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"(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
Single by Blue Öyster Cult
from the album Agents of Fortune
B-side	"Tattoo Vampire"
Released	1976
Format	7" vinyl
Recorded	1976
Genre	Hard rock, psychedelic rock
Length	5:08 (Album version) 3:45 (Single/Radio edit)
Label	Columbia
Producer	Sandy Pearlman
Blue Öyster Cult singles chronology
"Born to be Wild" (studio/live) "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" "Goin' Through the Motions" / "Searchin' for Celine"
Music sample "Don't Fear The Reaper" File:Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear The Reaper.ogg

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a song by the rock band Blue Öyster Cult from their 1976 album, Agents of Fortune. It was written and sung by the band's lead guitarist, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, produced by Sandy Pearlman, and is built around Dharma's guitar riff that opens the song and continues throughout. The edited single version was Blue Öyster Cult's biggest US hit, reaching #12 on the American charts in November 1976.^[1] It reached #16 on the UK pop chart in 1978.^[2]

The song remains a staple tune on classic rock radio playlists. In 1997, Mojo magazine ranked "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" at #80 in the "100 Greatest Singles of All Time". Rolling Stone magazine voted the song "Best Rock Single" of 1976, in 2004 the magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" ranked it at #397,^[3] and in 2009 it was named the 55^th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.^[4]

Part of the song's appeal consists in its resonance with archetypal themes. The reaper is a reference to the Grim Reaper, a traditional personification of death in European folklore. Moreover, songs and poetry pairing "Death and the Maiden" date back to the time before the Middle Ages. Lyrics such as "Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity" have led many listeners to interpret the song to be about a murder-suicide pact, but Dharma says the song is about eternal love, not suicide:^[5]

I felt that I had just achieved some kind of resonance with the psychology of people when I came up with that, I was actually kind of appalled when I first realized that some people were seeing it as an advertisement for suicide or something that was not my intention at all. It is, like, not to be afraid of it (as opposed to actively bring it about). It's basically a love song where the love transcends the actual physical existence of the partners.

The shortened single version of the song omits the guitar solo from 2:30 - 3:25. The 2001 remaster of Agents of Fortune includes Buck Dharma's original 4-track demo of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." The length of the version on the 2002 live album A Long Day's Night is 8:14.

Contents 1 Appearances in popular media 1.1 Films with references to Don't Fear the Reaper 1.2 Television shows with references to Don't Fear the Reaper 1.3 Books and graphic novels 1.4 Computer and video games 2 Selected cover versions 3 References 4 External links

Appearances in popular media

Films with references to Don't Fear the Reaper

• Halloween (1978) Plays while Annie and Laurie are smoking cannabis.
• The Executioner's Song (1982) Plays while Nicole prepares drugs for a suicide pact between her and her boyfriend, Gary, who is awaiting execution.
• The Stoned Age (1994) Key song in the plot of the film, which is heard in part 3 times during the course of the film including during the main character's flashback which includes concert footage of Blue Oyster Cult performing the song on stage. The song also plays during the end credits.
• The Frighteners (1996) Plays over closing credits, performed by The Mutton Birds.
• Scream (1996) Plays when Billy Loomis sneaks into Sidney Prescott's room. Acoustic cover by Gus.
• Zombieland (2009) Plays while Bill Murray, Tallahassee, and Wichita are getting high.

Television shows with references to Don't Fear the Reaper

• The Stand - Theme for first episode (1994)
• Saturday Night Live - "Behind the Music: Blue Oyster Cult" - The "More cowbell!" sketch with Christopher Walken (2000). The original song actually featured a cowbell, although it is mostly buried in the mix.
• Red vs. Blue - "Don't Ph34r the Reaper" (2003)
• The Simpsons – "Don't Fear the Roofer" (2005) It is also the song for the end credits of the episode The Parent Rap.
• Scrubs - The song is performed by "The Worthless Peons" in the season 8 episode "My Lawyer's In Love", where the narrator of the show offers an interpretation of the song as being about "the upside of death"
• Supernatural - "Faith" (2006)
• True Blood - "Escape from Dragon House" Played when Sookie and Bill first enter 'Fangtasia' the vampire bar

Books and graphic novels

• "Fear The Reaper" is a part of the "Batman : Year Two" story arc.
• The Stand by Stephen King – portion of lyrics at beginning of novel, as well as the beginning of the television mini-series based on it
• Gone For Good by Harlan Coben (2002) – song serves as part of the main plot
• Discworld series by Terry Pratchett - the character of Death's 'family' motto is 'Fear Not The Reaper'
• The Carthage Chronicles by Marcus Mastin (2005) - The second book of the Carthage series is entitled Don't Fear the Reaper.
• The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson - played at the end of the book when Daniel is riding on his motorcycle.
• Unwind by Neal Shusterman - played by the band on top of the Unwinding clinic at the Happy Jack Harvest Camp.

