How I Wrote… “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”

“I FEEL BLE SSED for having written it,” Buck Dharma says of Blue Öyster Cult’s iconic 1976 hit, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” “I’d like to have five more ‘Reapers,’ but just having one is great.”

The hypnotic rocker turned the Long Island–based quintet into arena headliners and propelled their fourth album, , to Platinum status. The song has long been revered by guitarists for its immediately recognizable riff, but in 2000 it attained pop-culture status skit, starring Will Farrell and Christopher Walken. “I loved it,” enthuses Dharma, BÖC’s lead guitarist and singer. “A couple of the things Will Farrell did on popular artists were pretty brutal, but he was really funny in the cowbell sketch. It was hysterical.”