Roky Erickson

Back in November of 2024 I posted a series of blogs on 60s psychedelic group the 13th Floor Elevators, where I got into the various aspects of the band - mostly having to do with associated occult imagery and themes - as well as personalities involved and the larger agenda that may have surrounded them. But I really didn't get into Roky Erickson's life too deeply, because I discovered what seems to be a painfully candid auto-biographical spoken-word poem called "I know the Hole in Baby's Head" [IKTHIBH]. And so rather than try and pick a way to adequitely cover the enigmatic Roky in my own words, I just created a transcript of that poem [read in his own voice on the video version] set to a backdrop of various pictures relating to his past. I was hoping that people would put the 2 together and find a deeper meaning in it all, as I did.

Part of what makes IKTHIBH so hard to shake off is the visual impact of an actual mental facility, Austin State Hospital specifically - where Erikson periodically checked in when his condition became too overbearing during the mid 1980s. We’re told the footage was taken by Douglas Mobley, a friend, and that Roky was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at this point.

Although aspects of "IKTHIBH" sound like they might be metaphorical, the vast majority comes off like a frank, sober confession - as if with a gun to the head. It’s really only the title itself which comes off as potentially allegorical. And yet, it’s suggestive enough to add a very specific and gruesome visual supplement to the lines leading up to it. Here are the lines I am referring to:

Do you think they had killed someone?…successfully together killed someone?…I went and thought they had killed someone…I went and thought that they had killed someone. And then I thought they had killed this someone, then I thought how had they killed this someone? Who was this someone they killed?…Then I reached and thought I snapped that they had killed one of my brothers, or sisters. One of the many, one of the babies. One of the many, one of the babies. One of the many. One of the many. One of the many. I thought they had killed one of the kids. One of the babies. They had…killed…one of the kids. They had uh…killed the kid…They had killed a kid.

[An "art piece" Roky's mom put together. The center mask is supposed to represent her, the others represent the 5 sons.]

Given his loyal following and cult icon status, I was surprised to find little dialogue online attempting to interpret what the above quote from Roky’s poem is trying to convey. Then again, it’s pretty clear isn’t it? I mean, how many different ways does he have to say “they killed a child” before we begin to wonder if he's being literal, and not metaphorical or just having some sort of "episode?"

The images I included in the aforementioned blog were mostly taken from the documentary “You’re Gonna Miss Me”, in order to compliment - and in some cases demonstrate that what Roky says in that "poem" is largely auto-biographical. Let’s take a look at how these images compliment the dark narrative found in IKTKIBH.

[Roger Kynard Erickson, born in July of 1947.]

After stating the decidedly morbid and cryptic title 4 times, Roky starts telling a story by putting himself back into the Erickson family home, as a boy version of himself, and describes what he sees and experiences to us.

Hastily, he matter-of-factly recalls a bunch of kids crawling around like wild, largely neglected animals in a big cage stricken with poverty. He mentions “lots of brothers and sisters,” which is strange since Roky didn’t have any sisters we know of. Perhaps he had a sister we don’t know about or perhaps the words just rolled off his tongue in a stream of consciousness sort of way without total regard for accuracy?

The heartbreaking scene continues to spill out in a steady stream. Angry parents fighting while the kids and mother scream and cry amidst decrepit surroundings, dark and cold, due to an unpaid electrical bill apparently. Again, little details like the latter don't sound very metaphorical...

This image of young Evelyn Elaine Kynard is posted on a wall in what appears to be her living quarters at the time of filming the 2005 documentary on Roky. We quickly come to know the eccentric, aging artist known as Roky’s mother. It would appear that she started creating some kind of visual storyboard outlining what she believes are the important things people should know about her and her eldest son. This was done, I presume, in anticipation of the documentary.

The above confirms a few key things: Evelyn, a musician/performer herself, is the source of Roky’s artistic eccentricities. It also becomes somewhat apparent that she wants to live vicariously through her son's fame - humble as it was at the time the doc was filmed.

"...my mother was always in her own world."