Computer and video games

• Ripper (1996) - Used for the opening titles, as well as for the game's trailer.
• Prey (2006) - Played on the jukebox on the first level. It can't be selected normally but plays automatically when the alien invasion begins.
• Guild Wars Nightfall – item upgrade titled "Don't Fear the Reaper"
• Guild Wars Factions – a quest called "More Cowbell" involves blue oysters
• Guitar Hero – The description of the unlockable guitarist Grim Ripper - A parody of the Grim Reaper and death metal - opens with the line "Do not fear the Ripper".
• Guitar Hero II – The description of Grim Ripper's personal guitar - The Scythe - opens with the line "On second thought, maybe you should fear the Reaper."
• Rock Band – Playable song in game. The game frequently aludes to the "More Cowbell" phenomenon; for example, some of the tips that appear in the loading screen for any song are "Health tip: if you have a fever, the only prescription is more cowbell" and "If you're on tour, don't bother visiting his grave - Gene Frenkle is fictional," along with "The real producer of the song was Sandy Pearlman," or something along those lines. Also, item "Casketcase" in Rings has the description "Don't fear the Reaper. Wear these rings instead."
• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade – A quest titled "Needs more cowbell" is found in the Netherstorm region of the game.
• Everquest 2 – An item called Dawnfear, the Reaper can be acquired from one of the higher-level areas. Additionally, the item's description lists it as being used by a cult of aquatic shellfish.
• AdventureQuest - A monster called a Giant Oyster appears. All of its descriptions make references.
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters - An earned cheat for the Mootator (turns enemies into cows) causes a cowbell to ring much more often when the resulting cow explodes. The cheat is aptly named, "More Cowbell!"
• RuneScape - In the quest "Cold War", the player must retrieve some penguin-friendly instruments for a pair of penguin bards to proceed. One of these instruments is a pair of cowbells. Once the penguin bards are brought the instruments, they start to play, but then stop, deciding the song needs "more cowbell".
• Spore (2008) - Two building elements in the vehicle creator portion of the game are called "Cowbell" and "More Cowbell".
• The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar - Two of the many instruments playable using the games music system are named "Cowbell" and "Moor Cowbell".
• Grabbed by the Ghoulies - One of the challenged in the game where you must avoid three Reapers for as long as possibly is called "(Don't Fear) the Reaper".
• Dungeon Keeper 2 - A cheat code in-game is called "Don't fear the reaper". It summons Horny the devil.
• StarCraft 2 - In the build completion sound for the "Reaper" unit, the character says, "Fear the reaper, man."
• Shaun White Snowboarding- Part of the game's soundtrack.

Selected cover versions

• The Goo Goo Dolls (1987) – Goo Goo Dolls album
• Clint Ruin and Lydia Lunch (1991) – Don't Fear the Reaper 12" EP
• Thanatos (1993) – This Endless Night Inside album; Projekt Records
• Apollo 440 (1994) – single on Millennium Fever album
• Buck Dharma (1994) – Buck Dharma covers his own song as an "Acoustic" version on the various artists compilation Guitar's Practicing Musicians Vol 3
• The Mutton Birds (1996) – b-side of the 1996 single She's Been Talking, from the soundtrack to the film The Frighteners (1996)
• Gus (1996) – covered for the Scream soundtrack
• HIM (1997) – Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666
• Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999) - Woodstock 1999, brief guitar segment before Californication
• Evanescence (1999) – Played live. Can be seen on the 'Live At Vino's' Footage on Youtube.
• Big Country (2001) – Undercover album of covers, includes picture of 'Agents Of Fortune', the original Blue Öyster Cult album with 'DFTR'
• Elliott Smith - various shows in 2001
• Jec (2001) – Titled We can be like They Are
• Tenacious D (2002) – included in their medley, found on Tenacious D - The Complete Masterworks
• Unto Ashes (2003) – empty into white album
• The Beautiful South (2004) – Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs album
• Wolf (2004) – Evil Star album
• Snuff (2005) – comedic cover on Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other double CD
• Heaven 17 (2005) – BeforeAfter album
• Alana Davis (2005) – Surrendering Dorothy (album) (It is titled simply The Reaper)
• Caesars (2005) – track on the Six Feet Under, Vol. 2: Everything Ends soundtrack album
• Sever Your Ties did a cover in 2006 and then they recorded in (2008) -Safety in the Sea album
• Scooter (2007) – sampled on the 2007 single Behind The Cow
• The Blanks – Scrubs, 2009, My Lawyer's In Love
• Van She (2009) - for the Bacardi B-Live free downloads series
• Pierce The Veil (2010) - for the compilation Punk Goes Classic Rock in 2010

References

External links

• Don't Fear the Reaper – IMDB search results

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