BOC: Lillian Roxon on BOC

[Peter Sondergeld]

Here is Lillian's entry for BOC. No HW, sorry. BTW, I did notice in the
Introduction that this edition was, in fact, updated by Ed Naha - Lillian
died in 1973 (from asthma, I believe) - so perhaps they are not all her own
words. Though this copy is so well-used and worn-out that the covers have
fallen off and several pages are missing, I found from other sources that it
appears to have been published in 1978. If I can find the time, I'll post
Patti Smith's entry too. A few questions to follow.


BLUE OYSTER CULT/Eric Bloom (guitar and vocals), Albert Bouchard (drums and
vocals), Joe Bouchard (bass and vocals), Allen Lanier (keyboards), Donald
Roeser (guitar and vocals).

Mutant heavy-metal gods from...gasp!...LONG ISLAND! Strange, but true. These
demonic denizens of pahntasmagoric imagery actually started off, harmlessly
enough, in and about the peaceful vibes of 1967's Stony Brook College. In
between bursts of flower power, members of Blue Oyster Cult (BOC to their
friends) nearly made the big time via such groups as the Soft White
Underbelly and Stalk Forest. (Soft White Underbelly was actually signed to
Elektra. An excellent debut LP was recorded but never released. Who needed
that hard rock stuff when you had Atomic Rooster?) In 1970, Stalk Forest
mutated into Blue Oyster Cult and a demo was submitted to Columbia Record's
Murray Krugman by the band's truly visionary manager, Sandy Pearlman.
Krugman and Pearlman met, joined forces, and managed to get the band onto
the label. This in itself was quite an accomplishment because, at the time,
the company's idea of teen-oriented rock was Blood, Sweat and Tears and the
Rowan Brothers. Before long, the dangerous visions of BOC were unleashed on
an unsuspecting public. The results were shattering. Double guitar licks
leaped from speaker to speaker, thunderous rhythym patterns rumbled from
below. Devilish vocals delved into nightmarish territory. Everybody and
everything found a place in BOC's world: diz-busters, damnation,
destruction, OD-ing on life, flower power, sado-masochism, corruption, urban
blight, teen romance...even the Canadian mounted police. They were
heavy-metal kids with a verbal clout. Their personalities were sheer
Clockwork Orange with the best of World War II thrown in for good measure.
The group's in-concert appearances - replete with oversized BOC flags,
guitar duels (literal duels...as in Basil Rathbone vs. Errol Flynn), and
torrid drum solos, wherein chains are used instead of the traditional pair
of drum sticks - only served to heighten the band's sinister presence. At
this point, the the group is ready to explode. With countless gold albums
and a hit single under their holster (Don't Fear the Reaper...it was a love
song!), BOC is priming itself to take the country by storm. First the
country...and then, the world!!

[There is a discography here up to and including Spectres, and includes
singles up to and including R.U.Ready 2 Rock (11/77). There is an obvious
error in the discography in that OYFOOYK does not have a full track listing]

I have two questions.
Firstly, are the chain drum sticks the ones that went into the Hall of Fame? ;-)
Secondly, the B side to the single Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll
(12/71) is given as something called _Trust Me_. Can anyone enlighten me on
what this is?


**************************
Peter Sondergeld
p.sondergeld at qut.edu.au