[Roger Laverne Erickson, father of Roky]

Roky’s dad comes off as the epitome of “the silent generation.” The one that dealt with the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and WWII. Stomping around angry all the time, storming out until the wee hours, and when he was home - reminded everyone who’s in charge without words. He seems to symbolize the ticking time bomb that was the Erickson household, and Roky’s world in general within the context of IKTHIBH.

If you grew up poor, or lower-middle class, the above images are probably familiar. Dirty, old, barely maintained EVERYTHING. Exposed pipes, leaky faucets, dirty/beat up clothes, broken toys, empty old pool with green algae growing in it…It would seem the Ericksons dealt with the lower end of this spectrum of poverty. The smells, the darkness, the spider webs...all begin to sound like one of the horror films Roky was so drawn to. Or perhaps more accurately, FAMILIAR with. Comfortable even, upon this unsettling nest that was the Erickson household.

Roky continues, non metaphorically describing the lack of soap, electricity, and money while angry Dad stomps around wordlessly and mom screams and cries in her robe all day, apparently powerless to change anything. The seeming lack of money is odd because we are told Roger Sr was an architect and civil engineer. But perhaps these professions did not pay what they do today back then? Did dad simply not care? Did he just sorta pop into the house to make more babies and remind everyone who’s boss once in a while? It’s hard to imagine a father being this way, whilst also never speaking! Chris Cornell described his own father in a similar manner, so I guess this wasn’t that uncommon back then.

Through Roky’s child eyes, we experience the first-person process he went through in consciously acknowledging that “something just isn’t right here” and that “something needs to be done about this.” These bad feelings just grew and grew, manifesting into total fear, to the point where survival instinct began to kick in, and the inevitable need to take action was approaching fast.

The spectre of incest reveals itself at some point in the documentary "Your Gonna Miss Me", which gives all of the above a more potentially disturbing connotation. Was this the spectre creeping in the darkness that Roky was picking up on? Was it one of MANY terrible things that was never outwardly confronted and dealt with, and that fed into the mounting anxiety in the house? Clearly, there was an elephant in the room, and this poem is about that elephant.

Despite this dismal picture, Roky was talented and quite charismatic, by all accounts. He wasn't considered "crazy" at all until after he took a bunch of acid. The above pictures display his charming child-like vulnerability, accompanied with a seemingly automatic ability to express his emotions through music. This gift seemed to persist through all of the turbulent phases of his life.

Continuing on further into IKTHIBH, the word "stupid" begins popping up, in order to describe what I assume were the terrible actions of his parents. Whatever bad thing(s) happened, they were apparently too stupid to understand what they did, or how to come to terms with it on any level. At least, this is the conclusion Roky came to entertain.

As documented in many interviews with former band mates, associates, and family, Tommy Hall was basically force feeding the Elevators acid and demanding they consume it for every performance. According to John Ike Walton, the Elevators were the first to do this in the 60s. And given that Tommy Hall was attending University studying how drugs affect people, it all begins to sound very familiar. Was the 13th Floor Elevators Tommy Hall's laboratory experiment, sponsored by a secret MK Ultra-type program? If not overtly, that's probably what is was covertly.

Apparently, Roky was eager to take the drugs, though he wasn't always happy when he did. In fact, Walton said the acid "hurt him," but Roky just kept on doing it. This culminated into a Syd-Barrett type breakdown onstage, where he allegedly started singing gibberish into the microphone for an extended period of time. This is reflected in Evelyn's story board above, where on April 20th 1968, she was awoken at 3AM by Roky shouting gibberish out by the pool.

Despite all these drugs being liberally passed around and consumed all over the place, marijuanna was still very illegal in Texas at that time, and somehow Roky got in deep trouble over 1 joint. It's difficult to sort truth from fiction, but apparently Roky's mental troubles AND his troubles with the law seemed to coinside and form a perfect storm.

Rather than get locked up for years over a joint, Roky's attorney chose the "insanity plea" or something to that effect, so that he would not have to face hard jail time, but would instead be sent to Rusk Mental Hospital, where he was subjected to electro shock treatment and god knows what else. Whether Roky's diagnosis as "schizophrenic" had more to due with a legal strategy or actual reality is hard to say, but I suppose both could have been true.

