BOC FAQ: Part 6 of 7, Ver. 2.0

[John A Swartz]

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BOC FAQ -- Part 6 (Other Info - Part 2)
      Version:  2.0     Date of Latest Revision:  September 5, 1995
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NOTE:  The file for this FAQ has been split into 7 parts for portability
among newreaders, mail servers, etc as it contains approximately 210
Kbytes of data.  If you don't see and "End of Section" indication at the
end of each section, you didn't get the whole thing.  The FAQ will be
available in its entirety for FTP access (see elsewhere in this FAQ for
more information).  See copyright and disclaimer at the end of Part 7 --
this FAQ may only be distributed in its entirety, including the
copyright and disclaimer.  Thanks for your cooperation,
John
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BOC in Concert
--------------

     As previously mentioned, BOC, starting in 1976, toured with a laser
show.  Due to controversies surrounding the band's use of lasers, they
were removed from the shows a few years later.  According to Bolle
Gregmar, some of the controversy was actually politically motivated by
members of the Carter administration (James Carter, better known as
"Jimmy" Carter, was President of the US from 1977 - 1980), who had the
FDA (Food and Drug Administration) citing hypothetical (and largely
overblown) dangers of BOC's use of lasers.  Some of BOC's use of lasers,
including Eric's wrist-laser, can be seen on the *Live 1976* video.

     Albert had a drum solo during "Buck's Boogie" in the mid 70's.  In
the late 70's until he left the band, his drum solo was during
"Godzilla".  All subsequent BOC drummers had a drum solo during
"Godzilla".

     For a few years in the early 80's (starting on the *Fire Of Unknown
Origin* tour), BOC toured with a 20 foot high model of Godzilla.  During
the band's performance of the song with the same name, the beast's eyes
would light up, his head turned from side to side, and smoke poured from
his mouth.  Now that BOC plays mostly smaller venues, the 20 foot high
Godzilla (they also used a 40 foot high model for a few shows) tours no
more.  During Albert Bouchard's drum solo during "Godzilla", he wore a
large Godzilla mask for part of the solo - he started doing this in
1978.  After he left the band, Rick Downey continued this practice for a
few shows.

     When Albert Bouchard was still in the band, part of BOC's concert
performances consisted of 5-man guitar jams (one of Eric Bloom's ideas).
During the early-mid 70's, the "Mark I" jam was performed as part of the
song, "ME 262".  The "Mark II" and "Mark III" jams, performed prior to
"Born To Be Wild", usually started with a bass solo by Joe Bouchard
(after Albert left, the band performed "Born To Be Wild" immediately
after the bass solo).  The "Mark II" jam, done after "This Ain't The
Summer Of Love", was performed from 1976 until about 1979.  The "Mark
III" jam, performed in the early 80's, was based mostly on the song,
"Golden Age Of Leather".

     When BOC performed "Born To Be Wild" (regularly up until about
1984), the song was high-lighted by Eric and Buck's "Texas Chainsaw
guitar duel" (also one of Eric Bloom's ideas).  This consisted of Buck
and Eric placing the necks of their guitars together, raking the strings
of one guitar over the strings of the other.  This would be repeated
several times, usually to the accompaniment of strobe-lights.  Also,
Eric would drive his motorcycle on-stage from backstage at the beginning
of the song.  Obviously, this practice had to stop when BOC played at
clubs.

     Prior to the final portion of "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll",
Albert (later Eric) would shout "Rock And . . .", and the audience would
respond with "Roll".  This would start slowly, and build in up in speed
until the line between "Rock" and "Roll" was gone.  The band would kick
back in, ending with Buck trilling high up on the neck of his guitar.
He would then stop, spit (or pretend to) into his palms, crack his
knuckles, and then individually crack the knuckles of the last 3 fingers
on his left hand.  He would then start the final instrumental segment of
the song.  While the band jammed, Eric would stand by the drums, and
"help" the drummer hit a few cymbals with a few drumsticks of his own
(during the *Club Ninja* tour, Eric, often clad in martial arts attire,
used a nunchaku to strike the cymbals).

