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Bruce Dickinson puts his pants on, just like the rest of us, one leg at a time.
Except once his pants are on, he makes gold records.
You see, Bruce has a good ear and even better instincts.
Im telling ya, fellas, he declares, youre gonnawantthat cowbell.
Theres a prescription that needs to be filled for his fever, too.
The phrase has even merited an entry into the dictionary.
(Idiom, informal: An extra quality that will make something or someone better.)
Its been a 25-year journey with the cowbell and riding that horse, Buck Dharma explains.
I cant complain about any of the history and whats happened.
The sketch aired in April 2000.
The fact that weve been together 52 years now is ridiculous.
But its been a great ride and I have very few regrets, if any.
But in 2000, we were below the pop radar.
We werent selling records by then.
We were still recording but to a specialized audience.
We were doing very well with touring.
Once the internet became something, our popularity got a big boost.
We never really had the double-platinum or ten-platinum record like the biggest artists did.
Ive always been grateful to have made a good living doing this.
Were you ever invited to playSNLas a musical guest?
It seems like an oversight that you never swung by in the 1970s.We never got the call.
We did a few TV shows in our time, but notSNL.
The big difference forAgentswas the invention of affordable multitrack tape recorders.
All the band members got their own four-tracks at home.
They were actual, realized visions of the composers intent.
Also, we recorded at the Record Plant in New York City, which was the gold standard.
That was the first time we recorded in that studio.
To be around those types of artists put things into perspective real quick.
Did you have any memorable studio run-ins?We had a friendly rivalry with KISS.
Frankly, it was just nice to meet other artists and say hello.
I guess that couldve been myPaul McCartney in Let It Bemoment.
I was able to capture it and realize it was the start of something.
The first two lines of the lyrics just sort of sprang into my head.
So that was the crux of it all.
What do you recall about the conversations revolving around the cowbell inclusion for (Dont Fear) the Reaper?
Also, it wasnt unusual to put a cowbell on a song.
It wasnt an idea that was unique or unheard of.
The sketch aired in the early hours of Sunday morning.
She said, Oh my God, Donald is on television.
So we were a bit confused and turnedSNLon and, of course, it wasnt me.
It wasSNLlampooning the song and doing a sketch about it.
I saw about the last 25 seconds of it.
It wasnt long after that I was able to get a VHS tape of the whole episode.
While it poked fun at Blue Oyster Cult, it wasnt mean-spirited at all.
When the cast breaks, I think it makes it funnier.
I dont think anyone could have done it as well as Christopher Walken.
I never know if theres a competitive aspect to this sort of thing.Not to my knowledge.
Nobody has said anything to my face.
Im sympathetic to that.
I have never contested the basic hilarity of the sketch.
You dont really control it.
Were all riding the worm like inDune.The worm knows where its going.
For 20-odd years, we didnt use a live cowbell for our shows and never considered it.
We had to play the cowbell because there was just no getting away from it.
Its still used as a cue in horror movies when you want that mysterious and metaphysically uneasy vibe.
So Im glad the sketch didnt kill the song and didnt make it one big joke.
I feel a little bit of kinship and sympathy with them.
Wills character, Gene Frenkle, was made up.
We dedicate the song to him sometimes.
But I would tell Christopher: Its all bearable, I suppose.
Blue Oyster Cult got through it and we persevered.
But, again, its a tiny cross to bear.
Did you ever favor shirts as tight-fitting as Wills fictional cowbell player?Maybe.
The costumes in the skit were patterned after a photo of a greatest-hits compilation record we had.
He wasnt actually the producer ofAgents of Fortune, but all the outfits were copied from that photo.
So you could see the photo and judge how tight.
How do you view the organization?
I assume that Blue Oyster Cult is just not meeting whatever criteria is necessary to get in.
Maybe theres not room for everybody else.
