Line #6 Music/AgentsOfFortune


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blueoy_agents_14.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: ''We can be like they are... Come on, baby, don't fear this album!'']]
3
4	''Agents of Fortune'' is Music/BlueOysterCult's fourth studio album, released in 1976. It was also the band's most commercially-successful release, going platinum and spawning the hits "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "This Ain't the Summer of Love", and "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)".
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6	While it's now regarded as BÖC's SignatureSong, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was actually somewhat of a BlackSheepHit for the band, as it's [[StepUpToTheMicrophone sung by Buck Dharma rather than regular lead singer Eric Bloom]]. The song is also LighterAndSofter than their usual hard rock style. To make matters worse, it was (and still is) widely misinterpreted as being a romanticization of suicide, while the band intended it to be a PepTalkSong [[NotAfraidToDie against fear of death]]. Regardless, it's notorious enough to have [[TropeNamer named a trope]] on our site: DontFearTheReaper.
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8	The LP was preceded by ''Music/SecretTreaties'' and followed by ''Music/{{Spectres}}''.
9
10	----
11	!!Tracklist:
12	[[AC:Side One]]
13	# "This Ain't the Summer of Love" (2:21)
14	# "True Confessions" (2:57)
15	# "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (5:08)
16	# "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)" (3:43)
17	# "The Revenge of Vera Gemini" (3:52)
18
19	[[AC:Side Two]]
20	# "Sinful Love" (3:29)
21	# "Tattoo Vampire" (2:41)
22	# "Morning Final" (4:30)
23	# "Tenderloin" (3:40)
24	# "Debbie Denise" (4:13)
25
26	----
27	!!Personnel:
28	* Eric Bloom: vocals, guitar, percussion (cöwbell)
29	* Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser: vocals, guitar, percussion, synthesizer
30	* Allen Lanier: vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards
31	* Joe Bouchard: vocals, bass, piano
32	* Albert Bouchard: vocals, drums, acoustic guitar, percussion, harmonica
33	* Music/PattiSmith: vocals during "The Revenge Of Vera Gemini".
34	* Randy & Michael Brecker: horns
35	* David Lucas: vocals, keyboards, percussion
36
37	----
38	!! Don't Fear The Troper!
39	* AlbumTitleDrop: The album "Agents of Fortune" is named after a lyric from the included song "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)".
40	* AlliterativeName and AlliterativeTitle: "'''D'''ebbie '''D'''enise".
41	* AntiLoveSong: "Sinful Love"
42	--> ''I love you like sin, but I won't be your pigeon''
43	* TheCoverChangesTheGender: Patti Smith wrote the poem "Debbie Denise" was based on about a lesbian relationship she had been involved in. Albert Bouchard tweaked the lyrics to make it a heterosexual relationship instead.
44	* DarkerAndEdgier: Implied in "This Ain't The Summer Of Love".
45	--> ''This ain't the garden of eden\
46	There ain't no angels above\
47	And things ain't like what they used to be\
48	And this ain't the summer of love''
49	* DontFearTheReaper: TropeNamer.
50	* DownerEnding: A bit ambiguous in "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", where the protagonist is taken away by the Grim Reaper, but it's implied to be a happy occasion.
51	* ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt: "Morning Final". The track ends on a paperboy calling the murder investigation in classic ''Extra! Extra! Read all about it!'' form.
52	* GrimReaper: Appears as a character in "(Don't Fear) The Reaper".
53	* HeavyMeta: "True Confessions"
54	--> ''True, true confessions, we tried\
55	Naked, exposed like fine rock 'n' roll''
56	* IronicEcho: The band's collaboration with Music/PattiSmith, "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.
57	* IWillWaitForYou: "Debbie Denise"
58	--> ''She kept the light open, all night long\
59	For me to come home, and sing her my song\
60	Oh Debbie Denise was true to me\
61	She'd wait by the window, so patiently''
62	* LighterAndSofter: Well, softer, anyways- the album as a whole is less heavy and more atmospheric and textured than their previous work. [[ZigZaggedTrope The lyrics certainly aren't any lighter than previous work, though.]]
