(Don't Fear) The Reaper

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(Don't Fear) The Reaper
Blue Öyster Cult
publication July 1976
length 5:08
3:45 (single version)
Genre (s) Hard rock , psychedelic rock , soft rock
Author (s) Buck Dharma
Publisher (s) Columbia Records
album Agents of Fortune

(Don't Fear) The Reaper is a song by the American rock band Blue Öyster Cult , which was released in July 1976 as a single from their fourth studio album Agents of Fortune . In the shortened single version, the song reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is considered the most famous piece by the band. In a 2004 list of the 500 best songs of all time by the music magazine Rolling Stone , (Don't Fear) The Reaper was ranked 397.

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(Don't Fear) The Reaper is about inevitable death and people's foolish fear of it, but also about the infinity of love. Among other things, the song mentions the story of Romeo and Juliet and their tragic end as an example . For this reason, some listeners interpreted that (Don't Fear) The Reaper was about suicide . The songwriter and front man of Blue Öyster Cult, Buck Dharma, denied this. It should be understood as a metaphor for a pair of lovers who would meet again after death in the hereafter.

music

The song begins as a soft rock song, which introduces a guitar solo . After the solo there is a short section with vocals, after which the song ends instrumentally.

In addition to the usual instruments for producing a rock song , a cowbell was also used when recording (Don't Fear) The Reaper . According to various statements of those involved, it was played by producer David Lucas or drummer Albert Bouchard and can be heard in the background for a large part of the song.

Emergence

(Don't Fear) The Reaper comes from the pen of Buck Dharma, the front man and lead singer of the band. Producers were David Lucas, Sandy Pearlman and Dharma's bandmate Murray Krugman. The characteristic riff of the song, played on a Gibson ES-175 , also comes from Krugman .

Chart placements and response

(Don't Fear) The Reaper debuted at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1976 and stayed in the charts for a total of 20 weeks. It was the highest ranked Blue Öyster Cult song in the United States. (Don't Fear) The Reaper became the band's best-known song, helping Agents of Fortune rank 29 of the best-selling albums on the Billboard 200 list . In Canada, the song even reached number 7 on the charts, while in most European countries it could not place in the charts or only reached low places. Only in Great Britain and Ireland was the single version ranked 16th and 17th respectively.

The reviews after the release of (Don't Fear) The Reaper were mostly positive. The song has now achieved cult status and is often described as a milestone by modern reviews. So called laut.de (Do not Fear) The Reaper as "eternal hit". Thom Jurek from Allmusic noted in his review that (Don't Fear) The Reaper is a “multi-structured, deeply melodic soft rock song with psychedelic overtones”.

Cover versions and use in pop culture

(Don't Fear) The Reaper has been reinterpreted by numerous well-known musicians and bands since its release. They include Gus Black (for the soundtrack of the 1996 horror film Scream! ), HIM , Goo Goo Dolls , Heaven 17 and Apollo 440 in a purely electronic version.

The song gained new fame through its use in the Sketch More Cowbell of the comedy show Saturday Night Live in April 2000. The six-minute long sketch parodies the recording session of (Don't Fear) The Reaper , directed by the fictional successful producer Bruce Dickinson (played by Christopher Walken ). The hook of the sketch is the cowbell used in the song, which is played at a much too high volume and with exaggerated body movements by the also fictional band member Gene Frenkle ( Will Ferrell ). More Cowbell achieved high popularity and is considered one of the most famous skits from Saturday Night Live . Actor Will Ferrell has since performed the song several times on television shows, including starring Jimmy Fallon with the Red Hot Chili Peppers on The Tonight Show in 2014 .

In published in 1978 horror film Halloween - The night of horror is (Do not Fear) The Reaper during a chase scene between Michael Myers and that of Jamie Lee Curtis embodied Laurie Strode played.

Stephen King named the song as the inspiration for his book The Stand , which later became the theme music for the Stephen King's miniseries The Stand based on it. The author Terry Pratchett also mentioned and quoted (Don't Fear) The Reaper in several of his works.

Awards

  • 1976: Awarded song of the year by the music magazine Rolling Stone .
  • 2004: Rank 397 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 best songs (in the 2010 version of the list, (Don't Fear) The Reaper ranked 405).
  • 2009: Mentioned in the unranked list of 1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear by the British daily The Guardian .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dave Simpson: How we made Blue Öyster Cult's Don't Fear the Reaper. In: The Guardian . February 19, 2019, accessed on March 22, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Jeff Forlenza: Classic Tracks: Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". In: mixonline.com. June 1, 2009, accessed March 22, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Chris Gill: The Secrets Behind the Guitar Tone on Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". In: Guitar World . January 7, 2019, accessed March 22, 2019 .
  4. ↑ (Don't Fear) the Reaper. In: Billboard . Retrieved March 22, 2019 .
  5. ↑ The Making Of ... Blue Oyster Cult's (Don't Fear) The Reaper. In: uncut.co.uk. March 1, 2013, accessed on March 22, 2019 .
  6. ↑ (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult - 1976. In: seventies music. November 15, 2012, accessed March 22, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Ulf Kubanke: Blue Öyster Cult The Columbia Albums Collection. In: laut.de . February 1, 2013, accessed March 22, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Thom Jurek: Blue Öyster Cult Agents of Fortune. In: Allmusic . Retrieved March 22, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Diethard Stein: Blue Öyster Cult Playalong: (Don't Fear) The Reaper. In: Sticks . July 29, 2018, accessed March 22, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Marc Spitz: '(Don't Fear) the Reaper' Is a Creepy Tune, Even With the Cowbell. In: The New York Times . May 20, 2016, accessed March 22, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Kat Brown: The 10 best tributes to Terry Pratchett. In: The Daily Telegraph . August 27, 2015, accessed on March 22, 2019 .
  12. ↑ 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In: Rolling Stone . Retrieved March 22, 2019 .
  13. ↑ 1,000 songs to hear before you die. In: The Guardian . March 20, 2009, accessed March 22, 2019 .