Blue yster Cult Biography

Most heavy metal groups don't get literary advice from the likes of Stephen King. But Blue Öyster Cult does. Cultivating their group at Stony Brook College on Long Island, students and rock critics Sandy Pearlman and Richard Meltzer were the manager and songwriter, with Andy Winters on bass, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser on guitar and Albert Bouchard on drums. Replacing short time vocalist Les Bronstein with road manager Eric Bloom of Elektra Records, the group changed their name from Soft White Underbelly, to Stalk-Forrest Group, and finally the Blue Öyster Cult.Columbia Records signed them in 1971, and Winters was replaced with Bouchard's brother, Joe. After mediocre radio play with both their self-titled debut album, released in early 1972 and the EP Live Bootleg, their sophomore effort Tyranny & Mutation, followed just a year later by their third album Secret Treaties, finally made headlines. The later album was the first to break into the Top 100 bestsellers, eventually going gold.Fame finally approaching, BÖC's fourth album Agents of Fortune saw success when the single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" reached the Top 40 charts and was featured in the horror film Halloween. This was their first album to go gold and platinum. The band continued to release gold album after gold album, up until yet another switch, when drummer Bouchard was replaced by tour manager Rick Downey just after BÖC's 11th studio album, The Revolution by Night, which followed the release of their third live album, Extraterrestrial Live. With the release of their 13th album, the original group was long gone, Downey replaced by Jimmy Wilcox, Lanier replaced by Tommy Zvonchek and Joe Bouchard by Jon Rogers. In 1994 BÖC released Cult Classic, after seeing even more replacements within the group, and a return of Lanier. The album was connected with their music from the Stephen King's miniseries The Stand. The group, continuing to tour the world, saw a new generation of fans when Metallica covered their "Astronomy" classic in 1998.