Rusk was apparently the site of a violent inmate riot at one point in time before Roky's stay, as described in the newpaper headline above. Needless to say, it was probably something akin to the mental hospital depicted in "One Flew Over A Cuckoo's Next," which was a book written by a man confirmed to be involved with Mk Ultra at Stanford University.

Roky's poem starts asking, in the mind of his younger self, whether the family could even get along well enough to successfully kill someone, and then just continue on as if nothing happened? The broken toys and flora and fauna constantly referred to seem to represent the dehumanizing experience felt by the kids, amidst a scene too shocking for young minds to process.

The above image was taken after Roky left Rusk and was either visiting or staying with his mom sometime in the 80s. It is a very revealing moment, where we see Evelyn sort of coaching Roky, as he eagerly presents a new song he's been working on. It seems to me that she played a large role in grooming him for a musical career, which never quite reached the level of his famous peers for obvious reasons.

Although Roky dons that old charming musical face while playing, the picture above captures his expression while not playing - where you can really see the toll life has taken on the poor man's soul. And in response, all mom wants to do is suck more life out of him.

The above images come from a home-made film Evelyn decided to do, where she plays a sort of "Queen Mother" to her "5-Kings," which is pretty creepy when you think about it for a minute. Incestuous themes aside, it's just more evidence of her need to claim ownership of, and live vicariously through her son's fame, even as he stares off vacantly, barely seeming to care or be aware of what is happening.

The above hand drawn picture looks very old, and must be some kind of depiction of the old house referred to in IKTHIBH. It appears to have actual blood drops on it if you look closely, which may have been the original inspiration for the drawing to begin with. Why would Evelyn save this morbid drawing and put it prominently on her wall? It looks like a kid drew it, and this kid is depicting lips, blood, and hell in some abstract way. Not sure what to make of it, but a kid who depicts a house this way is clearly not in a healthy place! This comes from a mind of someone who has gone past the fear and anxiety - into morbid imagination, inspired by God knows what.

[A letter Roky wrote to Alfred Hitchcock. Roky was apparently obsessed with mail during his later years and spent a lot of time sifting through it.]

IKTHIBH continues building up the fear and paranoia and starts wondering aloud if "they" killed one of his brothers or sisters.

"One of the many, one of the babies. One of the many. One of the many. One of the many."

Did Rocky have a baby sister that was killed inside the house and who was perhaps buried down where the words "HELL" are spelled out in the "Old House" drawing? We all know Roky had mental issues, but "crazy people" don't just make stuff up out of thin air. Input is required for even a mentally insane person to have content and memories from which to form words and stories - even if they are abstract and hard to follow. Maybe this killing he's refering too is metaphorical, and maybe it isn't. But this story comes from SOMETHING real.

"I thought they had killed one of the kids. One of the babies. They had…killed…one of the kids. They had uh…killed the kid. Like one of their poor, broken little toys. They had killed a kid."

Again, here's a guy that seemed to speak almost in riddles on the regular. I don't hear any riddles here, he's just making statements. Over and over, THEY KILLED A BABY. Maybe he saw something that messed him up, and is just now talking about it for the first time?

[Evelyn's place at the time the documentary was filmed. She's hoisting up a board upon which she pasted some of the images we saw earlier, as-if prepared for another one of her cheap theatre plays which exploits her boys.]

The above is Roky's place at the time of the documentary being filmed. You can see Evelyn at the bottom left of the bottom image, propably pretending to clean up an obviously neglected living space. If I recall, Roky was on his own at that point, but Evelyn came by often. She's clearly carrying guilt over the fact that she'd rather keep her son locked up and catatonic like a stage prop than get him REAL help, which he later recieves from one of his younger brothers.

This is how Roky relaxed. Surrounded by a chaotic mess, TVs all blasting, radios on, just a hellish white noise all throughout the house. We're told this was done because he heard voices in his head and he needed to drown them out so he could relax. Man, what an awful existence!

