{"id":30948,"date":"2024-11-27T21:02:25","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T21:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/101gold\/blue-oyster-cult-added-more-cowbell-after-saturday-night-lives-infamous-dont-fear-the-reaper-sketch\/"},"modified":"2024-11-27T21:02:25","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T21:02:25","slug":"blue-oyster-cult-added-more-cowbell-after-saturday-night-lives-infamous-dont-fear-the-reaper-sketch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/101gold\/blue-oyster-cult-added-more-cowbell-after-saturday-night-lives-infamous-dont-fear-the-reaper-sketch\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue \u00d6yster Cult added more cowbell after ‘Saturday Night Live\u2019s’ infamous ‘(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’ sketch"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
L-R: Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma of Blue Oyster Cult\/photo credit: Daniel Knighton\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blue \u00d6yster Cult<\/strong>\u2019s classic tune \u201c<\/span>(Don\u2019t Fear) The Reaper<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u201d was the subject of a now legendary\u00a0<\/span>Saturday Night Live<\/span><\/em> <\/span>sketch<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in 2000, which featured Will Ferrell<\/strong> on the cowbell and host Christopher Walken<\/strong> as producer Bruce Dickinson, who keeps demanding \u201cmore cowbell\u201d during the recording session. Well, BOC guitarist Buck Dharma<\/strong> is now sharing how it affected\u00a0the band and their\u00a0live show.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a 25-year journey with the cowbell and riding that horse,\u201d Dharma tells <\/span>Vulture<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a> in a new interview devoted to the sketch. \u201cI can\u2019t complain about any of the history and what\u2019s happened. It\u2019s all good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dharma says when he watched the sketch for the first time he felt relief.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRelief that it was funny and relief that it wasn\u2019t too cruel on the band,\u201d he says. \u201c<\/span>SNL<\/span><\/em> had done some rather cruel things about Neil Diamond<\/strong> and other artists over the years, so I was happy it was actually hilarious. While it poked fun at Blue \u00d6yster Cult, it wasn\u2019t mean-spirited at all.”<\/span><\/p>\n

And believe it or not, the sketch resulted in the band adding, you guessed it, more cowbell to their live shows.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor 20-odd years, we didn\u2019t use a live cowbell for our shows and never considered it,” he says. “We had to play the cowbell because there was just no getting away from it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He adds, \u201cI\u2019m grateful that as significant as the sketch is \u2013 because after 25 years, it still is \u2013 it didn\u2019t kill the song, its original intent, or its original mood. … So I\u2019m glad the sketch didn\u2019t kill the song and didn\u2019t make it one big joke.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n