     At the end of a show, Buck would sometimes rip every string on his
guitar, except the low E-string, and play the final chord (or, for Buck,
note) of the song on the one remaining string.

     Eric used to play a guitar shaped like the BOC logo.  According to
Bolle Gregmar, he still owns one, but doesn't tour with it as the risk
of having this rare item stolen is too high.

     BOC has, on occasion, performed some songs with different
bandmembers switching roles.  For example, at a show in Boston in 1985,
Joe Bouchard sang the first verse of "Joan Crawford".  Bolle Gregmar
reports that they once started a show playing "Dr. Music" with Eric on
drums, Albert on bass and Joe on guitar and lead vocal.

     In BOC's early days, they used to cover (among other songs) The
Rolling Stones' "It's Not Easy".  According to Eric Bloom, "The hook of
the tune live was a triple drum solo with Albert, Donald, and I all
playing drums at the same time."

     BOC was part of a rather significant event in the early history of
the band, KISS.  On 12/31/73, noted as their "industry live debut", KISS
opened at the New York City Academy of Music for Teenage Lust, Iggy and
The Stooges, and BOC.  Interestingly, BOC apparently hauled a German
oom-pah band from a neighboring restaurant (Luchow's) for part of their
set.  The most notable moment of the night, however, happened when
bassist Gene Simmons, famous for (among other things) breathing fire
during a KISS performance, accidentally set his hair on fire during the
show.  While not planned, the event no doubt helped to increase the
mystique surrounding the make-up wearing rockers.  Exactly two years
later, on 12/31/75, it was BOC who opened for KISS in New York (at
Nassau Coliseum).

     An interesting occurrence happened at a New Year's Eve show at the
Academy of Music, NYC in 1974.  During the encore Eric Bloom announced
he was going to carry out his new year's resolution.  He then proceeded
to shave his beard off onstage with an electric razor.  Perhaps "New
Year's Eve was the final barrier" (a line from the song, "Dominance And
Submission").

     At a show in the fall of 1985 at The Channel in Boston, MA, Eric
Bloom turned out to be somewhat of a prophet.  At one point during the
set, he asked the Boston crowd, "How 'bout the Red Sox and the Mets in
the World Series next year?" (He also added, "I hate the Yankees, man,
they suck." -- something every Boston fan loves to hear)  As events
would turn out, the Red Sox and the Mets played each other in the 1986
World Series.  Unfortunately for Boston fans (but fortunately, no doubt,
for Eric Bloom), the Mets beat the Red Sox in 7 games.


The Movie "Heavy Metal"
-----------------------

     The song "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" (from *Fire Of Unknown
Origin*) appears in the movie "Heavy Metal".  Apparently, "Vengeance
(The Pact)" was also written for the movie.  The song lyrics are taken
from the last story in the movie (with Taarna, the warrior woman who
rides the giant bird).  The apparent reason for the song not being used
is that it told the 17-minute (in the movie) story in 5 minutes.  Other
songs from *Fire Of Unknown Origin* ("Sole Survivor", "Heavy Metal: The
Black And Silver", and "Don't Turn Your Back") may also have been
written for the movie, or inspired by it.  According to the FAQ for the
newsgroup, "rec.arts.sf.movies", the video for "Heavy Metal" has not
been "officially released" due to legal problems.  Apparently, there are
a number of "unofficial" copies around -- check with science-fiction
movie fans for how to find copies (editor's comment, people who read
"rec.arts.sf.movies" may know where to get copies, and tape dealers who
advertise in science fiction magazines or Goldmine might know where
copies are available -- my disclaimer about BOC live recordings also
applies to obtaining "unofficial" copies of videos as well).  However,
the soundtrack was finally officially released on CD in April of 1995.


