Blue Oyster Cult have been reflecting on their long history and in particular about one peculiar part of it – the Saturday Night Live ‘more cowbell’ sketch in which Will Ferrell plays Gene Frenkle, the fictitious musician who adds cowbell to Don’t Fear The Reaper.
Not heard of it? Well in was first aired in April 2000. The premise is Blue Oyster Cult are recording their classic 70s hit, Christopher Walken plays the producer whose fever is only curable by adding more cowbell to the track, which Ferrell’s character eagerly supplies. It has gone onto become a classic TV comedy moment, which the band’s fans can probably recite in their sleep.
Now in a new interview with Vulture, the band’s guitarist Buck Dharma has revealed how he felt about it at the time: “When the sketch aired, I wasn't watching television, but my wife got a call from her mother who was still up that late and watching it. She said, 'Oh my God, Donald (Dharma’s real first namer) is on television.' So we were a bit confused and turned SNL on and, of course, it wasn't me. It was SNL lampooning the song and doing a sketch about it. I saw about the last 25 seconds of it. It wasn't long after that I was able to get a VHS tape of the whole episode."
"My first feeling was relief - relief that it was funny and relief that it wasn't too cruel on the band. SNL had done some rather cruel things about Neil Diamond and other artists over the years, so I was happy it was actually hilarious. While it poked fun at Blue Öyster Cult, it wasn't mean-spirited at all.”
But of course it meant the band had to add cowbell to their live performances of the song. Fans even started to bring in cowbells to gigs. However, as the years went by, the famed sketch became as much of a lead weight around Ferrell and Walken as it was to the band.
“I feel bonded to Will and Christopher in a way,” says Dharma. “We're all at the mercy of the cowbell sketch in different ways. I feel a little bit of kinship and sympathy with them. Will's character, Gene Frenkle, was made up. We dedicate the song to him sometimes."
"But I would tell Christopher: It's all bearable, I suppose. Blue Oyster Cult got through it and we persevered. When we play 'Reaper,' people still mimic playing the cowbell, and we had to ban people from bringing actual cowbells to the concerts. But, again, it's a tiny cross to bear."
