Lord Larehip

BOC's original keyboardist and 2nd guitarist, Allen Lanier, passed away August 14 of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) brought by years of smoking. He was 67. Lanier was a film school student when he began playing in the band in Stony Brook traveling all the way from the Big Apple to do so. Back then (1967), they were called Soft White Underbelly. When singer Les Bronstein left, Lanier suggested Eric Bloom take over. Bloom is only one of two of the original members still performing in the band. The other is Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser, the lead guitarist.

The band underwent name and personnel changes until they signed a contract with Columbia in 1971 as Blue Öyster Cult. The name came from their manager, Sandy Pearlman, who also co-wrote many of the band's songs. The whole Cult image of dressing in leather and singing sinister numbers with titles as "Transmanicon MC", "Dominance and Submission", "7 Screaming Dizbusters" and the like was Pearlman's idea--he was an avid reader and writer of occult prose and poetry. He handed out secret names to each bandmember but only Roeser used his up front--Buck Dharma. The distinctive hooked cross logo of the band came from Lanier. Supposedly, he came up with it while reading about alchemy and astology and took from the symbol for Saturn:





During the 70s, I was a Cult devotee and I spray-painted, chalked and drew thousands of these hooked cross emblems on walls, bridges, windows, desktops and sidewalks all over the greater Detroit metropolitan region. I saw BOC live five times including the infamous "Spectres" tour in '77 which remains the greatest rock concert I have ever seen and I saw most of the great arena rock bands of that time.

No band ever released their first three albums with anywhere close to the style that BOC did. Those three, now known as "the black-and-white trilogy," are ESSENTIAL documents of rock music. If you don't have them, you don't have any rock music.

But it wasn't just the visuals, BOC were great musicians and songwriters who tore open new vistas in rock music using harsh, dissonant chords years before punk rock claimed to have invented them. The band I was in did a number of Cult songs and I changed instruments as often as we changed personnel. "Cities on Flame" is a song I have performed live playing drums, bass and guitar at some point or other. The only other song I remember doing that with was Sabbath's "Supernaut." We wore black long before there was any such thing as goth and adorned ourselves with arcane medallions, did all kinds of drugs at gatherings where we would space out and listen to all kinds of bizarre music with lights flashing on the weird posters we hung on the walls, chased girls (sometimes literally). We were SO f-ucking bad, man!! Ah, those were the days, my friends. We thought they'd never end.

I liked Allen's image--always silent and brooding behind shades, never grabbing the spotlight. The dark, menacing one.

Allen also met Patti Smith through Sandy Pearlman and they wrote songs together and became lovers for a time. He appeared on a number of her albums. He also worked with the Clash so the cult did have an effect on punk in more than one way. Smith also sang on one BOC song--"Vera Gemini" off "Agents of Fortune." I also picked up something on vinyl--a band called "Beast" which was produced by Lanier. He quit the Cult in 1985 but rejoined two years later before finally retiring from music in 2006. In November of 2012, in ill health, he played with his old bandmates for a one-time reunion show which apparently went quite well.

On the song "I'm On the Lamb but I Ain't No Sheep" from the first BOC album, Lanier plays the greatest, baddest rhythm guitar lick I've ever heard. It had a great influence on my approach to playing electric guitar. I spent hours sometimes just playing it over and over again because it was an excellent hand and fingering exercise.

Thank you, Allen, and RIP to you, bro.

I saw them play this one live a number of times. The drummer, Al Bouchard, sings it but Eric always sang it live. I remember at the "Spectres" show, Eric getting the whole audience to shriek, "DOMINANCE!!!" During that one part in the song. I screamed it til my voice was hoarse for three days. Cthulhu bless you boys!


Blue Oyster Cult: Dominance and Submission - YouTube

AlexM

Not the biggest fan of the band but no doubt a great loss.

neardeathexperience

They put out a lot more albums then I thought they had. I saw them open for KISS on their Destroyer Tour and the B.O.C. sounded pretty good! For some reason one of the most played songs of theirs is one of my Favorites Don't Fear The Reaper.........There were others that sounded good also, but I think the vocals and music production of that song is beyond reproach..........

Lord Larehip

In one issue of Prog magazine, Eric said he never thought of the Cult as a metal band but thought of them more as a prog band. Even though some dubbed them "the American Black Sabbath" he felt they had more in common with King Crimson or ELP. There's no doubt that they were WAY more versatile than Sabbath.

Nevertheless, it's hard to beat the ripping rock of "ME-262" or "The Golden Age of Leather."


