Dear Blue Oyster Cult, I’m Sorry I Killed That Guy And I Really Love You

Okay, this is weird. The other night I was being a weirdo on Facebook (imagine that!) and I signed off with "I'm off to dream the dream of history, I am Imaginos". Well the more more musically aware will recognize that as the intro to Blue Oyster Cult's remake of their own "Astronomy".  It was read over the intro of the song by Stephen King.  The very next day something tragic happened.

So I quoted a Blue Oyster Cult song before bed. The next morning it was announced that Alan Lanier, a founding member of the band had died. Weird huh?

Blue Oyster Cult hit it big with "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" in 1976.  They also had a giant hit with "Burning For You" in 1981.  Most of you only know the band from these two songs.  They actually had a very weird, trippy catalog of songs and sold 22 million albums worldwide. Their albums, when listened to in context actually always made me think of them as "The sci-fi Black Sabbath".  Some of my favorite tracks are "Joan Crawford", "Cities On Flame(with Rock and Roll), "Veteran Of Psychic Wars", "Godzilla", "Fireworks" and on and on.  You see the thing with Blue Oyster Cult is, they made ALBUMS.  You didn't listen to a Blue Oyster Cult "song", you put on the album and enjoyed the entire thing.

Alan Lanier was with the band as a second guitarist and keyboardist for 38 years.  One of the highlights of a Blue Oyster Cult show was when he stepped out from behind the keyboard and they killed you with three guitars at once. Rest now my friend and dream the dream of history for us.

It's very odd, but I can't find a version of "Astronomy" that has the narration by Stephen King (the one I quoted on it).  Here's a good copy of the song through:

And here's the full "Agent's Of Fortune" Album