We see Roky playing with Mr Potato Head alot, which is heartbreaking in context of all this talk about children being sort of caged and neglected like old broken toys. I think the metaphor of the broken toy is why Roky is so fixated on this one. It stirs memories of a childhood spent relating to broken toys laying all over. Although somewhat dissociated from those memories, he still feels a need to try and fix it. But all he can really do is stare at it, as if trying to remember why.

The poem crescendos with a paranoia that someone [or something] is reading his thoughts, and is aware that he knows about the killing of a child/baby in the house. This murder, or whatever it represents, is summarized by the line, "I know the hole in baby's head."

So what is the hole in baby's head and who is the baby? If we take the above literally, it would seem Evelyn [or perhaps a mistress of Roger Sr] gave birth to a baby which was promptly shot/bludgeoned in the head, for reasons we don't know. The title IKTHIBH is Roky's thinly veiled statement that he knows about it.

On a more symbolic level, perhaps the "killing" is a metaphor for the childhood taken from 5 brothers living in squalor and poverty. We know that the Erickson brothers all had a hard time as adults. One even attempted, or seriously contemplated suicide. It's easy to see "the hole in baby's head" as being the collective damage done to the kids in this family. Roky just happened to be the one annointed with the burden of telling the world about it.

Related: Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye

Blue Oyster Cult: Occult Symbolism [PT3]

SOME ENCHANTED EVENING

If my math is correct, 1978's S.E.E. is Blue Oyster Cult's 7th full length release, and 2nd live album within their first 6 years of recording. That's an average of 1 live album every 3 years! Apparently, S.E.E.'s decidedly short recording was hastily rushed out to satiate a rapidly growing audience while the band took a short break from their non-stop touring and recording.

The concept here, with regard to the artwork, is about as simple and basic as the Cult ever gets. Reaper on a black horse, scythe in hand, BOC logo in clear view. All the basics are here, as ubiquitously covered in previous blogs: symbolism that had probably become laughably cliche at that point. And it wasn't even 1980 yet!

This simple artwork aligns perfectly with the record label's purported vision for the album, which seemed to focus on "hits" [or live crowd-pleasers] and nothing else. From that view, the artwork can be seen as simply capitalizing upon the then recent success of "Don't Fear the Reaper." The inclusion of 2 covers out of 7 total tracks screams even louder that the delicate balance between art and commercialism was definately leaning towards the latter. So while I often make the case that there is some kind of social engineering agenda going on with BOC, I'm not denying there is a financial aspect at play as well.

Enchanted means being under a magic spell or feeling deeply charmed, delighted, and fascinated by something - Google A.I.

The title of this live album was apparently taken from the 1949 Rogers and Hammerstein musical called South Pacific, which was made into a film in 1958. The central theme seems to revolve around the idea of "love at first sight," and how one must take hold of that love or spend the rest of their life dreaming [or something like that]. I suppose this was a clever marketing strategy where the band wants you to view them as a lover that you can't let slip away - which of course goes both ways. They want to "take hold" of YOU, before YOU slip away. So while the word "enchanted" hints at a mesmerizing divine rock and roll experience, it's being conflated with ACTUAL spontaneous love. Pretty ingenius in a way, and definately operating on multiple levels.

The back cover reveals the desolate desert landscape our black rider hastily glides through under the full moon. The combination of what appears to be a dead bush within the desert context recalls biblical themes. Particularly, Moses speaking to God [or an angel] via the burning bush. We are also reminded of Christ's temptation by the devil in the desert, while death rides, laughing in mockery of it all.

MIRRORS

Mirrors are a negative space...With a frame and a place for your face...They reveal what the rest of us see...They conceal what you're likely to be

The mirror, as a symbol, plays one of the more prominent roles in Sandy Pearlman's "Imaginos" mythology. Its' role here, however, is more generally metaphorical than it is specific to that mythos - while also throwing a bone to it. I am tempted to articulate the oh so symbolic meaning behind driving forward while observing what is behind, but I'm going to try and stick to the more occult level, thin as it may be.

This image upon the inner vinyl sleeve of "Mirrors" is taken directly from the famous "house of mirrors" climax of Orson Welles' 1947 film noir classic, The Lady from Shanghai. In the movie, the hall of mirrors scene serves as a visual metaphor where characters shoot at reflections, unable to distinguish what is real from what is merely an illusion.