Blue Oyster Cult: Golden Age of Leather - YouTube

neardeathexperience

I thought of the band as a "Hard Rock " outfit.

Unknown Soldier

They were, but they played an extremely complex version of it.

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Lord Larehip

I was always interested in the Nazis--not that I liked them but I was fascinated by the whole mystique around them. I was very intrigued by their jet the ME262 because it was so advanced for its time (all jets today are derived from it) so imagine my surprise while eagerly awaiting BOC's next album, they put an ME262 on the cover and include an ass-kicking number called "ME262". In my under-educated, oversexed teenaged mind, it was like it was ordained. Every time I've seen them, they've done this one. I think it's Eric's best vocal performance on any BOC song he sang.

Blue Oyster Cult - ME 262 (lyrics) - YouTube

Man, now THIS is arena rock when you could go to the big arenas and see stuff like this for all of $8 and that if you sprang a little extra for the main floor! And I was always on the main floor to see the Cult! Mick Jagger supposedly loved this one.

BÖC - On Your Feet or on Your Knees - 11. Maserati GT (I Ain't Got You) - 1975 - YouTube

Lord Larehip

Remembering the days when I could get into an arena to see a rocking band with a rocking laser show on the main floor for $8, I wondered what do these tweeny morons pay today to see Justin Bieber. So I did some searching and I found this:

Its not very expensive. It all depends on where you plan on getting them. I got 8th row seats for $46.00 each for 2 tickets at the arena Justin was going too. Front row seats costs $250.00 that is the highest price of a Justin Bieber concert ticket, if you were to get V. I. P (close seats, sound check, sound check party and I think meet and greets) that could cost to around $300.00-$2,000.00 this girl in Atlanta Georgia I have asked her how much were her tickets (she had front row and was the Atlanta one less lonely girl) and she said I had 4 other people with me and it costs around $850.00 so it depends on how much people you bring with you also. If you get them over the internet like at Tickets for Concerts, Sports, Arts, Theater, Family, Events, more. Official Ticketmaster site they could be around $400.00-$600.00 so I would recommend you to get them at the arena he is going to personally go up there and ask for front row seats and they will show you where you will sit. But get there EXTRA early because once they are on sale they could be sold out super fast. You could try calling the arena he is going to and ask if they could save you how many front row tickets you want or have your mom or dad talk to them. You could get them off Electronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles, Coupons and More Online Shopping | eBay and craigslist > sites for really really cheap and there is always like front row second row tickets for his concert. Just don't get them at Tickets for Concerts, Sports, Arts, Theater, Family, Events, more. Official Ticketmaster site lol trust me.

Now I hear this a-sshole is frequently two hours late to his shows. Motherf-ucker, for the ridiculous money idiots are shelling out to see your pathetic, overpaid ass, you need to fulfill your obligations. What a racket. I can't believe what bulls-hit kids put up with today.

neardeathexperience

[QUOTE=Lord Larehip;1358203]I was always interested in the Nazis--not that I liked them but I was fascinated by the whole mystique around them. I was very intrigued by their jet the ME262 because it was so advanced for its time (all jets today are derived from it) so imagine my surprise while eagerly awaiting BOC's next album, they put an ME262 on the cover and include an ass-kicking number called "ME262". In my under-educated, oversexed teenaged mind, it was like it was ordained. Every time I've seen them, they've done this one. I think it's Eric's best vocal performance on any BOC song he sang.

Blue Oyster Cult - ME 262 (lyrics) - YouTube

Man, now THIS is arena rock when you could go to the big arenas and see stuff like this for all of $8 and that if you sprang a little extra for the main floor! And I was always on the main floor to see the Cult! Mick Jagger supposedly loved this one.

BÖC - On Your Feet or on Your Knees - 11. Maserati GT (I Ain't Got You) - 1975 - YouTube[/QUOTE

The Germans had way more advanced weapons, along with their planes like the stealth one that they were developing prior to the war caving in around them.....

Lord Larehip

The ME 263 sounds suspiciously like the inspiration for the shuttlecraft. It was a manned rocket that used a track to shoot down and get airborne. Then it jettisoned the wheels and axles just as the shuttlecraft jettisoned its engines after lift-off. The 263 shot straight up with with guns blazing at the unprotected bellies of the Allied bombers. After expending its fuel, it glided back to earth just as the shuttlecraft flew back to earth.

The problem was that the 263 was extremely vulnerable to being shot down while gliding so they craft was never more than experimental.

Still, it appeared that NASA "borrowed" the design.