Blue Öyster Cult was made up of serious artists and musicians who embraced what is, often, a juvenile genre of music – heavy metal. But in doing so, they became “the brains of hard rock,” and “the visionaries of thunder & lightning.” Blue Öyster Cult is one of the greatest bands of all time, and a silly umlaut over the name won’t make me change my opinion.

Unlike some of their hard-rock contemporaries, the group’s discography doesn’t include throwaways. No, not all songs work. But you could tell that plenty of thought went into both the hits and the failures.

Here are Blue Öyster Cult’s 10 best songs.

The Greatest 10 Songs by Blue Öyster Cult

10. “Cities on Flame with Rock & Roll”

It was certainly a different time. But the characters that populated the music world were all pretty unusual as well.

Blue Öyster Cult wasn’t so much a band as a group of psychedelics-supporting collective of musicians and journalists. Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom were the musical leaders.

The band’s 1972 was proof of concept. It was a record that tried to blend all of the raucous energy of biker rock and the evil energy of The Stones or Zeppelin.

The music and carnage fantasies work best on “Cities on Flame with Rock & Roll.” The album became a cult classic, inspired KISS, helped land a gig with Patti Smith, and turned manager/head propagandist Sandy Pearlman into the mystic of the underground. That’s quite something!

9. “Career of Evil”

For a beloved heavy metal band, BOC never sounded terribly frightening. There was no screaming, and the sound didn’t leap out of the speakers to grab you by the throat.

The menace was left to the lyrics, especially. It’s the production and the mystery with which the band surrounded itself that did the rest.

“Career of Evil” also has an unexpected punk-rock connection. The lyrics were written by poet and future singer Patti Smith.

Besides, “Career of Evil” is one of the band’s best songs about fantasy-inspired villains. It’s no wonder that horror and fantasy writers like Stephen King or J.K. Rowling are such fans of Blue Öyster Cult.

8. “Then Came the Last Days of May”

The band was still finding its direction at the start of the early 1970s. Two things were clear – they weren’t as bloodthirsty as the metal crowd, nor as prone to meandering jams as the psych-rockers.

“Then Came the Last Days of May” was the very best of Blue Öyster Cult’s early songs. It was a poetic blues-rock ballad. It played into the band’s strengths. And it remains a fan favourite.

7. “I Love the Night”

If Led Zeppelin hinted at the occult, and Black Sabbath summoned visions of gore, then Blue Öyster Cult’s music is subtly eerie.

“I Love the Night” is more dark poetry set to a rock beat courtesy of Buck Dharma.

It’s also something of a victory lap. Dharma and Eric Bloom had played the odds, beaten them and had turned their brand of vampire-rock into a success.

6. “Flaming Telepaths”

There’s a whole world of stories hidden inside the hard-rock hits registered by BOC. But, unlike, say, Peter Gabriel’s Genesis, the concept album intentions aren’t immediately clear to novices.

“Flaming Telepaths” is another face melter containing outrageous guitar and Moog solos, as well as an intro composed of randomly discovered musical box sounds.

That’s rocking enough! But dig deeper into Sandy Pearlman’s lyrics and you’ll find other breadcrumbs of the story to the Imaginos mythos.

In all seriousness, if you’re looking for a band to geek up on, Blue Öyster Cult is a real find!

5. “Veteran of the Psychic Wars”

Like songs by The Smashing Pumpkins or King Gizzard, Blue Öyster Cult’s song titles sound like missions in a Dungeons & Dragons storyline.

However, BOC wasn’t going for goofy here. No, they were digging into the occult and trying to unleash the evil potential of rock n’ roll.

If that, and the Hawkwind and The Doors connections, aren’t your style, the psych-rock sounds of “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” may just be enough to thrill you on its own merits.

4. “Astronomy”

The fact that “Astronomy” was covered by Metallica tells us two things: A. Many heavy metal bands envied Blue Öyster Cult. B. It’s not easy to master the prog-metal dynamics of the group.

With lyrics penned by frequent collaborator Sandy Pearlman and written about the fantasy character of Imaginos, clearly, BOC wasn’t your typical meat-and-potatoes band.

In 1988, the band recorded a full-length album called “Imaginos”, thus finally merging the worlds of fantasy lit and progressive rock together. And you wonder why the group has such loyal fans?

3. “Burnin’ For You”

At its best, Blue Öyster Cult struck a wonderful balance of hard-rock attack and soft-pop polish. The best songs by the band are also some of the best-sounding of the era.

“Burnin’ For You” is a prime example. And like the group’s finest material, it was quickly rewarded with a spot in the charts. Blue Öyster Cult became one of the most unusual propositions to be embraced by the heavy metal community.

2. “Godzilla”

Blue Öyster Cult’s musicians were sometimes too clever for their own good. But on “Godzilla,” the wit and humour get integrated seamlessly into the mix.

The musicians might’ve been chuckling in the studio when recording a song about the giant lizard about to trample Tokyo. But when those guitar riffs came blasting through the radio speakers, thousands of kids banged their heads and turned it into a hit.

1. “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”

It’s ironic that so many gothic and metal bands have covered “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” Had Blue Öyster Cult decided to gift this to any other band, it would’ve been ruined.

A darkly romantic fantasy, “Reaper” comes out of the speaker like a piece of classical music constructed using guitars and, yes, plenty of cowbell.

It was a hit, a staple of the “Halloween” franchise and one of the best songs of the era. For better or worse, it’s the best Blue Öyster Cult song by a country mile and, frankly, one of the best rock songs ever recorded.