"Even the greatest stars...Discover themselves in the looking glass" -Kraftwerk, "The Hall of Mirrors" 1977

[Back cover art for the album "Mirrors"]

The back cover of "Mirrors" seems to be a dry self-mockery of the band's "occult" image. Again, while ubiquitously referencing the oh-so-symbolic mirror, they seem to be poking fun at Sandy Pearlman's "dead serious" Imaginos mythology - by sort of ignoring it completely and emphesizing the generically poetic cliche of "the mirror" as a symbol.

The band member's dead serious stares [with the exception of one of em, who looks like he's about to bust up laughing] is locked upon the viewer, glowing hands brandished as if preparing to release their lazer powers upon you.

[Inner vinyl sleeve for the live album, "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees."]

The sky backdrop matches the cover, but also recalls a shot from the inner gatefold sleeve of their first live album "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees" [pictured above]. If you recall, the image from said live album plays along with the theme of a rock concert as a sort of sermon or church-going religious experience, or even a revelations-type divine event. This playfully portrays the band members themselves as "divine beings" or perhaps the "Agents of Fortune" working on behalf of the ancient aliens guiding humanity within the Imaginos world.

I don't know that peeling the layers back here any further is really necesarry. In my opinion, the key that "picks this lock" is that there is no treasure in the safe. The safe is open, the contents are all neatly stacked on the table, and you are invited to inspect it all. In short, we're just in it for the money at this point.

CULTOSAURUS ERECTUS

"Cultosaurus" is a fictional, pseudo-scientific word rather than a real Latin term, but its roots can be translated using a mix of Latin and Greek. It translates conceptually to "worship lizard" or "cult lizard" - Google A.I.

BOC's 7th studio album burst them into the dawn of the 1980s with the ominously titled "Cultosaurus Erectus." Obviously the title was made to sound like a dinosaur species, pretend-latin and all. But a closer look reveals that Mr Erectus is not of this earth, whether from a million or 10 million years ago! Is the thing supposed to even be alive? Is it fossilized? Has it been reanimated or is it frozen in time? Ah, nothing like an ancient alien dinosoar to get us in the proper mood to rock out with BOC!

The band is clearly drifting further away from Sandy Pearlman's "Imaginos" world in 1980, disappearing off into sci-fi fantasy with one of the great writers of the genre to assist with lyrics, Michael Moorcock - who also collaborated with the band Hawkwind for a period of time. This crossing over of sci-fi fantasy writer and heavy metal is an interesting juxtaposition, taking what bands like Rainbow and Wishbone Ashe flirted with in the 1970s and firmly planting both black leather boots into the wet concrete known as "the heavy metal genre."

[Note this specific wording: "the power and the glory," in the above promotional advertisement. This is a phrase which appears in the King James Bible version of the Lord's Prayer. British band Saxon also used this phrase as an album title in 1983]

Notably, C.E. [Christian Era?] features Martin Birch as producer, who recorded Deep Purple's 70s material and would go on to produce all of Iron Maiden's classic 1980s albums. This would seem to contribute to the idea that BOC was part of a grand and deliberate effort to develope this new heavy metal genre, but I do have a little bit of an overactive imagination...

BOC's manager Sandy Pearlman also started managing Black Sabbath at this time, which might have had something to do with the manifestation of the now legendary "Black and Blue" tour, occuring that same year C.E. came out. It seems both Britain and the United States were chosen to be launching pads from which this new sound and lifestyle would take off officially.

The above promotional poster for a film documenting this lean, but powerful bill, contains a very interesting name in the production credits: George Harrison. Yes, that's right. George Harrison of the Beatles! Could it be that an original member of the "British Invasion" was now joining in a new invasion of another sort?

It wasn't enough to pair these 2 giants from either side of the Atlantic together and have them tour. No, a film documenting the tour had to be made and it had to play in theatres so that those that missed the concert or missed the memo that "heavy metal is now a thing" could be informed that George Harrison and Michael Moorcock want you on this bandwagon. What are you waiting for???

