Blue Öyster Cult is the thinking man’s heavy metal group. Put together on a college campus by a couple of rock critics, BÖC turned out some of the best metal music of the 70s. Their debut album was released in January 1972. Columbia sent a promotional EP to radio stations in October, and followed with Tyranny & Mutation in February 1973. Their third album, Secret Treaties, was released in April 1974 and became their first to break into the Top 100. BÖC released a live double album, On Your Feet or on Your Knees, in 1975. In May 1976, came their fourth studio album, Agents of Fortune, including the hit single “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” which became their first platinum album. BÖC’s sixth overall album, Spectres, was released in 1977 and went gold. In 1978 came a second live album, Some Enchanted Evening, which would become BÖC’s second million-seller. A year later, BÖC released its ninth album, Cultosaurus Erectus, containing the hit “Burnin’ for You,” following in June 1981. Numerous lineup changes ensued throughout the ’90s and by the late ’90s, BÖC signed with the CMC label, resulting in their first album of all-new studio material in ten years, 1998’s Heaven Forbid. Three years later came The Curse of the Hidden Mirror. The group’s music reached a whole new generation of hard rock fans when Metallica covered the BÖC classic “Astronomy” for their best-selling Garage Inc. album. Blue Oyster Cult continues to rock the world.
