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(Don't Fear) The Reaper
Blue Öyster Cult got it's start in the late 60s on Long Island, NY. Best known for their song, (Don't Fear) The Reaper which has now been reassociated with the current generation since April 2000 when SNL aired it's "More Cowbell" skit. The skit actually shot a breath of fresh air into BÖC and created a bit of a new cult fanbase. "More Cowbell" appears on t-shirts, coffee mugs, buttons - even the name of blogs, and the skit is still talked about throughout the internet. One BÖC cover band in upstate New York even named itself "More Cowbell".
Truth is, the song was recorded without the cowbell, and it was added as an overdub at the last minute.
The other well-known BÖC hit was Burnin' For You.
Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
The Caesars - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Regenerator - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Heaven 17 - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
The Beautiful South - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Apollo 440 - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Belle & Sebastian - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Foetus - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Goo Goo Dolls - (Don't Fear) The Reaper (Live)
Gus Black - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Elliott Smith - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Nick Cave & Enya - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Wilco - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
Stream SNL's (Don't Fear) The Reaper / More Cowbell Skit or Download It
posted by Dodge @ 3:08 AM
41 Talk back to yo' mama!
41 Talk back to yo' mama!:
There is also a version by Lydia Lunch & Clint Ruin (aka Jim Thirwell aka Foetus). And there was an illegally released demo by Rose McDowall (of Strawberry Switchblade/Current 93/Coil etc).
I have that and will put it up with a couple others as soon as EZ Archive is back up...I think my LWTUA post has killed it...traffic has kinda been crazy since all this started.
there is a live elliott smith cover of this floating around on the internet somewhere
ps i found it
http://sweetaddy.org/?page_id=65
http://www.radargrey.com/sweetadeline/Don%27t%20Fear%20The%20Reaper.mp3
i believe BOC was the pioneer of the once-ubiquitous Heavy Metal Umlaut, but don't quote me on that.
Best. sketch. EVER.
I've seen the New Pornographers play this song live (mainly to kill time while one of the guitarists re-stringed), but I don't know if there's a recording of it anywhere.
Aw dodge! you missed the awesome cover Unto Ashes did for this song.
I'm thinking wonderwall might deserve one of your cover frenzied posts.
I'm also thinking blue monday...
ah yes there's also a good cover of don't fear the reaper by Slow Motion & Endless Blossoms.
This is probably madly greedy, but is there any way to play the whole list online without having to click each individual song?
BOC played Long Island clubs as Soft White Underbelly - their original name.
dodge, you are out of control.
and I mean that in a good way. :)
Queens of the Stone Age played it on SNL, with Will Ferrell providing cowbell in character. It was an overwhelming amount of awesome.
Oingo Boingo have a pretty tame version but there's an interesting one by Nick Cave and Enya. How do I get these to you?
how about the mutton birds version from the soundtrack to peter jackson's film "the frighteners"?
There's also a good version by the short-lived baggy british band The Bridewell Taxis. It can be found on the volume 12 of the Indie Top 20 collection.
the blue oyster cult like like incredible douches in that picture.
Have I done something profoundly wrong or are the HIM and the Gus Black covers the exact same file?
you're right katura...looks like they are. one was probably misnamed. I don't know which is correct though.
anyone?
They're both the Gus Black track...
There's no way that that is Enya with Nick Cave. It doesn't sound anything like her. And I'm no Cave expert, but it neither sounds like his voice or musical style. It's way too much like mainstream Rock for either.
Just a lurker passing through here, but the "NIck Cave and Enya" version is actually H.I.M.'s cover of the song. It's on the Greatest Lovesongs 666 album.
And yes, this was an awesome post. BOC rules.
THE MOST OBSCURE VERSION IS PROBABLY BY THE BAGGY/MADCHESTER BAND THE BRIDEWELL TAXIS. I BET NOBODY HAS HEARD OF THEM.
The loveliest version of this song I ever heard was by a band called Hiding Place. Shame no one else seems to know it.
Yeah, that's most definitely NOT Nick Cave and Enya. Lame.
And yes, I used to have a CD-single of The Bridewell Taxis version of this song. I'm going to go weep in my beer now.
don't forget big country's cover
hmm so much for the power of music, i listened to all thirteen versions back to back and ,you know what, i still fear the reaper, oh well.