Other Releases of BOC Music
---------------------------

     There have been a number of BOC singles released.  In addition, a
few BOC songs (most notably, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Godzilla", and
"Burnin' For You") have appeared on compilation albums of various
artists.  Most of these songs, along with the "b-sides" of the singles,
are as they appeared on the BOC album on which they were released.
There are, however, some notable exceptions:

"Buck's Boogie" -- As mentioned in the discography, the version of this
song from the *Blue Oyster Cult - Live NY '72* import live recording can
be found on a compilation album of various artists entitled, *The
Guitars That Destroyed The World*, released in the early 70's.  On this
release, the song was erroneously credited to S. Pearlman, E. Bloom, and
A. Bouchard.  The song was in fact written by A. Bouchard and D. Roeser.

"Godzilla" (from *Spectres*) -- A 12" single (Columbia 3-10725, 1977
promo) of this song was produced with the studio version on one side,
and a live version (that is not the version found on either *Some
Enchanted Evening* or *Extraterrestrial Live*) on the other side.

"We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" (from *Some Enchanted Evening*) -- A
"b-side" of this single contains a live version of "Stairway To The
Stars" that was recorded at Commack New York on 6/8/75.

"Born To Be Wild" -- A French CBS sampler entitled, *Hard Rock* contains
the studio version of this song, which also appears on the *(Don't Fear)
The Reaper* compilation tape.  Also, a compilation album of various
artists entitled, *Guitar Wars*, released in 1982, contains a live
version of this song that was recorded at Poughkeepsie New York on
2/11/80.

"Burnin' For You" (from *Fire Of Unknown Origin*) -- The "b-side" of a
12" single (U.K. Release) of this song contains live versions of "Dr.
Music" (recorded at Nassau Coliseum, NY, 10/17/80) and "Flaming
Telepaths" (recorded at Bonds International Casino, NY, 6/16/81) -
neither of these live versions are found on other domestic BOC albums.
However, this version of "Dr. Music" can be found on the *Black And
Blue* video, and this version of "Flaming Telepaths" can be found on the
*The Thing!* recording.

"Shooting Shark" (from *The Revolution By Night*) -- A 12" single of
this song was produced with an extended version on one side.

"Astronomy" (from *Imaginos*) -- There are 4 versions of this song on a
promo CD single, two long and two short versions of the song (the long
version appears on *Imaginos*).  Two of the versions (one long, one
short) have a spoken intro by horror author Stephen King.  The spoken
intro is from the Imaginos liner notes:  "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'".  There's also a UK 12"
single of "Astronomy" with the King mix on side two.  Side one is a re-
mixed dance-oriented "Astronomy (Wild Mix)" that has more of Albert's
original vocal thrown in.

"In The Presence Of Another World" (from *Imaginos*) -- There are 2
versions of this song on a promo CD single.  The first version is the
album version.  The second version is an edited version which ends by
fading out during the "Your master" coda section, without the added
spoken vocals.

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" -- *Guitar* magazine put out a series of
compilation albums called "Guitar's Practicing Musicians".  These albums
contain various jam sessions, re-worked songs, or musical experiments by
various guitarists.  This song appears on Volume I of the series
(released in 1994).  The liner notes for the song are as follows:

Buck Dharma
DON'T FEAR THE REAPER (Donald Roeser) SONY Music Inc. / BMI

Buck Dharma: Guitars and Vocals
Chuck Burgi: Drums

Produced By Buck Dharma.  Drums recorded by Bob Acquaviva at Acqrock
Studios.  All guitars and vocals recorded by Will Russell at Electric
Wilburland.  Mixed by Jeff Kawalek at Saul'Zattic.
EQUIPMENT: Steinberger GM-7 guitars with LaBella Strings, Musicman
Stingray Bass, Mesa Boogie Mark IV amp, Marshall 4X10 cab, Martin
acoustic.

I played a similar version of the "Reaper" live in a pop/rock trio
called The Red and The Black that existed in 1990.  John Stix suggested
that I do that version for this disk, so I recorded Chuck Burgi's drums
against a scratch electric guitar.  We played a tempo map in Vision
synced to a time code on tape.  The last half of the tune was recorded
first.  Then the Martin acoustic and "unplugged" vocals of the first
half were recorded.  The background vocals were sung to a rough mix on a
separate piece of tape, then mixed to stereo and sampled into my Ensoniq
ASR-10, which was then sequenced to the master 16trk tape.

