Blue Oyster Cult was on tour promoting their 14th album, Club Ninja, when this recording was made for the King Biscuit Flower Hour in March of 1986. The group had seen a number of highs and lows since first forming out of a Long Island-based boogie bar band called the Soft White Underbelly in 1971. Between their strong relationship with FM radio programmers and the support of horror film director John Carpenter (who featured the…entire summary
Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser - guitar
Jimmy Henderson - drums
Joe Bouchard - bass
Tommy Zvoncheck - keyboards
Eric Bloom - vocals, guitar
Blue Oyster Cult was on tour promoting their 14th album, Club Ninja, when this recording was made for the King Biscuit Flower Hour in March of 1986. The group had seen a number of highs and lows since first forming out of a Long Island-based boogie bar band called the Soft White Underbelly in 1971. Between their strong relationship with FM radio programmers and the support of horror film director John Carpenter (who featured the band’s music in several of his films), BOC had become a charter member of the rock radio club.
This show was recorded at a time when only singer/guitarists Donald "Buck Dharma," Roeser Eric Bloom and bassist Joe Bouchard remained from the original lineup. Over the 15 years the band had been together, little about their music had changed. They were among the best hard rock bands, releasing such infectious anthems as "(Don’t Fear) the Reaper,” "Godzilla” and "Burnin’ For You.” If you bought a BOC record, you knew what you were getting.
They open this particular show with the obligatory "R. U. Ready 2 Rock,” and immediately follow with "Dominance and Submission,” a favorite from their 1974 studio album Secret Treaties. Though the band only plays a handful of big radio hits towards the end of the show, the material making up the set is remarkably strong, including tunes like "White Flags” (a song about the invasion of the earth by aliens) and "Dancin’ in the Ruins.”
BOC would endure a slew of personnel changes from the time they recorded this concert to the present. Regardless, Dharma, Bloom and original keyboardist Alan Lanier (who returned to the group in 1987) are the core of the band still touring today. But those in search of classic, rock-solid BOC sound have no further to look than here.
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