At school, one of Slicer's favourite bands was Blue Oyster Cult, whose 1975 live album provided the title for this post. He still has strong affection for their best known song, and several others.
Their music is metal-influenced rock, but Slicer never found their music dark, or taking itself too seriously. The lyrics are often obscure but touch on matters supernatural as well as sci-fi. Slicer gets a dose of comic-book horror too, and more than a little sardonic humour. There is sometimes a post-apocalyptic feel, and sometimes a fascination with life 'not of this world.'
They also wrote a few good tunes.
This one was a co-write with sci-fi author Michael Moorcock (described by The Sunday Times as a "poet of science fiction"). The song is based around his 1965 novel, The Fireclown.
Apparently, in the book, (which Slicer hasn't read) the Fireclown was accused by an oppressive regime of a crime he didn't commit, and was vilified by them to make him look bad to the vulnerable and oppressed, who viewed him as a sort of saviour. He upset the status quo, and raised various philosophical points relating to humans and their relationship to technology, and questioned how dependent they are on their reasoning power for survival. In the story, the fireclown turned out to be neither saviour nor criminal, just a bloke with a spaceship who could take you on a trip close to the sun's corona.
"They have killed the great sun jester
Who danced between the stars
They have stripped him of his manhood
Signs of Venus and of Mars
The cynics left him weeping
And the jackals left him torn..."
"And he took the stars in his hands
And as he scattered them he'd shout
"I'm the joker of the universe
I'm what it's all about."
Now he's dying in his grief
And the hard men dragged him down
They have killed the wild-eyed jester
They have killed the fireclown."
Some of the lyrics conjure up a song in a different genre altogether ("Hands that flung stars into space...")
Which brings us to Slicer's enduring favourite:
It certainly has a touch of the gothic about it, and was supposedly about suicide, perhaps because of the Shakespearean reference - many a preacher condemned it along with much rock music as 'of the Devil,' but it actually deals with the inevitability of death and (whilst not providing a reason,) suggests that we need not fear it. The song's writer, BOC's lead guitarist Donald Roeser explained in a 1995 interview with College Music Journal: "I was actually kind of appalled when I first realized that some people were seeing it as an advertisement for suicide or something that was not my intention at all. It's basically a love song where the love transcends the actual physical existence of the partners." Roeser was using Romeo and Juliet as an example of a couple who had faith that they would be together after their death: "Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity..."
And, anyway, it's a landmark guitar lick...!
According to IMDb, Roeser also said: "I never have come anywhere close to really wanting to commit suicide. I'm gonna live until I die. On the other hand, when I go, I don't want 'Amazing Grace' as the musical centerpiece at my funeral. I want 'Don't Fear the Reaper.'"
Slicer understands where Roeser's coming from musically but, whilst he'd love the guitar part played, he'd like a bit more substance at his own...
As for enduring relationship, where better to finish than a BOC love song:
Slicer's fave lines in this one are:
"Jim says some destinies should not be delivered"
and
"Winning it makes losers of us all" (that rings a bell)
but the catchy chorus has a kinda transcendent quality:
"Well, I'll wrap myself in cities I travel
I'll wrap myself in dreams
I'll wrap myself in solitude
But I wish I could wrap myself
In thee."
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