Sandy Pearlman, producer/manager for Blue Öyster Cult, dies at 72

Cafe Society
1

Cerebral hemmorhage.

Pearlman was essentially the “sixth member” of Blue Öyster Cult, perhaps even more so than George Martin was to the Beatles. He co-wrote many of their early songs and produced most of their albums, including their failed comeback Imaginos (1988) which was based on a collection of poems Pearlman had written way back in the mid-60’s. He also produced records for The Clash, Black Sabbath, and many others.

If Saturday Night Live had done their research right, it would have been Sandy Pearlman demanding “More Cowbell!” (Although, according to the man himself, he didn’t really like the cowbell.)

2

Mr. Pearlman has been a giant influence on me my whole life, from Crawdaddy! to BÖC to Black Sabbath to The Clash to big mega-stadium tours, his contributions to music, to rock music, to heavy metal, to punk rock were so SO significant… RIP Mr. Pearlman; you done good.

3

IIRC, “Reaper” was one of BOC’s few hits from that era that Pearlman didn’t contribute to as a writer. Buck Dharma wrote that one on his own.

Nonetheless, BOC is one of my favorite bands of all time and Pearlman wrote so many great songs for them. He’ll be missed.