Jaylia Strange
Alana Davis also has a cover of Reaper, with the title shortened to just "The Reaper." It's actually a decent cover. Alana Davis made a minor splash back in the late 90's when she was quoted as saying that she didn't know that her cover of Ani Difranco's "32 Flavors" (her only minor hit) was a cover.
Thank god musicians are, like, smart.
Not only is the Nick Cave/Enya version incorrectly labeled, I can't find any evidence (other than links back to MOKB, that is!) that they've ever recorded the song, seperately or together. Pity. Can't very much stand them apart, but the notion of a duet had a perverse appeal.
As has been mentioned above, the version attributed to Nick Cave and Enya is actually by Finnish goth-glam group H.I.M. (short for His Infernal Majesty, natch), from their 2004 debut album _Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666_.
Not only is this cover of "Reaper" the best thing H.I.M. ever did, standing clearly above the rest of their quite respectable catalogue, it also may be the best version of the song, period. The song perfectly fits H.I.M.'s musical style and personality, to a far greater extent than was the case with the tune's originators Blue Oyster Cult. But beyond atmospheric compatibility, the arrangement and performance by H.I.M. is absolute perfection, topped off by the inspired decision to bring in a female guest vocalist with a great voice to turn "Reaper" into a fantastic duet that makes you wonder how the song could ever be done as anything but a male-female duet. It's the most emotionally charged and spookily romantic version as well as the hardest rocking.
Ah, just listen to it. Perfection.
H.I.M. may be out of phase with what's hip these days in indie rock, and mainstream too, but they are happy as clams in their niche, and they truly do justice to the Goth aesthetic in both the spooky damnation and dark romantic dimensions, especially lead singer, songwriter, and creature-of-the-night heart throb Ville Valo. He's got the deep, dark & mysterious debauchee thing down and has a great set of pipes, nailing the resounding, dramatic male Goth-rock vocal style that the Sisters of Mercy established as the genre's gold standard.
There's a certain timelessness about Goth rock, and Goth culture in general. Whatever the vagaries of changing musical taste, one thing is certain: as long as teenagers still read vampire novels, H.I.M. will never want for an audience. And I mean that in a good way.
There is also an amazing version of this song by RASPUTINA.
Not only is the Nick Cave and Enya version not Nick Cave and Enya, it's also not very good. It's actually pretty much the worst fucking thing I've ever heard. Think "tortured cats set to off-tune music" bad. Think "babies that just lost thier mothers" bad. Fucking awful. Fucking goth fucking awful. H.I.M. managed to make a song that was fun for being bad actually worse.
Not sure if this has been mentioned before but there is, of course, REM's version of Reaper, performed live on their "Monster" tour.. it's actually quite easy to find on the internet, though the sound quality is bad. funny thing is, that I heared this cover way before hearing the original :)
that nick cave version is definately NOT nick cave. Or enya. I am 100% certain of this. I believe its an incorrectly named song that was originally listed on limewire and just got distributed from there
As a crinkly git of 40-something, I'm a BOC fan of the old school. I saw the original line-up even before Reaper. Therefore, in my schooled opinion, any assumption that a cover is worthy of the original is blasphemy. The Reaper gives no indication of what they were capable of: Look at these song titles; She's as Beautiful as a Foot, I May Be on the Lamb but I Ain't No Sheep, Career of Evil, Hot Rails to Hell. The first four albums are incredible even though they all sound like they were recorded in a laundramat.
Otherwise, great blog! There are still some of us of Viagra age out there!
realy cool version of this tune by a guy named bruce lash...the record's called "prozac for lovers" and its all covers....great site....
the H.I.M. version of the song definately isn't out of tune, and thank you for sharing your very creative opinion, but you misspelled their. nice use of fucking as a replacement for any really intelligent comment by the way.
Nick Cave AND Enya ??!! Now I've heard everything.....
Please, if anyone has a version of the Nick Cave & Enya cover, that is actually Nick Cave & Enya and not HIM - could you email it to me? Desperate times!
indig0light[at]gmail.com
The first time I heard this song was Unto Ashes' version. There's an MP3 here.
Nice song. Thanks for the download ^^ A classic.
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