"Gamera Is Missing" -- *Guitar* magazine put out a series of compilation
albums called "Guitar's Practicing Musicians".  These albums contain
various jam sessions, re-worked songs, or musical experiments by various
guitarists.  This song appears on Volume III of the series (released in
1989).  The liner notes for the song are as follows:

GAMERA IS MISSING / Buck Dharma (3:21)

Buck Dharma : All instruments except drums
Ron Riddle : Drums

Equipment: Steinberger GM5, recorded direct through Chandler Tube Driver
and Groove Tubes Preamp.  Composed by Buck Dharma (c) 1989 Triceratops
Music Inc. (ASCAP)  Produced & recorded by Buck Dharma at his home
studio, on an Akat (sic) 1214 (note: probably an Akai).  Mixed by Buck
Dharma at Masterview Soundcrafts, with Peter Kirk Hopper engineer.  All
computer editing and post production by Buck Dharma.

Buck Dharma, a master of melodic rock phrasing, has been at the lead
guitar helm of Blue Oyster Cult throughout its whole 14 album career.
His "Gamera Is Missing" shows off all the fire and finesse that defined
the blues based players who grew up feeding on the influence of early
Clapton, Hendrix and Beck.


Other BOC Contributions -- Most of the following information was
provided by Melne Murphy of the BOC Fan Club, which appeared in an
article in the fan club's newsletter, "Morning Final".  Additional
information was provided by Bolle Gregmar and Albert Bouchard.

     Buck played lead guitar on three songs on the Kasim Sulton (former
bassist for Utopia, and keyboardist for Meatloaf) album, *Kasim* in
1982.  He also played lead guitar for the Blotto song (and video),
"Metalhead" (released in the early 80's on the *Combo Akimbo* album).
Buck can also be found on one of "The Source" radio show albums jamming
with the Pat Travers Band to Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" (in
addition, Buck introduced Pat Travers at that show).  Buck may also have
been credited as playing on an album by Shakin' Street.

     Eric sang as a backing vocalist on Ian Hunter's 1979 album, *You're
Never Alone With a Schizophrenic*.  Eric was also briefly involved with
Ritchie Cannata in the B.C. project -- they recorded a few demos,
including "Eyes of Fire" with some of Cannata's musicians doing the
session work.  In 1985, both Eric (vocal) and Buck (guitar) appeared on
the song "Stars" for the Hear 'n Aid project -- the project, organized
by Ronnie James Dio, was a heavy-metal version of previous projects
(most notably, the "We Are The World" and "Live Aid" projects) to raise
money for world famine relief projects.

     Allen wrote several songs with Jim Carroll (who also co-wrote
"Perfect Water" on *Club Ninja*).  One of them, "Day and Night", appears
on Carroll's first album, *Catholic Boy*.  Another Lanier/Carroll
collaboration, "Dance the Night Away" (originally intended for *Agents
Of Fortune*, but was rejected), appears on Carroll's, *I Write Your
Name*.  Allen's contributions can also be found on most of Patti Smith's
albums, and on John Cale's album, *Music For a New Society*.  In
addition, Allen was used often by Sandy Pearlman as a studio musician in
the 70's, playing on albums by the Dictators, Shakin' Street, Pavlov's
Dog, and The Clash -- not all of these appearances are credited.

     After leaving BOC, Joe Bouchard joined ex-Alice Cooper members Neal
Smith and Dennis Dunaway (who worked with Buck Dharma on *Flat Out*) in
the band, "Deadringer".  Joe plays keyboards on the band's album,
*Electrocution Of The Heart* (which contained a Buck Dharma tune
entitled, "Summa Cum Laude" that was titled "Summa Cum Loud" on the
album) on the Grudge record label.  Joe has also produced albums for
Helen Wheels, and the Long Island band Empyre.