63	* TheMenInBlack: There is one on the album cover and three of them in "E.T.I"
64	--> ''All praise\
65	He's found the awful truth, Balthazar\
66	He's found the saucer news\
67	Dead leaves always give up motion\
68	I no longer feel the motion\
69	Where prophecy fails, the falling motion\
70	"Don't report this, agents of fortune"''
71	* MurderBallad: "Morning Final"
72	--> ''Motiveless murder, the papers scream\
73	The cops all said the crowd was iced by the sight''
74	* NewSoundAlbum: To some extent - while not completely without riff-heavy [[TraditionalHeavyMetal early Metal]] and HardRock songs, it downplays them in favor of musically lighter PsychedelicRock and ProgressiveRock songs. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Notably, this did not make it a bad album by any means, and it's still a well-received album, too]].
75	* NotAfraidToDie: The central message of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper".
76	* OneWomanSong: "Debbie Denise", "The Revenge Of Vera Gemini".
77	* OneWordTitle: "Tenderloin"
78	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: "Tattoo Vampire", where a vampire visits a tattoo madame.
79	* PepTalkSong: "(Don''t Fear) The Reaper" was intended as a song against fear of death. As lead singer Buck Dharma explained:
80	-->"I was actually kind of appalled when I first realized that some people were seeing it as an advertisement for suicide or something that was not my intention at all. It is, like, not to be afraid of it (as opposed to actively bring it about). It's basically a love song where the love transcends the actual physical existence of the partners."
81	* RecordProducer: Murray Krugman, Sandy Pearlman and David Lucas.
82	* RuleOfThree: "E.T.I."
83	--> ''Three men in black said: "Don't report this."''
84	* RhymingWithItself: The final verse of the otherwise sublime "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" does this.
85	--> ''Came the last night of sadness, and it was clear she couldn't go on\
86	And the door burst open and a wind appeared\
87	The candles blew and then disappeared\
88	The curtains flew and then He appeared\
89	(Sayin' "Don't be afraid")''
90	** The final verse of "E.T.I." rhymes "motion" with "motion", "motion", and "fortune".
91	* ShoutOut:
92	** Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet are referenced in "(Don't Fear) The Reaper".
93	*** "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was famously used in the 1978 slasher film classic ''Film/{{Halloween\|1978}}''.
94	*** Creator/StephenKing was inspired to write ''Literature/TheStand'' by "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", and quotes the song's final verse in the novel. It's also memorably featured in the 1994 [[Series/TheStand1994 miniseries adaptation]].
95	*** In 2000 the song got even more pop culture notoriety when ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' performed a sketch where the band performs the song and are advised by their producer (played by Creator/ChristopherWalken) to put "more cowbell" in it.
96	** "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)" refer to the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.
97	** The song "Revenge of Vera Gemini" namechecks Music/PattiSmith's ''Music/{{Horses}}'' album. Not surprising since she sings backing vocals to it.
98	--> ''Oh no more horses horses''
99	--> ''We're gonna swim like a fish''
100	** It also inspired the whole "Vera Gemini" story arc in Creator/MarvelComics' ''ComicBook/TheDefenders'', published some years after the song.
101	** Gleefully picked up by Creator/TerryPratchett as the family motto for the Death family in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' -- ''Non Timetus Messor'' (Have no timidity towards He who collects the harvest.) When Terry became Sir Terry Pratchett, his official coat of arms as a knight adopted the more correct Latin motto '''Noli Timere Messorem''' -- ''Don't Fear The Reaper''.
102	** Creator/ChristopherWalken: Yes. There ''is'' cowbell in the mix of ''Don't Fear the Reaper''. You have to listen hard for it, though. But you don't forget it once you've clocked it.
103	* SpecialGuest: Music/PattiSmith provides backing vocals during "The Revenge of Vera Gemini".
104	* SpokenWordInMusic: Near the end of "Morning Final" we hear a paper boy trying to sell newspapers.
105	* SubduedSection: "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" [[InvertedTrope inverts]] it -- it's a mostly subdued song with a single "loud" section in the middle with a heavy riff, spooky keyboards and some intense soloing.
106	* UsefulNotes/TarotCards: Displayed by a dapper-looking croupier on the cover art.
107	* TogetherInDeath: "(Don't Fear) The Reaper".
108	--> ''Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity''
109	--> ''(...) We can be like they are''
110	----

Context Music / AgentsOfFortune