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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 25, 2014 11:58:30 GMT -6
Hey donr - Just watching the season 2 finale and lo and behold, DFTR was in the last scene and closing credits. Awesome. Got any good stories about how that song came about? |
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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 25, 2014 12:01:07 GMT -6
Hey! It's got it's own wiki page!
"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was written and sung by the band's lead guitarist, Dharma, and was produced by David Lucas, Murray Krugman, and Sandy Pearlman.[3] The song's distinctive guitar riff is built on the "I-VII-VI" chord progression, in an A minor scale.[4]
The riff was recorded with Krugmann's Gibson ES175 guitar, which was run through a Music Man 410 combo amplifier, and Dharma's vocals were captured with a Telefunken U47 tube microphone. The guitar solo and guitar rhythm sections were recorded in one take, while a four-track tape machine amplified them on the recording. Sound engineer Shelly Yakus remembers piecing together the separate vocals, guitar and rhythm section into a master track, with the overdubbing occurring in that order.[5]
The song features the prominent use of the cowbell percussion instrument. The song was originally recorded without a cowbell, but the sound was overdubbed into the song at a later stage. Bassist Joe Bouchard remembered a producer requesting his brother, drummer Albert Bouchard, to play the cowbell on the track. Joe Bouchard recalled: "Albert thought he was crazy. But he put all this tape around a cowbell and played it. It really pulled the track together."[6] Producer David Lucas claims that the inclusion of the cowbell was his idea,[7] and guitarist Eric Bloom supports Lucas's claim.[8]
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Post by svart on Jun 25, 2014 12:22:38 GMT -6
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Post by tonycamphd on Jun 25, 2014 13:23:29 GMT -6
Obligatory.. ![]() ![]() man, i cant be the only one who's totally sick of that? i bet donr has had to have psychotherapy to keep him from gouging out the eyeballs of people that come up to him and say that lol donr... in through the nose, out through the mouth bro.... so far you're doing great, i haven't seen you on the news yet, but i'll keep watching lol8) BTW, this song is one of the vibiest tunes in recording history imo |
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Post by henge on Jun 25, 2014 13:50:09 GMT -6
Obligatory.. ![]() ![]() man, i cant be the only one who's totally sick of that? i bet donr has had to have psychotherapy to keep him from gouging out the eyeballs of people that come up to him and say that lol donr... in through the nose, out through the mouth bro.... so far you're doing great, i haven't seen you on the news yet, but i'll keep watching lol8) BTW, this song is one of the vibiest tunes in recording history imo Cowbell. |
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Post by tonycamphd on Jun 25, 2014 13:53:35 GMT -6
^ lmfao!!!
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Post by geoff738 on Jun 25, 2014 15:31:21 GMT -6
Obligatory.. ![]() ![]() man, i cant be the only one who's totally sick of that? i bet donr has had to have psychotherapy to keep him from gouging out the eyeballs of people that come up to him and say that lol donr... in through the nose, out through the mouth bro.... so far you're doing great, i haven't seen you on the news yet, but i'll keep watching lol8) BTW, this song is one of the vibiest tunes in recording history imo Ah, I don't know. It gave the song more exposure and perhaps introduced it to a new generation of fans. So, maybe not too hard to put up with. But then again, I'm not donr! Cheers, Geoff |
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Post by matt on Jun 25, 2014 17:16:55 GMT -6
I love the BOC, but this is pure cowbell:
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Post by donr on Jun 25, 2014 19:18:26 GMT -6
I have made peace with the cowbell. I try to ride the horse of life in the direction it's going. However maddening "More Cowbell" is for Blue Oyster Cult, it's gotta be worse for Christopher Walken. With the body of work that guy's done, everyone saying "More Cowbell" to him must be getting tiresome. The funny thing about the skit is, in the recording, the cowbell's not that big a deal, compared to songs like "Mississippi Queen." I've never met Will Ferrell, but I'd ask him what sparked the idea in the first place. (After thanking him for the free publicity and additional income.) The cool thing about the usage in "Orange" and also the Marvel "Agents Of Shield" TV show with Bill Paxton is that "Reaper" still has life and still works delivering the original vibey mood in a film or TV drama. In spite of the overwhelming cultural impact of the SNL skit. The song still manages to overcome the joke, and for that I'm grateful. As for losing it after one too many "More Cowbells," here's a recent satire on just that thought. tyrannyoftradition.com/2014/06/09/blue-oyster-cult-members-beat-heckler-into-a-coma-with-cowbell/ |
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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 25, 2014 20:01:46 GMT -6
Man - I pray for the day I have a song famous enough to be included in an SNL skit! I would imagine it brought a whole new set of fans to the music.