     Albert Bouchard performed on Tom Paxon's 1968 album, *The Things I
Notice Now*, and has produced albums, singles, or demos for David Roter,
Heads Up, Helen Wheels, Maria Excommunikata, Kablamachunk, Women In
Love, and Faith.  Albert's song "Adopt Me" appeared on David Roter's
1986 *Bambo* album (along with versions of "Joan Crawford" and "Unknown
Tongue").  Also on that album is a David Roter/Jack Rigg song called "Il
Duce", which was recorded by BOC with Buck singing the lead vocal.  For
Roter's *Bambo* album, this recording was used, although Buck's lead
vocal was replaced by Roter, and a keyboard part was added.  Albert,
along with Deborah Frost, produced The Brain Surgeons' albums.  In
addition, Albert plays a guitar part, and Joe Bouchard plays acoustic
piano, on a cover of BOC's "Dominance And Submission", for Mike Watt's
(former bass player for punk bands The Minutemen and fIREHOSE) first
solo album -- note that although the song did not make it onto Watt's
*Ball-Hog or Tug Boat* CD, a CD-5 is planned for release with this
track.  Albert also sings background vocals on Gumball's cover of BOC's
"She's As Beautiful As A Foot" (which can be found on Gumball's
*Revolution On Ice* album).  The Brain Surgeons (Albert and Deborah,
with Joe Bouchard as well) have a song on the Minutemen tribute album,
*Our Band Could Be Your Life: A tribute to D. Boon and the Minutemen* --
the song, "Tour Spiel", is significant in that it was originally written
by the Minutemen to pay tribute to BOC.

     Les Braunstein (original Soft White Underbelly vocalist) has an
appearance on vinyl.  Buck, Albert and John Trivers helped him record
three songs in 1973.  Les eventually unearthed the demo, added a
violinist to the song, "Dead House", re-worked the vocals and changed
the title to "Dark Angel", which was released as a single in 1979 on the
Mega Toons label.


Song References
---------------

     Altamont, which is referred to in the song, "Transmaniacon MC" (the
"MC" standing for "motorcycle club"), refers to a festival in 1970 at
Altamont (a racetrack in California).  The festival was supposed to be
another Woodstock.  The Rolling Stones were the main act, and they
controversially hired the Hells Angels as security.  Apparently The
Stones had used the British Hell's Angels as security in the past, and
assumed that the California Hell's Angels would be the same.  There was
mayhem during the Stones' set, and the Angels stabbed one member of the
audience to death (right in front of a camera), although the stabbed man
was apparently holding a gun.  Either during this incident, or right
afterwards, The Stones played the song, "Sympathy For The Devil".  The
incident is documented in the concert movie, "Gimme Shelter".  In
typically overblown style, journalists have dubbed that show "the night
rock-n-roll lost its innocence."

     The "Transmaniacon MC", according to Al Bouchard, are a mythical
group that Sandy Pearlman invented called "the Los Maniacos Bus Boy
Club" which was supposed to conjure up a picture of insane Mexican
waiters that have a musical group.

     According to Buck Dharma, "(Then Came The) Last Days Of May" is the
true story of three collegiate drug dealers who went to Tucson to score
for the fall semester.  They were ripped off and shot.  While two of the
guys died, the other survived to testify against the perpetrators, who
were two young men from a notorious wealthy local family.  They
apparently served about ten years in prison before being released.

     According to Buck Dharma, "Harvester Of Eyes" is about former U.S.
Supreme Court justice Abe Fortas.  The following is from Compuserve's
American Academic Encyclopedia:

Abe Fortas, b.  Memphis, Tenn., June 19, 1910, d.  Apr.  5, 1982, was a
prominent Washington, D.  C., attorney and presidential advisor when
President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court in
1965.  Johnson's subsequent nomination of Fortas as chief justice was
blocked by Senate foes of his activist stand on civil liberties, and the
nomination was caught up in a clash between the executive and
legislative branches.  In 1969, following charges of questionable ethics
and conflict of interest, Fortas resigned from the Court.  His arguments
in GIDEON V. WAINWRIGHT (1962) established the right of the poor to
legal counsel.