The above promotional poster seems to be far more loaded than the C.E. album art, so let's unpack it for a moment. There are 2 motorcycle gangs here representing the bands, or perhaps more specifically, their countries of origin. The gang on the left flies the cross pattée upon their flag, which is found on the Queen of England's crown. This would seem to represent the Black Sabbath/British element, while the gang on the right flies the BOC hook/cross, from the Unites States of course. They come together in the center of the image and combine into 1 symbol. Kinda like 2 chapters of an international motorcycle gang coming together. 2 corporations merging? 2 countries enacting the same kayfabe psyop?

Lasers seem to shoot out from the center, incinerating familiar landmarks, recalling BOC's controversial laser shows of the late 70s. It looks like Big Ben and the Empire State building are 2 of the more prominent structures getting incinerated 9/11 style - reminding the viewer that we're talking about a psyop involving Great Britain and the United States primarily.

A giant fist forming the now ubiquitous "sign of the horns," popularized by Ronnie James Dio and Gene Simmons in the 1970s, towers behind the central symbol. Down it goes, into the same wet concrete our leather boots stand firmly pressed into for eternity. Kinda like how the "Freedom Tower" replaced the Twin Towers a few years back...A new symbol, and new order, formed out of the destruction from the old. HEAVY METAL IS HERE! YOU ARE A HEAVY METAL SOLDIER! NOW GO MARCH OR DIE!

In all seriousness though, we're talking about the establishment of a new subculture. One which can take Americans, Britains, and probably just about anyone from anywhere out of their own culture, and place them into this newly contrived one. Have you ever thought about how much power and influence that puts into the hands of those who control these bands?

Look, I was a Metalhead in the 80s and still enjoy some of it to this day. But it never really occured to me, as a young metalhead, that what I thought was some real individual freedom seeking path in life was one I was actually lead into by those who intended to control me AND others who believe they are members of the same "organically spawned" counterculture. I'm pissed off and I want my money back!

The inner sleeve artwork is hilarious, spoofing a National Geographic type documentary, chronicling the apparently fossilized Cultosaurus Erectus findings. Interestingly, Oyster Bay is mentioned, which was near the original location of Stoney Brook University, where the members of BOC met. Stalk Forrest [a fictional place] is also mentioned, and is one of the names BOC used before assuming their current one. This is interesting because Sandy Pearlman has claimed in interviews that he came up with the name Stalk Forrest Group while eating chinese food and observing that the mushrooms on his plate looked like "stalks." BOC is now using this title in reference to a PLACE. Not on a plate, but in this alternate world of Mr Erectus. Hmmm...

Unfortunately our menacing Cultosaurus is reduced to something resembling a giant long necked tadpole when its' entire body is shown. The irony here is thick and the humor is dry as a fossilized re-animated alien dinosaur bone.

The inner vinyl sleeve seems to have included a young child on either side, both depicted wearing red and sitting inside what I presume to be Mr Erectus' footprint. Only, Mr Erectus could not have made such a footprint because he slithered around like a giant land tadpole! Maybe those nutty guys in BOC or the nutty artist they hired just wants to throw in a generally nostalgic throwback photo to being a kid in a museum which displays dinosaur bones?

This is all very silly and almost Monty Python-esque in its' dry mockery of the audience beholding it, but what is the real point here when we look past all the sarcasm? Is there an occult message, or are we just making another BOC salad packed with all the cliches we can throw in?

FIRE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN

I remember staring at the above promotional poster for the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal, as it sat gathering dust upon the wall of the comic book store I frequented. This place had a small alcove with 3 or 4 arcade games, which I rarely had the money to play. So when I wasn't trying to figure out how to most effectively spend my 3 or 4 quarters, I was falling in love with the chick on that poster - wondering what her world was like, and how I could transport myself into it. This was the world I would come to know as Heavy Metal, and it existed mostly in my head. But that wouldn't stop me and thousands of others from trying to convince the world otherwise! After all, THEY are just boring people who don't know how to rock and don't understand the majesty and mystery WE stand in league with! No, they didn't "get" Heavy Metal - but that's ok, WE didn't need THEIR approval anyway!

