Today is Halloween, so what better classic song of the day than Blue Öyster Cult’s classic, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” Released as a single in October of 1976, it peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for 20 weeks. It did even better in Canada, going all the way to #7 on our northern neighbor’s charts.
“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” was written by Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, the band’s singer and lead guitarist. He said he wrote it when thinking about dying at a young age, hence the reference to doomed young lovers Romeo and Juliet. It’s a plea to not fear death, although some heard the R&J reference and wrongly thought it might be about encouraging murder and/or suicide. Roeser said the song was “a love song where the love transcends the actual physical existence of the partners.”
What many people remember about “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” is the rather insistent cowbell part, thanks to a 2000 Saturday Night Live sketch that had the band in the recording studio and producer Christopher Walken insisting on “more cowbell” from band member Will Farrell. It’s one of SNL‘s best:
Interestingly, the sketch is based at least in part on what really happened in the studio. Bass player Joe Bouchard remembers producer David Lucas asking drummer Albert Brouchard (Joe’s brother) to add the cowbell part:
“Albert thought he was crazy. But he put all this tape around a cowbell and played it. It really pulled the track together.”
That’s the way Joe remembered it, anyway. Producer David Lucas remembered it differently and said he played the cowbell part himself. Or maybe it was guitarist Eric Bloom, who says he banged on the cowbell. Whomever did the clang, clang, clang bit, it helped to bring the song together—although it sits pretty low in the mix, contrary to the way it was portrayed in the SNL skit.
Whatever else “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” is, it’s a very heavy guitar song. From the opening riff (based on the chords Am – G – F) through the multiple guitar solos throughout, there’s just a ton of overdriven electric guitar on this thing. That’s what classic rock is all about, at least in my mind. And there’s nothing more classic than this one.
Interestingly, novelist Stephen King said “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” helped to inspire his novel, The Stand; listening the song helped him get past a bout of writer’s block. To that end, King quoted the song at the beginning of the book. I remember “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” being played over the opening scenes of the 1994 television miniseries based on the novel. It was quite effective.
If you want to learn more about “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” take some time to watch today’s daily bonus video of the day. It’s Rick Beato, one of my faves, giving the song his What Makes This Song Great? treatment. He takes the song apart from the opening guitar riff all the way to the end, including a fascinating interview with Don Roeser, who wrote the thing and played most of those guitar parts. Good stuff, and Mr. Beato is always worth watching.
Happy Halloween, everybody!
