(Don't Fear) The Reaper

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
Song

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a song by the Blue Öyster Cult from the 1976 album Agents of Fortune. It was written and sung by the band's guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser. The edited single version was Blue Öyster Cult's biggest hit, reaching #12 on the American charts in November, 1976, and remaining in the top 100 for twenty weeks. The song remains a staple tune on classic rock radio playlists. In 1997 Mojo magazine ranked "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" at #80 in the "100 Greatest Singles of All Time." Rolling Stone magazine voted the song "Best Rock Single" of 1976 and in 2004 the magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" ranked it at #397.

The reaper is a reference to the Grim Reaper, a traditional personification of death in European-based folklore. Lyrics such as "Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity" have led many listeners to interpret the song to be about a murder-suicide pact, though Roeser has attempted to explain it as just a song about love lasting for eternity.

The 2001 remaster of Agents of Fortune includes Buck Dharma's original 4-track demo of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (6.20 m).

Pop culture references to the song

The song was the focus of a 2000 Saturday Night Live sketch in which guest host Christopher Walken played "famed producer Bruce Dickinson," who repeatedly demands "More cowbell!" during the recording of the song. The name appears to have been a mistake on the part of the SNL writers: while a producer named Bruce Dickinson (no relation to the more famous Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Iron Maiden) is in charge of the production and remastering of BÖC's back catalogue, he had no connection with the 1976 production of Agents of Fortune. In addition, the sketch includes a completely fictional member of the band, "Gene Frenkle" (played by Will Ferrell), whose sole function is playing the cowbell.

The cowbell player for the actual recording was Eric Bloom. Blue Öyster Cult have referenced the sketch themselves in their concerts, at one point having the cowbell player stand front and center at the lead microphone, announcing "It's all about the cowbell!", and "I gotta have more cowbell, baby!"

The song was used in the opening sequence of the mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand (released on the 1994 BÖC Cult Classic compilation of re-recordings) and a portion of the lyrics appear in the beginning of the novel itself. It has also been used in John Carpenter's Halloween, the mini series Wild Palms by Oliver Stone and a cover version by New Zealand band The Mutton Birds appeared in the soundtrack to the Peter Jackson movie The Frighteners.

The song has been referenced a number of times on The Simpsons and inspired the title of the episode Don't Fear the Roofer. A cover version by the Swedish band Caesars was used on the television show Six Feet Under.

In the 2006 episode of the WB series Supernatural titled “ Faith,” the song played during a scene in which a victim fled from a death-dealing spirit called a reaper (Main character Dean Winchester emphasizes that this entity is not synonymous with THE Grim Reaper, but A Reaper).

The song was featured prominently in the film The Stoned Age where the two main characters debate whether or not "Don't Fear the Reaper" is a 'pussy' song.

In Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, when the title characters first encounter the Grim Reaper, Ted soothes Bill's apprehension by suggesting "Don't Fear the Reaper". (A motif in the film is the reliance of the two upon rock lyrics for philosophical and practical guidance.)

The song was also featured in the 1996 video game Ripper starring Christopher Walken as well as the 2005 video game True Crime: New York City (coincidentally also starring Walken) and the 2006 video game Prey during the abduction scene in the beginning of the game. The song helps fo foreshadwo the horrific events and trials that await the player.

The 2002 Harlan Coben book "Gone for Good" contains the song as a favourite piece by some of the main characters in the book. The song's significance in the book is fairly large as it also serves some role in the plot line.

An episode in the sitcom "Grounded for Life" is titled "Don't Fear the Reefer", a probable homage to the song

Other versions

• The shortened single version of the song omits the guitar solo from 2:30 - 3:25.
• Too Hip For The Room released a cover sung with Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser as a medley with Fire Of Unknown Origin. It is available on several of their CDs.
• Clint Ruin and Lydia Lunch released a 12" EP containing a cover version of the song in 1991.
• Apollo 440 covered the song on their album Millennium Fever in 1994 and also released it as a single.
• The Finnish love metal band HIM covered the song on the album Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666 - (1997)
• The L.A. singer/songwriter Gus Black released a cover of the song for the soundtrack to the movie Scream in 1996. The song is also contained on Gus Black's 2006 CD Autumn Days Offical Bootleg.
• The Swedish band Caesars covered the song as an exclusive track on the Six Feet Under, Vol. 2: Everything Ends album, released in 2005.
• The Beautiful South covered the song on their 2004 album Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs.
• Unto Ashes, a New York neofolk band, did their version on their 2003 album empty into white.
• Tenacious D perform the start of this song on their DVD The Complete Masterworks. Jack Black quickly cuts Kyle Gass off, saying it doesn't work without the cowbell anyway.
• Better Than Ezra covered parts of this song in between sets at shows played in the early 2000s.
• The Goo Goo Dolls
• The Frighteners (1996) featured The Mutton Birds' version of the song at its end and credits.
• Elliott Smith recorded an unreleased version live.
• Wilco covered the song on Halloween of 2004 and have played it numerous times since then.
• Heaven 17 covered the song on their 2005 album BeforeAfter.
• German dance group Scooter sampled the song in their 2007 single 'Behind The Cow'.
• Heavy metal band Wolf covered the song on their 2004 album Evil Star.
• British punk rock band Snuff covered the song which can be hear on their best-of/rarities album Six of one, half a dozen of the other.
• A famous quote by Brent Pool a.k.a The_Rice_Reaper

External links

• About the SNL sketch
• Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: (Don't Fear) The Reaper