Top 10: Blue Öyster Cult Songs

As 2020 comes to a close, it’s that time of year when I and all the other self proclaimed metal journalists put together our annual “best of the year” lists. And while you’ll see mine in due time, let’s just say the new Blue Öyster Cult album, The Symbol Remains, makes the cut. To honor this achievement, as well as nearly 5 decades of being the quintessential “thinking man’s metal band”, here’s our Top 10 Blue Öyster Cult songs.

10. “Burnin’ for You”

I’ve had this discussion with friends time and time again. Just because a song is one of a band’s biggest, doesn’t mean it’s one of their best. There are some exceptions. “Burnin’ for You” is one such exception. This infectious pop rocker dominated the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and stayed on for a total of 23 weeks. To this day, the only BÖC song with more airplay is “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper”. Had Buck Dharma not been one of the co-founders of the band, he could’ve easily carved a career as a Top 40 hitmaker. Most would kill for his melodic songwriting abilities.

9. “Tattoo Vampire”

Agents of Fortune was a dramatic departure for BÖC. Whereas their first three albums’ sole purpose was to scare the living daylights out of stoned heshers, Agents‘ purpose was to lure the general public with a polished production and lush melodies. It was their serpent in the Garden of Eden, so to speak. Although as made abundantly clear in the opening track, “This Ain’t the Summer of Love”, “This ain’t the garden of eden. There ain’t no angels above.”

“This Ain’t the Summer of Love” wasn’t the only throwback to BÖC’s black and white days. So was our #9, “Tattoo Vampire”. Aggressive, raw, and to the point, it’s everything you could ask for in a metal song. In a time when even BÖC was shifting gears towards 5+ minute suites, “Tattoo Vampire” was proof they could still deliver a short sharp shock if need be.

8. “Flaming Telepaths”

Many consider Secret Treaties to be BÖC’s finest hour and for good reason. With the sinister musings of “Career of Evil”, the psychotic madness of “ME 262”, and the arcane eeriness of our #8, how could you go wrong? Though the lyrics of this song (and most of BÖC’s catalog) tend to be ambiguous, they’re believed to be the fictitious dying words of a mad scientist who fell ill upon performing experiments on himself. Even Black Sabbath would shudder at the thought of writing such gruesome lyrics, but not BÖC Svengali, Sandy Pearlman. Funny enough, Pearlman would go on to manage Sabbath too, but that’s another story.

7. “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll”

If these songs were being ranked on lyrics alone, “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll” would be #1. Electricity must’ve been flowing through Sandy Pearlman, Buck Dharma, and Albert Bouchard’s veins when writing this. Find me one other verse written since that tops “My heart is black and my lips are cold. Cities on flame with rock and roll. Three thousand guitars, they seem to cry. My ears will melt and then my eyes.” In the words of Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, “I dare you! I double dare you!”

6. “Vengeance (The Pact)”

Spearheaded by the success of “Burnin’ for You”, Fire of Unknown Origin was one of BÖC’s biggest albums. Musically, the album is half new wave tinged pop rock, half an 80s metallic take on their early sound. This song falls in the latter. Everything about “Vengeance (The Pact)” makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up: the synthesizers, the lyrics, those gallop riffs halfway through. For a band known for specializing in dark and heavy songs, this is one of their darkest and heaviest.

5. “7 Screaming Diz-Busters”

The male genitalia and its various titles have long been an archetype of rock music. Chuck Berry wanted us to play with his “ding a ling”. Robert Plant begged us to “squeeze his lemon”. Paul Stanley asked we “pull the trigger on his love gun”. But to this day, BÖC is the first and only band to sing about their “diz-busters”…”7 Screaming Diz-Busters” to be exact. Yes, while other bands were too busy singing about what they wanted to do to young women with their, uh, “diz-busters”, BÖC made a 7 minute occult rock opera regarding the phallus. Would you expect anything less?

4. “Golden Age of Leather”

As I’m going down this list, I can’t help but chuckle that BÖC has become a staple at family friendly carnivals all across the country. So far we’ve touched upon seedy sex, self mutilation, fantastical battle, and the male anatomy. Our #4 touches upon yet another lovely subject: a mass drunken biker suicide pact. “Golden Age of Leather” has been a staple of BÖC shows since its initial 1977 release on Spectres. I’ve been seeing the band for so long now, I remember little underage me holding an invisible can in the air during the opening “Raise your can of beer on high!” Well, that can isn’t invisible anymore. Here’s to raising that can on high many more times!

3. “Morning Final / Tenderloin”

Yeah, yeah I know. I cheated. I’m putting two songs for #3. Go ahead. Sue me. In my defense, you can’t have one without the other. Have you ever tried listening to “We Will Rock You” without “We Are the Champions”? “Heartbreaker” without “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)”? “Altar of Sacrifice” without “Jesus Saves”? I rest my case.

The Joe Bouchard penned “Morning Final” chronicles the events of a serial killer who haunted the subways of New York City. Some have gone as far to say this song (and others) served as inspiration, and perhaps even doubled as cryptic instructions, for the Son of Sam murders. For the sake of sanity, we’re going to dismiss this as a far fetched conspiracy theory, but feel free to look it up on your own time.

This cold tale of murder segues into the dreamy, atmospheric love song, “Tenderloin”. Consider it a musical journey from hell to heaven. “Tenderloin” was penned by late keyboardist Allen Lanier and sang by Eric Bloom. Nearly 45 years on, “Morning Final / Tenderloin” is still one of the finest 1-2 punches in rock history.

2. “Joan Crawford”

Equal parts disturbing and humorous, “Joan Crawford” was pushed to rock radio and MTV to capitalize on the success of Fire of Unknown Origin. The latter platform banned the song due to its “suggestive imagery” and the lyric, “Catholic school girls have thrown away their mascara. They chains themselves to the axles of big Mac trucks.” Apparently, this was scandalous in 1981. How scandalous? Mind you, MTV was in their infancy. They were desperate for any videos they could get their hands on just to fill time. For them to turn a video away, it had to be “bad”. Nowadays, the network hardly shows any music videos at all. The rare occasions they do, you’ll be treated to either (more than) half naked pop princesses, or rappers describing any number of ways they’ll murder you. Tipper Gore probably longs for the days when pseudo-satanic metal was her biggest concern.

1. “Nosferatu”

Joe Bouchard was BÖC’s secret weapon. Period. His songs never received the recognition or acclaim as Bloom and Dharma’s, but if I can change that in even the most miniscule way, then damn it I will! The term “cinematic rock” had been loosely tossed about by 70s rock journos to describe Yes and Genesis. As dumb of a tag as this is, I couldn’t think of a more appropriate descriptor for “Nosferatu”. It captures every exhilarating nuance of the original 90 minute 1922 film and sums it up in a 5 minute musical masterpiece. The piano is pale, the harmonies are haunting, and Buck Dharma lets loose with a guitar solo for the ages. And that is why “Nosferatu” is the greatest BÖC song ever.