But ironically Columbia Pictures, the same corporation behind Blue Oyster Cult's releases, was funding both the band and the film. I'm glad this major corporation was around to fabricate MY imagined world/lifestyle and feed it to me so that I could have an "individual" identity for the next 40 years or so!

Unsurprisingly, both BOC and Black Sabbath were a couple bands that were featured on the film's soundtrack. But I must admit that both the film and the soundtrack didn't seem that "Heavy Metal" to me when I finally snapped out of my trance of lusting after the lady in the poster and checked out the actual content therein. But this goes back to my earlier observation about how the definition of Heavy Metal has changed throughout the years. And who was I anyway, to try and lecture Columbia Corporation regarding the legitimacy of something they themselves helped define initially in the 1980s?

Several of the songs from BOC's "Fire of Unknown Origin" were intended for the soundtrack of the animated film, such as "Vengeance (The Pact)," the lyrics of which follow in detail the plot of the "Taarna" segment of the movie. However, only the song "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" (not originally written for the film), co-written by science-fiction author Michael Moorcock, ended up in the film's final version and soundtrack.

Aside from the Corporate sponsored agenda to refine heavy metal into an acceptable counterculture thing, the Cult seems to have returned to Sandy Pearlman's Imaginos world for F.U.O., at least with regard to the album cover. As the mystical hooded individual hints, while presenting a blue oyster to the viewer, this would seem to be THE mythical Blue Oyster Cult. These "fictional" individuals are clearly doing the bidding of those wacky unseen aliens working to steer humanity into various directions, in order to fullfill THEIR plan.

While it is all fun and entertaining to play along with the Cult and their fantastical heavy metal cosplay, there is a sinister feeling about it all. Perhaps even a desperately yearning feeling that what we are dealing with here is not necessarily fiction. That there there may be a certain reality to what is being depicted here. That our world IS, in fact, being "guided" by unseen individuals and dark forces. But maybe they aren't from some distant planet. Maybe they are just a few hundred miles from where we sit!

A fire of unknown origin took my baby away...

I'm living for givin' the devil his due...And I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you

Anytime we see triangles/pyramids, references to alchemy and the occult - the recurrence of FIRE references take on multiple levels of meaning. We've got a fire of unknown origin, which invites the querent to delve deeper and try to solve the riddle of this fire. Is it love? Is it a woman? Is it literal fire? Is it a magical invisible fire? All of the above, most likley.

Lucifer means "light bringer" or "morning star." The name Luke is a version of this, which is why Luke Skywalker weilds a LIGHT sword and is a SKYWALKER [sun metaphor]. In Lucifarian terms, light, flame, fire, lightning, burning, the sun, horus - can all be vague references to the same thing. So when we find that BOC's first real hit of the 80s "Burning for You" contains all of this loaded symbolism, it's probably a good bet that genuine occultists are at work here on some level. But the band members themselves might very well just be along for the ride upon a ship named Columbia.

To get a bit more Freemasonic about it, the fire as depicted in Albert Pike's "Morals and Dogma" is a metaphor for the human intellect. As-in how we refer to a smart person as being "bright." But it also exhalts the human intellect as being the highest aspect of our being, and here is where God doesn't really exist. It is our FAITH in God, our intellectual perception that is the highest power. At least, that is my understanding of the concept based upon my studies [see my series on Morals and Dogma, link at bottom of the page].

The back cover features an illustration of an astrolabe, an ancient astronomical instrument used for measuring the positions of the sun and stars. Following the general theme of magic cults, beings from another planet, and fire/intellect. Our friend John Dee [007], who you may recall from part 2, was a big fan of these, and probably helped further develope that technology.

PART 1

PART 2

Related:

MORALS AND DOGMA

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Blue Oyster Cult: Occult Symbolism [PT2]

In part 1 we looked at the history behind the name Blue Oyster Cult and found that it was coined by Sandy Pearlman, the band's manager at the time. The iconic logo itself, we are told, was created by artist Bill Gawlik, who seems to have vanished from the face of the earth upon completing the artwork for B.O.C.'s 2nd album "Tyranny and Mutation." We left off looking at what some consider to be the last in a 3 part trilogy, "Secret Treaties." This trilogy being the first 3 albums, whos' artwork was mostly rendered in black and white - hense the "black and white trilogy" moniker frequently used by fans and critics.

