unknown Tongues" is a slap at religious mania, the Catholic sort especially.
220* RepurposedPopSong: Shiny Toy Guns did a cover of "Burnin' For You" for a commercial for the 2010 Lincoln MKS.
221* RhymingWithItself:
222** The final verse of the otherwise sublime "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" does this...
223--->''Came the last night of sadness, and it was clear she couldn't go on;''
224--->''And the door burst open and a wind appeared''
225--->''The candle blew and then disappeared''
226--->''The curtains flew and then He appeared''
227--->''(Sayin', "Don't be afraid")''
228** "Joan Crawford":
229--->''Catholic schoolgirls have thrown away their mascara''
230--->''They've chained themselves to the axles of big Mack trucks''
231--->''The sky is filled with hurt and shivering angels''
232--->''The fat lady lives, children, start your trucks''
233* 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.
234* RockStarSong: "The Marshall Plan".
235* SelfTitledAlbum: Their debut.
236* ShoutOut:
237** The opening of "Burnin' For You" is an allusion to the lyrics at the beginning of Part Four, Chapter 2 of Creator/JackKerouac's ''Literature/OnTheRoad''.
238** Both "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)" and "The Old Gods Return" refer to the Franchise/CthulhuMythos. "E.T.I." also refers to Mythos precursor ''Literature/TheKingInYellow''.
239** "Franchise/{{Godzilla}}", of course.
240** The song "The Revenge of Vera Gemini" namechecks Patti Smith's ''Music/{{Horses}}'' album.
241** It also inspired the whole "Vera Gemini" story arc in Creator/MarvelComics' ''ComicBook/TheDefenders'', published some years after the song.
242* SiameseTwinSongs: Nearly all of ''Secret Treaties''.
243* SleepsWithEveryoneButYou: "Eyes On Fire":
244-->''At the stroke of midnight, staring at the phone'''
245-->''For the millionth time I'm all alone''
246-->''I'm the guy she turns to, when her lovers leave''
247-->''I'm the wild card she's got up her sleeve''
248-->''But she don't look at me with''
249-->''Eyes on fire, glowing like coals in the night''
250-->''Hungry eyes, burning with love and desire...''
251* SopranoAndGravel: It's much more obvious in live shows, but the dynamic is certainly there. Dharma's softer, more mellow voice contrasts with the rough, bluesy, and aggressive vocals of Eric Bloom. When they were in the band, the Bouchard brothers were in-between the two, with Joe being on the Soprano side, and Albert on the Gravel.
252* SoulCuttingBlade: [[Creator/MichaelMoorcock Stormbringer]], the ''Black Blade''.
253* StageNames: Sandy Pearlman envisioned the band having stage names and wrote some up, but Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser was the only taker.
254* StopAndGo: "Career of Evil".
255* SubduedSection: Several of their songs have this- "Career of Evil" and 'The Vigil are two notable examples. "Career of Evil" has a LONG, jam-like one in the middle, while "The Vigil" has one just before its guitar solo that's more-or-less a repeat of the intro.
256* TalkingWeapon: "Black Blade".
257* ThatsAllFolks: "Shooting Shark" ends with, "Fourth time round's the last time round; There's nothing else to say."
258* TickTockTune: "Astronomy" is a subtle example, with the steady drum bit throughout the song simulating the ticking of a clock, a recurring motif in the lyrics.
259* TogetherInDeath: "(Don't Fear) The Reaper".
260* TownWithADarkSecret: The setting of "Harvest Moon", which is about a small town whose first European settlers burned their colony to the ground for [[EldritchAbomination some reason]] and where children routinely disappear in the winter only to show up dead in the spring.
261* TransAtlanticEquivalent: The band's style, lyrical content and perceived preoccupations were equated to those of Birmingham's most notorious Satanists, Music/BlackSabbath. Aware that musical critics were directly comparing both bands, their managements bundled them together on a joint tour, dubbed ''The Black And Blue Tour''. It was never repeated. After BÖC started to record Creator/MichaelMoorcock songs, they attracted the label from British fans of ''America's Music/{{Hawkwind}}''. Indeed, the live version of the Moorcock-penned "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" has an eerie Hawkwind-like quality to it.
262** The Hawkwind comparison was raised again during the middle-to-late part of TheEighties, when it was remarked that the BÖC had managed to go through five or six drummers in a very short period of time.
263* TraumaSwing: The video for "Joan Crawford (Has Risen from the Grave)" uses imagery derived from Christina Crawford's autobiography about living with her allegedly psychotic mother, ''Literature/MommieDearest''. The video ends on a teenage girl playing the Christina role, sitting crying and despondent by the swimming pool; the scene is shot in muted washed-out light with autumn leaves swirling around and landing in the water, conveying the idea that summer is gone, it is cold, she is alone, innocence is dead; symbolic of emotional and physical abuse: this visual image conveys exactly the mood of the Trauma Swing using a different analogy.
264* VillainProtagonist / VillainSong:
265** The setup for "Then Came the Last Days of May" is a cross-border drug transaction, allegedly based on a true story.
266** The title character of "Dr. Music" is a sadist who gets off by torturing his unwilling captives.
267** "Showtime" is about a convict who's counting down the days until his release so he can hunt down and get revenge on his girlfriend who put him away and the man she's now with.
268** The ''Secret Treaties'' album is about evil, mostly from the point of view of evil people. "Career of Evil", "Harvester of Eyes" and "Cagey Cretins" are about characters reveling in their villainy, "ME 262" is about a German fighter pilot reflecting on the near defeat of Germany at the end of [=WW2=], "Flaming Telepaths" is about the victim of mind control experiments having a traumatic FreakOut, "Subhuman" and "Astronomy" are sung by the archvillain Desdinova of the band's MythArc. "Dominance and Submission" stands out as being (mostly?) from the point of view of a victim of rape.
269* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: The first lyric of "Astronomy", which is then echoed halfway through.
270* WindsAreGhosts: "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" mentions the wind blowing strongly when TheGrimReaper comes for a woman.
271* WordSaladLyrics: Lots of them. Especially prominent in the early albums, when producer Sandy Perlman wrote a good chunk of the lyrics. "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll", "7 Screaming Diz-Busters" (right down to the title), "Teen Archer", "Subhuman", "Flaming Telepaths" and "Astronomy" stand as some of the highlights.
272---> ''Four doors at the Four Winds Bar'' \
273''Two doors locked and windows barred'' \
274''One door to let to take you in'' \
275''The other one just mirrors it'' \
276''Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!'' \
277''Hellish glare and inference'' \
278''The other one's a duplicate'' \
279''The Queenly flux, eternal light'' \
280''Or the light that never warms''
281

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