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Post by donr on Jun 25, 2014 23:56:56 GMT -6
Man - I pray for the day I have a song famous enough to be included in an SNL skit! I would imagine it brought a whole new set of fans to the music. My first reaction to the SNL skit was massive relief that it was truly hilarious and SNL didn't savage the band. Will Ferrell as Neil Diamond was just brutal. this historical clip attempts to mitigate the humor by putting a Lorn Michaels analysis insert between the savaging, but let's face it, Will's portrait of Neil Diamond is awful, and nothing I'd want to be part of.
I was relieved that the BOC sketch was geniunously hilarious and that Will's character was fictitious and not one of the actual band members.
More historical unaired Will as Neil, as well as an unseen Chris Farley (jeez, I miss that guy.)
splitsider.com/2012/01/ten-of-the-funniest-unaired-snl-sketches/
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Post by kcatthedog on Jun 26, 2014 4:32:28 GMT -6
the whole CB thing is kind of weird ; like people talking about Sophia Loren's mole; its a great kick ass vibey classic rock song; one of the best period !! the cb is just t a device to lock in and emphasize the beat
always loved it and it was most cool when my kids got rockband and EVERYONE turned right on to the tune and then we started having very cool discussions about modern rock, classic rock, why certain band's and songs still sound so frikken awesome etc., the wanna be guitarists learned the actual riff, you know old school ;on real guitars !!!!
stil crank it everytime in the car when it comes on; great work ! thx !!!
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Post by jcoutu1 on Jun 26, 2014 7:24:25 GMT -6
In spite of the overwhelming cultural impact of the SNL skit. The song still manages to overcome the joke, and for that I'm grateful. This is really cool. Not too many things can be such a big joke, but still taken seriously the way this has. Really a phenomenon. Great stuff man and congrats on such a hit. |
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Post by cowboycoalminer on Jun 26, 2014 21:04:49 GMT -6
donr may not like me then. I've been rocking the cowbell AV proudly now for awhile. I LOVE that skit. Never gets old. Neither does the song. It's a true classic.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2014 21:48:26 GMT -6
Donr, thanks for letting us noobs ask about the elephant in the room. Your Personable nature is refreshing considering you are responsible for several classics.
BTW, the solo in Burnin' for you is still a fav. Nice chops there.
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Post by donr on Jun 27, 2014 0:04:20 GMT -6
donr may not like me then. I've been rocking the cowbell AV proudly now for awhile. I LOVE that skit. Never gets old. Neither does the song. It's a true classic. Thanks, Heartfelt. Cowboy, I still think the skit is hilarious. I must have watched it at least 30 times by now. Walken is just superb. The script is online someplace, and it's about half as funny as the sketch came out. A lot of "Bruce Dickinson's" lines were ad-libs. The skit has it's own wiki page too, and it's got a lot of details, both SNL and BOC. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_cowbellBruce Dickinson is a SONY staff producer who's done most of our SONY re-issues and compilations. We recently connected on LinkedIn. Ha. |
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Post by cowboycoalminer on Jun 27, 2014 11:30:58 GMT -6
I'll add this. To me, one of the greatest honors that shows the mark of a great band or song like DFTR is when others DONT try and cover the song. There are a handful of songs I've heard in my life that I would never try and cover because they are just too perfect and or original. This is a song like that. It's like everybody knows it can't be improved upon and trying to do si only shows how weak we are.
Don't get me wrong I'm sure it is covered by a lot of bar bands playing for drunks but you'd be hard pressed to find a serious artist who would attempt to cover this one. If it did happen, it would be a bad move.
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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 27, 2014 11:35:26 GMT -6
Yeah...you just couldn't do it better.
I remember David Kersh covering "Wonderful Tonight"...it was painful.
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Post by kevinnyc on Jun 28, 2014 13:30:27 GMT -6
Annoyances aside it must be really cool to have written a song that is so ingrained into the psyche of our nation (and world). The fact that the song still has legs, and I still crank the f$&k out of it when I hear it on the radio is a beautiful, beautiful thing....
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Post by tonycamphd on Jun 28, 2014 16:11:44 GMT -6
the solo section is just menacing as hell, love it!
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Post by donr on Jun 30, 2014 20:58:42 GMT -6
Not trying keeping this thread alive, seriously. But _I just saw_ the usage of 'DFTR' on the season closer of "Orange is the new Black." I want to thank whoever spec'ed the tune and how it was used. Awesome usage!
They edited the song lyric order to suit the drama, and that was fine. The awesome part for me is, how they edited the VOLUME. It starts out background volume, and at/after the dramatic climax, it gets LOUD and stays loud through the credit roll. Jeez, that was good. Artistry!
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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 30, 2014 21:06:40 GMT -6
Yeah - very cool!
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