Music / Fire of Unknown Origin

I'm livin' for givin' the devil his due.

Fire of Unknown Origin is the eighth album by American band Blue Öyster Cult, released on June 22, 1981. Several of the songs were originally written for the cult film Heavy Metal, particularly "Vengeance (The Pact)" for the Taarna section. Producers had turned it down however, albeit using one of the recorded songs, "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" as an accompaniment to the segment just before "Harry Canyon". While Cultösaurus Erectus before it was seen as a return to form, Fire of Unknown Origin had become the band's highest-charting album, peaking at 24 in the Billboard 200.

Supported by the single "Burnin' for You", which made #1 in the Hot Mainstream Rock charts and reaching the Top 40. "Joan Crawford" was also released for promotion, though its video was banned by MTV for including a suggestive scene.

It was preceded by Cultösaurus Erectus (1980) and followed first by the double live album Extraterrestrial Live (1982), and then by the next studio album, The Revölution by Night (1983). There would be Club Ninja in 1985, followed by the long-awaited attempt at a concept album, Imaginos, in 1988.

Tracklist

Side one

1. "Fire of Unknown Origin" (4:09)
2. "Burnin' for You" (4:29)
3. "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" (4:48)
4. "Sole Survivor" (4:04)
5. "Heavy Metal: The Black and Silver" (3:16)

Side two

1. "Vengeance (The Pact)" (4:41)
2. "After Dark" (4:25)
3. "Joan Crawford" (4:55)
4. "Don't Turn Your Back" (4:07)

Principal members:

• Eric Bloom - vocals, guitar, bass
• Albert Bouchard - drums, synthesizer, vocals, mixing
• Joe Bouchard - bass, vocals
• Buck Dhama - lead guitar, vocals, percussion, bass and sound effects
• Allen Lanier - keyboards

Additional credits:

• Michael Moorcock - songwriting credits on "Veteran Of The Psychic Wars"
• Patti Smith - songwriting credits for "Fire Of Unknown Origin"

You see me now, a veteran of a thousand psychic tropes:

• Apocalypse How: "Sole Survivor" — unexplained, but planetary human extinction level.
• B-Side: Discussed in "Burnin' for You", where those who play them tend to have too much time on their hands.
  Time everlasting/Time to play B-sides...
• Catholic School Girls Rule: The cast of the video for Joan Crawford start off looking sweet and innocent but soon display a more sinister side.
• Despair Event Horizon: The narrator of "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" was mentally spent to the degree that whatever news of victory he receives was dismissed as hollow.
• Deus ex Machina: "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
• Downer Ending: "Veteran of the Psychic Wars", where the protagonist lies spent and defeated as he 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?
• Epic Instrumental Opener: "Joan Crawford" opens with a solo piano piece that is structured like a Bach toccata and fugue. What might be mistaken for a classical piano piece opens up into some very heavy rock. In the live version, Allen Lanier closes the piece with the same solo toccata, which slows to a fugue in its last bars, when the band come in again for the close.
• Heavy Mithril: As mentioned in the summary, much of Fire of Unknown Origin was written with the intent of being a soundtrack for the film Heavy Metal. The song "Vengeance (The Pact)" is explicitly based on Taarna's story.
• Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: Heavy Metal (The Black and Silver)
  Into the whirlpool, where matter vanishes
• Last of His Kind: "Sole Survivor" tells the story of the sole surviving member of the human race.
• Lyrical Dissonance: "Burnin' for You" sounds like an upbeat love song, but in actuality it's about burning out with the lack of time.
• Rhyming with Itself: In "Joan Crawford":
  Catholic schoolgirls have thrown away their mascara
  They've chained themselves to the axles of big Mack trucks
  The sky is filled with hurt and shivering angels
  The fat lady lives, children, start your trucks
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" involves the titular veteran who suffered from PTSD. He considered the news that the war was "won" to be hollow.* Shout-Out: The opening of "Burnin' For You" is an allusion to the lyrics at the beginning of Part Four, Chapter 2 of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.
• Trauma Swing: The video for "Joan Crawford" uses imagery derived from Christina Crawford's autobiography about living with her allegedly psychotic mother, Mommie Dearest. 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. This is meant to convey the idea that summer is gone, it is cold, she is alone, innocence is dead—symbolic of emotional and physical abuse. Using different visual cues, the video creates the same mood as a traditional Trauma Swing scene.

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