MetaChat - I remember the second cassette

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04 May 2007

I remember the second cassette I ever bought at Sam Goody when I was 11. I bought it for another song, but once I got it home and played it, this song became my favorite. →[More:] I recently stumbled upon online. It sounds kind of ridiculous and over the top in that sci-fi rock kind of way, but on the other hand, I still kind of love it. Have you all stumbled upon old favorites that have gone unheard for years, and if so did they still sound good to you?

post by: jonmc at: 07:18 | 25 comments

Plus, they had a cool logo, which was fun to draw on your notebook:
≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by jonmc 04 May | 07:24

I have to admit, I never really STOPPED liking Blue Oyster Cult. Secret Treaties is in my top ten albums, ever, I think.

When I went back into my Prince collection around the whole Super Bowl show thing, I found that those songs still thrill me the way they did in the 80s and 90s when I first heard 'em.

posted by BoringPostcards 04 May | 07:38

Neither did I, BoPo. But that particular song I hadn't heard in years, and it kind of blew me away.

posted by jonmc 04 May | 07:42

(also, remember this gem from the same album? That one I have to admit, is a lot funnier and more entertaining to me now, since my preadolescent self didn't quite get the joke)

posted by jonmc 04 May | 07:50

Oh, yeah. That one is definitely funnier once you're old enough to appreciate the absurd. :)

posted by BoringPostcards 04 May | 07:52

I still wonder why Sandy Pearlman hasn't at least written a screenplay based on the whole "Imaginos" storyline that runs through so many of the BOC songs (culminating in the jinxed album of the same name). It'd make a great weirdo epic, and the soundtrack would kick ass. :) (There are Imaginos songs on a lot of their albums, not just that one... I can think of the ones on Secret Treaties and The Revolution By Night and I know there's a few others.)

posted by BoringPostcards 04 May | 07:58

(also, Sandy Pearlman worked with my beloved Dictators, to the point where the Dics opened for BÖC at a few gigs. That must've been an interesting evening.)

posted by jonmc 04 May | 08:03

Aww, man, Career of Evil was always my favorite from that album... I always liked how unspecified that was— making a career of evil what? How do you get paid for just generally being evil? I can see making an internship of evil, but a career implies advancement.

posted by klangklangston 04 May | 08:15

BOC is very under appreciated IMHO.

My first cassette was Van Halen 1984. I just bought it again on CD.

posted by chillmost 04 May | 08:18

But what I've been doing in prep for the move is rounding up all of my albums and being brutal about which ones I take into the store to sell, so I'm finding all sorts of stuff that I kinda liked once and relistening, and a lot of it really sucks with my now ears. Like, for example, Alice In Chains. Great riffs, but the lyrics are so profoundly retarded that I can't listen to 'em anymore. Angry Chair? What the fuck is an angry chair?

On the other side of it, I traded in a bunch of crap and finally bought Hootenany, which I've wanted for years...

posted by klangklangston 04 May | 08:18

I skipped school to see a free Blue Oyster Cult concert during spring break. They performed in a bandshell, so I'm sure they felt at home. *groan*

My favorite song by BOC is Burnin' for You, but I'm trite like that.

posted by LoriFLA 04 May | 08:20

(also, BOC deserve credit as one of the few arena rock bands to be influential on post-punk. The Minutemen give them a namecheck in the liner notes of Double Nickels On The Dime.)

How do you get paid for just generally being evil? I can see making an internship of evil,

Maybe the Legion Of Doom is hiring. The benefits plan is lousy, but the hours are great.

Alice In Chains. Great riffs, but the lyrics are so profoundly retarded that I can't listen to 'em anymore. Angry Chair? What the fuck is an angry chair?

I have a similar problem with Deep Purple and Raging Slab, but in Purple's case Blackmore's riffery is so good that it overrides the lyrical inanity.

I traded in a bunch of crap and finally bought Hootenany, which I've wanted for years...

worth having for 'Color Me Impressed' alone. What an astounding song.

posted by jonmc 04 May | 08:23

When I went back into my Prince collection around the whole Super Bowl show thing, I found that those songs still thrill me the way they did in the 80s and 90s when I first heard 'em.

