Five BÖC Classics with Eric Bloom on Lead Vocal

Blue Öyster Cult reigns near the top among bands who helped bring heavy metal into the mainstream. Their approach – rock-solid riffs, intelligent lyrics that combined humor and a touch of evil, and the vocal variety that came from having several members who sang lead – has long made the band a force to be reckoned with. And they’re still at it: in late 2024 BÖC released 50th Anniversary Live – Third Night, a concert album built around a performance of their third LP, Secret Treaties.

In belated celebration of the 80th birthday (last December 1) of rhythm guitarist Eric Bloom – who, with Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, is one of two founding members still with the band today – here are five classic Blue Öyster Cult tracks featuring Bloom on lead vocal.

“Flaming Telepaths” from Secret Treaties (1974)
Released as a single from the band’s third album, “Flaming Telepaths” didn’t chart, but the album – the third and final entry in the group’s “black and white” era – earned Blue Öyster Cult its first Gold record. With a strong melody and excellent use of guitar-keyboard interplay, “Flaming Telepaths” features lyrics by the band’s manager/producer Sandy Pearlman.

“This Ain’t the Summer of Love” from Agents of Fortune (1976)
Written by drummer Albert Bouchard, Murray Krugman and music journalist Don Waller, the opening track on Agents of Fortune isn’t nearly as well-known as that record’s hit single (“Don’t Fear the Reaper”), but it’s one of the album’s strongest cuts. Featuring the band’s trademark multi-guitar style, the tune gets to the chorus quickly, taking a sardonic look at the disillusionment that followed the idealistic promise of the 1960s.

“Godzilla” from Spectres (1977)
Blue Öyster Cult has long been notable for its wide set of inspirations; both musically and lyrically, the group is as likely to draw ideas from literature as from film, comic books and other sources. This classic from 1977 concerns the adventures of a giant lizard-like creature who wreaks havoc on Tokyo. The song’s central riff skillfully evokes the feel of Godzilla’s relentless stomp across the Japanese city’s skyline. In the band’s hands, the narrative is bent toward a morality tale: “History shows again and again / how nature points out the folly of men.”

“Black Blade” from Cultosaurus Erectus (1980)
The opening salvo on BÖC’s seventh studio release delves deep into science fiction and mythology. It features lyrics by celebrated author Michael Moorcock, who has also collaborated with another group displaying literary and sci-fi predilections, British band Hawkwind. While three singles were released from the LP – none of which charted – the non-single “Black Blade” remains among the album’s most popular tracks.

“Joan Crawford” from Fire of Unknown Origin (1981)
Inspired by the extremely unflattering biopic Mommie Dearest, this wickedly funny track from Blue Öyster Cult’s eighth studio release Fire of Unknown Origin is among the band’s most melodramatic works. Along with a strong melody and Eric Bloom’s malevolent singing of vividly visceral lyrics, the song employs a Beatlesque sound-effects collage in its midsection and even features a musical quote of Edvard Grieg’s 1875 work “In the Hall of the Mountain King.”