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"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a song by the Blue Öyster Cult from the 1976 album Agents of Fortune. Written and sung by guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, it is Blue Öyster Cult's biggest hit, reaching #12 on the American charts in November, 1976 and remaining in the top 100 for twenty weeks. The song remains a staple tune on classic rock radio playlists. In 1997 Mojo magazine ranked "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" at #80 in the "100 Greatest Singles of All Time." Rolling Stone magazine voted the song "Best Rock Single" of 1976 and in 2004 the magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" ranked it at #397.
The reaper is a reference to the Grim Reaper, a traditional personification of death in European-based folklore. Lyrics such as "Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity" have led many listeners to interpret the song to be about a murder-suicide pact, though Roeser has attempted to explain it as just a song about love lasting for eternity.
The song was written to use 13 notes instead of a 4, 8 or 12 count. Classical music tradition dictates that a 13 note count is unlucky and displeasing to the ears. The 13 notes basis of the song is what gives it its unique sound.
The 2001 remaster of Agents of Fortune includes Buck Dharma's original 4-track demo of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (6.20 m), which does not feature cowbell.
Pop culture references to the song
The song was the focus of a 2000 Saturday Night Live sketch in which guest host Christopher Walken played "famed producer Bruce Dickinson," who repeatedly demands "More cowbell!" during the recording of the song. The name appears to have been a mistake on the part of the SNL writers; while a producer named Bruce Dickinson (no relation to Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of Iron Maiden) is in charge of the production and remastering of BÖC's back catalogue, he had no connection with the 1976 production of Agents of Fortune. In addition, the sketch includes a completely fictional member of the band, "Gene Frenkle" (played by Will Ferrell) whose sole function is playing the cowbell. The cowbell player for the actual recording was Eric Bloom. Blue Öyster Cult have referenced the sketch themselves in their concerts, at one point having the cowbell player stand front and center at the lead microphone, announcing "It's all about the cowbell!"
A instrumental version was used in the opening sequence of the mini-series adaption of Stephen King's The Stand (released on the 1994 BÖC Cult Classic compilation of re-recordings). It has also been used in John Carpenter's Halloween and a cover version by New Zealand band The Mutton Birds appeared in the soundtrack to the Peter Jackson movie The Frighteners. The song has been referenced a number of times on The Simpsons and inspired the title of the episode Don't Fear the Roofer. A cover version by Swedish band Caesars was used on the television show Six Feet Under. It was featured prominently in the film The Stoned Age where the two main characters debate whether or not BÖC is a 'pussy' band. In Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, when the title characters first encounter the Grim Reaper, Ted soothes Bill's apprehension by suggesting "Don't Fear the Reaper". (A motif in the film is the reliance of the two upon rock lyrics for philosophical and practical guidance.)
Other versions
- Clint Ruin and Lydia Lunch released
a 12" EP containing a cover version of the song in 1991.
- Apollo 440 released a cover of
the song as a single in 1995.
- The Finnish gothic rock band
HIM covered the song on the album Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666 (1997)
- The band Gus released a cover of
the song for the soundtrack to the movie Scream in 1996.
- The Swedish band Caesars covered
the song as an exclusive track on the Six Feet Under, Vol 2: Everything
Ends album, released in 2005.
- The Beautiful South covered the
song on their 2004 album Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs.
- Unto Ashes, a New York neofolk
band, did their version on their 2003 album empty into white.
- Tenacious D perform the start of
this song on their DVD The Complete Masterworks.
- The Goo Goo Dolls
Although not a cover version, the
1979 hit "Message in a Bottle" by The Police bears a definite similarity
to "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", most notably in the main guitar riff and
in some of the solo guitar parts.
[ source: wikipedia
]
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