     What's all that got to do with "Harvester Of Eyes"?  Not much.
However, it was Fortas' senate nomination hearings which inspired
Richard Meltzer to write the song's lyrics.  When Fortas' avoidance of
service in World War II was questioned, he responded that he had ocular
tuberculosis -- which inspired the lyric, "I'm the eye-man of TV, with
my ocular TB".

     The BOC Fanclub newsletter "Morning Final" (issue #12), provides
insight into the meaning of several songs on *Secret Treaties*.
"Harvester of Eyes" and "ME-262" have already been mentioned.  The song,
"Dominance And Submission" is the true story of an automobile ride taken
with Suzy and her brother ("Charles the grinning boy"), in which some
unexpected sexual actions were suggested.  "Morning Final #12" does not
say who was put "in the backseat" and taken "for a ride".  "Flaming
Telepaths" refers to experimental drug use.  "Astronomy" refers to Suzy,
who at the time was very experimental and sexually aware.  The song has
its roots in a lesbian encounter, and the reaction to it.

    The line, "when prophecy fails, the falling notion" in the song,
"E.T.I." may have been inspired by the book, "When Prophecy Fails: A
Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the
Destruction of the World", by Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken and
Stanley Schacter (a classic psychology text).  The line "three men in
black said, 'Don't report this . . .", also in "E.T.I." may have been
inspired by the "The Men In Black Report" by Kurt Glemser (Galaxy
Press).  The book discusses UFO sightings and Men in Black (usually 3),
that would visit UFO witnesses, warning them not to divulge what they
had seen.  Finally, the name "Balthazar", mentioned in "E.T.I." is the
name of one of the three kings/wise-men/astrologers in the Bible who
visited Jesus Christ soon after his birth -- the other two were named
Melchor and Kaspar.  Perhaps "E.T.I." is suggesting that Jesus Christ
was brought to earth, or at least visited by, aliens.

     There is a real book entitled, *The King in Yellow* (referred to in
the song, "Extra Terrestrial Intelligence"), written by Robert W.
Chambers, published in 1895.  The book is believed to be out of print,
with its last known publication being a 1965 Ace Science Fiction
Classics edition.  It is a collection of short stories, several of which
mention an imaginary book (play) entitled "The King in Yellow".  Like
various tomes mentioned in Lovecraft, this (non-existent) play has
detrimental effects on the sanity of readers.  From *The Encyclopedia of
Science Fiction* (by John Clute and Peter Nicholls):

     "The eponymous "King in Yellow" is not a person, but a verse
play in book form, which... drives its readers to despair, madness and
even suicide.  Of the four *King in Yellow* tales in the book, 'The
Repairer of Reputations' is of particular interest, being set in 1920,
after a war, in a USA that has legalized suicide."

     The book, *The King in Yellow* also contains a story entitled, "The
Street of The Four Winds".  It is not clear whether or not this inspired
the reference to the four winds bar in the song, "Astronomy".  However,
the song does not appear connected with the story in any other way.

     The line "24th of May" in the song, "The Revenge Of Vera Gemini"
refers to Albert Bouchard's birthday.  Coincidentally, that day is also
the birthday of England's Queen Victoria, which is referred to in the
Rush song, "Lakeside Park" -- "Everyone would gather on the twenty
fourth of May, Sitting in the sand to watch the fireworks display".

     The initials "R.U.R." from the song, "R. U. Ready 2 Rock" were a
tribute to the K. Capek play, "Rossum's Universal Robots".  This play is
cited as having the first appearance of the term "robot" in science
fiction literature.