I did exactly the same thing, BP.

posted by gaspode 04 May | 08:31

I am sorry I don't know how to make an umlaut. The first album I ever bought was BOC's ETL, Joan Crawford is probably my favorite.

Also, BOC was the first "real" concert I ever I went to. Aldo Nova opened for them and got booed off the stage. And the drummer threw a drumstick and it got stuck in the Godzilla prop. Rick Downey went on a time sharing tour once, my mom was their salesperson, and I got his autograph.

Thanks for making my day Jon, these are treasured memories for me.

posted by getoffmylawn 04 May | 08:32

Extraterrestrial Live was one of the first albums I ever bought as well. Purchased at K-Mart in Chillicothe, Ohio along with the B-52s album that had "Rock Lobster" on it. I still have those albums, and I'll crank out the B.O.C. from time to time. It holds up very well I think. Poughkeepsie ROCK ON!

posted by Otis 04 May | 09:08

After 35 years, BOC is one of the very few bands in whose songs I always find something new. I can't even say that about Deep Purple, my favorite band of all.

posted by mischief 04 May | 09:28

Ah, the monsters from Stony Brook. Good stuff. As much as I dug Agents of Fortune in the 7th grade, I liked Cultösaurus Erectus even better. I bought it on iTunes a couple years ago and was disappointed at how dated it sounded. Oh, well, they say you can never go home again.

I loves me some Machine Head by Deep Purple, but not so much of what came later. Any recommendations?

posted by psmealey 04 May | 10:17

psmealey: believe it or not, Perfect Strangers has a couple of really good songs on it. I have one of them on my iPod. I'll bring it to the meetup tonight if you want.

posted by jonmc 04 May | 10:24

huh, yeah, I remember liking a few songs off of Perfect Strangers as well.

Strangely enough, my introduction to BOC was through a Cultösaurus Erectus Chew Bop, those fake albums that had chewing gum records inside.

The first cassette I bought was Def Leppard's Pyromania, before that it was the Columbia record club thing, where I was getting 8-tracks of The Doors, Billy Joel, etc.

I bought the first cassette in a long long time just last week, at this crazy little record store, Hospital Productions. The guy had a whole wall of them. Strange that people still make them, this day in time it takes more work to make a cassette than it does a CD.

posted by Hellbient 04 May | 10:39

Chew Bop. Awesome. I had the CE chew bop as well as Aerosmith's Draw the Line. Totally forgot about those.

Thanks for offering jonmc, but looks like we're not going to make the meetup tonight. My meeting in NYC got cancelled, so am up in CT today. Starting a new job in NYC next month, so making the next one will not be a problem. I will, however, check out Perfect Strangers and see what's what. Don't really recall that one.

posted by psmealey 04 May | 10:47

Shame, I was looking forward to meeting you.

Perfect Strangers is the early 80's reunion album of the classic Gillan-Blackmore-Glover-Lord-Paice lineup. They hadn't played together in a long time and you can tell they're enjoying it. The tracks I really liked were the title song and (especially) "Knocking At Your Back Door" which has a killer riff and some great drumming from Ian Paice (who was always Purple's secret weapon).

posted by jonmc 04 May | 10:57

Likewise! Next time...

I really do dig that Back Door track. I love that organ sound. You just don't hear enough of that these days.

posted by psmealey 04 May | 12:05

The Minutemen were big fans of BOC, and used to cover "The Red and The Black". Watt still does so.

Also, let's not forget that among their writing collaborators have been Patti Smith and the inimitable Richard Meltzer.

Finally, the very first show I ever went to was BOC, Black Oak Arkansas, and Piper (featuring a v. young Billy Squier). I love the first five albums, but they lost me after Spectres. And when the Bouchard brothers left, well, they should have called it a day, at least as BOC.

posted by bmarkey 04 May | 14:14

the inimitable Richard Meltzer.

well, he's inimitable mainly because he's usually incomprehensible. :)

Finally, the very first show I ever went to was BOC, Black Oak Arkansas

heh, BOA. 'Lord Have Mercy On My Soul' is still a gas to here every now and then.

posted by jonmc 04 May | 14:26

Thanks to this thread, I've been listening to Secret Treaties on repeat since yesterday. I feel like I should be burning incense or something.

posted by BoringPostcards 05 May | 21:40

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