The story behind the More Cowbell skit on SNL and the writing of the song ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’ by Blue Oyster Cult
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Saturday Night Live feels like a roller coaster ride. Some seasons are great and other season’s are downright awful. The 25th season of Saturday Night Live was a strong year in our humble opinions. You had a great cast at the time with Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Anna Gastayer, Molly Shannon, Chris Parnell,Chris Kattan, Horatio Sanz and Jimmy Fallon to name a few. It was during an April 2000 episode with host Christopher Walken that a sketch that was relegated to be the last of the show unexpectedly became one of the most memorable in the show’s history. That’s what we’re going to explore in today’s video.
Hailing from New York City, Blue Oyster Cult took nearly a decade to get their big break.. Their first three records were full of overimaginative lyrics about drugs, and halloween monsters. Referred to as a thinking man’s band by the press, The rock press hailed the band as being the future of rock. Cream magazine referred to them having and i quote““all the equipment necessary to become the best band in America,” while some critics went even further with Mike Saunders of Phonograph Record saying they had and i quote “the potential to match the recorded work of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.” The only problem was the band didn’t have the hits to backup that claim, at least not yet.
In 1976 the band would release their fourth record Agents of Fortune that gave the band their first platinum record. One of the contributing factors to the album’s success was the song ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper.’ The song would be written and sung by guitarist Buck Dharma. But not everybody was on-board with the song as vocalist Eric Bloom had reservations about the track with Dharma telling GQ “Eric Bloom didn’t think it was right for Blue Öyster Cult. The band was formed around Eric as the high-energy, menacing lead singer. He didn’t think it was the way the band should go.” Despite his objections the band recorded the song with the lyrical content being partially inspired by Dharma’s real life telling GQ
“I had an idea that I wanted to write a love story about transcending death. I was 22, and I had a heart arrhythmia, which developed in my late teens. I thought I might not live much longer. A cardiologist said, ‘It’s not something that’s gonna kill you.’ But dying had been on my mind.” Some accused the band of promoting suicide with the reference to ‘Romeo and Juliet’ being together in eternity, but this wasn’t the angle the band was going for. The song would peak at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in America. The impact of the song and album’s success was felt immediately with drummer Albert Bouchard telling GQ
Suddenly there was some recognition for the band. And we had a lot more money. I bought a house, paid cash. I bought two cars. Three years later, the house is gone, the cars are gone. One was stolen, the other I lost in the divorce. It all came out to nothing [laughs].
Even before Saturday Night Live did the infamous cowbell skit, the song was already part of popular culture as it appeared in the 1978 horror film Halloween and even author Stephen King referenced it. It also appeared in some B movies and TV-shows in the 90’s.
Let’s talk about the SNL Skit. In April of 2000 an episode that saw Christopher Walken host the show would see a skit called ‘More Cowbell’ centered around the recording of the song in the style of VH1’s popular program behind the music.
The idea for the skit came to SNL cast member and writer Will Ferrell who told Rolling Stone. “Every time I heard [the song], I would hear the faint cowbell in the background and wonder, ‘What is that guy’s life like?’” That guy Ferrell was wondering about was either producer David Lucas and frontman Eric Bloom as both have disputed who played the cowbell on the track.
The skit was written around November of 1999 and was initially pitched for an episode that former castmate Norm McDonald hosted, but was rejected. It was allegedly pitched for an episode Alec Baldwin later hosted, but was turned down again
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