     It is a popular misconception that the song, "(Don't Fear) The
Reaper" is about suicide.  The line "Romeo and Juliet are together in
eternity" refers to William Shakespeare's characters Romeo and Juliet,
who were young lovers that had each committed suicide.  The song tells a
woman not to fear death (in the first 2 verses), and then tells that she
does die with no fear (in the 3rd verse).  Opinions as to the true
meaning of this song are mixed -- some believe that it merely advocates
not to fear the coming of death as it is part of the cycles of nature
("Seasons don't fear the reaper, nor do the wind and the sun and the
rain"), while others (including anti-rock zealots) claim that BOC is
advocating suicide (Editor's Comment:  Yeah, and in "Godzilla" BOC is
advocating that a big radioactive dinosaur stomp all over Tokyo too.).
Albert Bouchard says that he heard Buck say many times that the song was
not about suicide, but merely about not fearing death.  Finally, Bolle
Gregmar says that Buck actually wrote the lyrics to "The Reaper" during
a time when he thought he was dying, and the lyrics were Buck's way of
saying that we should waste our time worrying about dying because it is
inevitable.

     The song, "Godzilla" refers to the Americanized name of the
Japanese movie monster, "Gojira".  Gojira (the name is a portmanteau
from "gorilla" and "Kujira" (whale)) is a dinosaur which was released
from millions of years of hibernation by atomic testing in the Pacific
Ocean.  The beast became mutated by the radiation, to the point where he
is now radioactive (able to project this radioactivity via his breath).
The original Godzilla movie was released in Japan in 1954, less than a
decade after the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan.  While Godzilla
was originally an evil being, he became somewhat of a folk hero in
Japan, starring in over 15 movies, becoming a friend to humanity after
about the 4th one (in more recent movies, since about 1984, Godzilla has
gone back to being more of a "bad guy").  According to Bolle Gregmar,
Toho, the filmaker of the Godzilla movies (to whom BOC had to pay
royalties to use the name on the song) will soon be releasing their
final Godzilla movie.

     The song, "Golden Age Of Leather" refers to a futuristic vision
when motorcycles are a thing of the past, with a biker gang getting
together for "one last night together", as the lyric says.  Fortunately
for bikers, this vision has not come to fulfillment.

     Several BOC songs refer to vampires.  "Nosferatu" is a re-working
of Bram Stoker's "Dracula".  In the original silent version of
Nosferatu, the captain's log can be seen to include the lines "Rats in
the hold.  My crew is dead. I fear the plague" - these lines are used in
the song.  Other BOC songs which refer to vampires include "Screams",
"Wings Wetted Down", "Morning Final", "Moon Crazy", and "Light Years Of
Love".  Looks like Joe Bouchard was really into vampires . . .  Buck
also wrote a song, "I Love The Night", which appears to tell the tale of
a man's meeting with a female vampire.

     "The Great Sun Jester", co-authored by Michael Moorcock, is
mentioned in two of his novels:  "The Fireclown" (a line from the song),
and "The Transformation of Miss Mavis Ming" (this latter has recently
been included in a collection of Moorcock's stories under the title
"Constant Fire" - the collection itself is called "Behold the Man and
other stories").  Perhaps coincidental, but in "The Transformation of
Miss Mavis Ming" (titled "Messiah at the End of Time" in the U.S.), the
character who appears claiming to be the Fire Clown states one of his
many names as Emmanuel Bloom (E. Bloom - co-author of "The Great Sun
Jester"?).  Another song co-authored by Michael Moorcock, "Black Blade"
refers to Elric the albino king, featured prominently in several
Moorcock stories (e.g. "Elric of Melnibone Theta", "Stormbringer").  The
title of the song, "Veteran Of The Psychic Wars" (also co-authored by
Moorcock) was probably inspired by Moorcock's "The Dragon in the Sword"
-- "We are the lost, we are the last, we are the unkind.  We are the
Warriors at the Edge of Time.  We are the cold, the halt, the deaf, the
blind.  Fate's frozen forces, veterans of the psychic wars..." (from
"The Dragon in the Sword", p.68.)

     The line "Jim says some destinies should not be delivered", in the
song "In Thee" refers to Jim Carroll.  As previously mentioned, Jim
Carroll and Allen Lanier collaborated on several songs, including the
song "Day And Night", which appeared on Carroll's *Catholic Boy* album.
The song contains the line..."Some destinies, they should not be
delivered"

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End of Section 6 out of 7