Astronomy - Music

Blue Öyster Cult Often Abbreviated BÖC Or BOC Is An American Rock Band Formed On The Campus Of Stony Brook University On Long Island New York In 1967 Whose Most Successful Work Includes The Hard Rock Songs " Don't Fear The Reaper " "Godzilla " "Black Blade " "Burnin' For You" And "Shooting Shark." Blue Öyster Cult Has Sold More Than 24 Million Records Worldwide Including 7 Million In The United States Alone. The Band's Music Videos Especially "Burnin' For You " Received Heavy Rotation On MTV When The Music Television Network Premiered In 1981 Cementing The Band's Contribution To The Development And Success Of The Music Video In Modern Popular Culture. Blue Öyster Cult Have Been Described As Heavy Metal Light Metal Psychedelic Rock Occult Rock Acid Rock And Progressive Rock. They Have Also Been Recognized For Helping Pioneer Genres Such As Stoner Metal And Speed Metal. The Band Is Influenced By Artists Such As Alice Cooper Grateful Dead The Doors Jefferson Airplane MC5 The Blues Project Jimi Hendrix And Black Sabbath. While Blue Öyster Cult Has Been Noted For Heavy Rock They Would Often Add Their Own Tongue-In-Cheek Style. Keeping With Their Image The Band Would Often Include Out-Of-Context Fragments Of Pearlman’s The Soft Doctrines Of Imaginos Into Their Lyrics Giving Their Songs Cryptic Meanings. Additionally The Band Would Keep A Folder Of Meltzer’s And Pearlman’s Word Associations To Insert Into Their Music. Blue Öyster Cult's Longest-Lasting And Most Commercially Successful Lineup Included Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser Lead Guitar Vocals Eric Bloom Lead Vocals "stun Guitar " Keyboards Synthesizers Allen Lanier Keyboards Rhythm Guitar Backing Vocals Joe Bouchard Bass Backing Vocals Albert Bouchard Drums Percussion Backing Vocals . The Band's Current Lineup Includes Roeser And Bloom As Well As Danny Miranda Bass Backing Vocals Jules Radino Drums Percussion And Richie Castellano Keyboard Rhythm Guitar Backing Vocals . read less

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"Astronomy" is a rock song by Blue Öyster Cult that has appeared on several of the band's albums. It was first published on their 1974 album Secret Treaties. Their second live album, Some Enchanted Evening, included a version with an extended guitar solo and a third version (sung by Buck Dharma) was included on the Imaginos album. Most recently the song was included on the A Long Day's Night album. The song's lyrics are selected verses from a poem by Sandy Pearlman, the band's producer and mastermind behind their image, called "The Soft Doctrines of Immaginos". In the poem, which was later released under the BÖC moniker as "Imaginos", aliens known as Les Invisibles guide an altered human named Imaginos, also called Desdinova, through history, playing key roles that eventually lead to the outbreak of World War I. In "Astronomy", the character of Imaginos comes to realize his heritage and his role as the altered human. References are made to celestial objects throughout the song-- "The light that never warms" being the moon, "The Queenly flux" the constellation Cassiopeia, "My dog, fixed and consequent" being Sirius, the dog star. The "Four Winds Bar" may be a reference to the Tropic of Cancer. All in all, it has Imaginos explaining his position as part of Les Invisibles. A music video of the 1988 version was released by Sandy Pearlman in Britain. The video had no footage of the band playing, and instead focused on the story told by the song. * This song was redone for the album Imaginos. Longtime BÖC fan and author Stephen King recorded narration for the remake. The speech reads as follows: "Imaginos (performed by Blue Oyster Cult) - A bedtime story for the children of the damned. From a dream world, paralleling our earth in time and space, the invisible ones have sent an agent who will dream the dream of history. With limitless power he becomes the greatest actor of the 19th century. Taking on many ingenious disguises, he places himself at pivotal junctures in history, continually altering its course and testing our ability to respond to the challenge of evil. His name is 'Imaginos'". * Metallica did a cover of the song for their 1998 Garage Inc. album. * Arch Enemy used the chorus for their song "Pilgrim" from the Burning Bridges album. * Albert Bouchard used the song for his band Brain Surgeons on the 1997 album Malpractise with Deborah Frost on lead vocals. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.