[back cover artwork for the B.O.C. album, "Secret Treaties." Note the PL-01 on the side of the plane]

Before moving on to B.O.C.'s 4th album, in part one I said we'd revisit the "PL-01" [shown on the plane in the image above] if I found out what it stood for. Turns out, it's no big secret. It was Czechoslovakia's first version of Germany's ME-262, known as the Avia S-92 series. It would seem to stand for "PLANE #1". Here is an alleged photo of it:

This augments a potential layer of meaning within the art, which is that the band members as portrayed are "play acting" the appropriation of a Nazi plane - similar to how Czechoslovakia historically appropriated that same plane, in actual fact. Pretty clever, and plays well into my observations detailed in part 1.

One alternative theory out there says that the PL stands for PearLman, as-in Sandy Pearlman. Definately a stretch, I'm gonna go with the former explanation.

ON YOUR FEET OR ON YOUR KNEES

Upon completion of their "Black and White Trilogy," Blue Oyster Cult was yet to have achieved a big hit song, though they seemed to be touring extensively. Early 1976 saw the release of their first live album, "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees."

As I dig deeper into BOC's history, I am continually surprised at how influential they seemed to have beeen upon the original branding of the heavy metal genre, which was only in it's infacy at the time. As I stated in part one, I never really considered BOC to be a heavy metal band, but I guess it really depends upon one's definition of the phrase and what era we are talking about. I suppose in 1975, that's how BOC was marketing themselves and that's therefore what heavy metal was AT THAT TIME, as far as the public was concerned.

Blatant blasphemy was apparently the first mandatory "heavy metal stereotype" the boys needed to establish with regard to the artwork. As we'll see, they drive the point home in multiple ways, ensuring the public knows where they stand on the controversial topic of religion ;)

Gracing the cover is a big black intimidating 1973 Cadillac Fleetwood Seventyfive Limousine, which sits parked in front of a Church pictured through a distorted lense. The BOC logo sits conspicuosly up on the front end of the car, about where a processional flag would be if this was a funerary or government automobile. Black, being the color of lead, the heaviest of metals, seems precisely appropriate. The color's association with Saturn is another point we covered in part 1. I wonder what day this was? [since Saturday is the day allocated to Saturn]

The decidedly metallic-rendered logo was the work of Gerard Huerta, who also designed AC/DC's "lighting Bolt" logo apparently. It seems this style in particular is regarded as the proto heavy metal logo, which makes sense when you compare it to later ones by Judas Priest, Motorhead [who also had an umlaut in theirs], Metallica, Megadeth, and of course AC/DC.

The title "On Your Feet or On Your Knees", when taken in context with the cover art, is obviously a reference to the way people worship - and makes a comparison between going to church and going to a rock concert. This would make the concert a metaphorical "religious experience" and the musicians, or the music itself, divine or godly. Oh, the blasphemy!

The inner Gatefold LP contains a live concert scene where BOC is depicted "rocking out" [without drums] against the turbulent sky/heavens, inside what appears to be an old church. This creates a dramatic "sistine chapel" sort of effect, as if the band is "the artwork" depicting a divine scene ala Michelangelo. That might be laying it on a bit thick, but I think this is where their heads were at.

And just for good measure, the back album image features what appears to be a holy bible, held in hands with black leather gloves [what sort of pastor is this? We'll find out in a moment!] The text has been replaced with song titles and credits. I wonder what on earth the band was trying to say here??? Kidding aside, the Doors famously compared their concerts to a "ceremony" or a "religious experience," so The Cult [a nickname fans gave to BOC] wasn't the first Rock band to use this clever association as a gimmic - but they seem to be one of the first to really cram it down your throat in that ever so gentle way that BOC is known for delivering their brand of darkness. [bonus points if you are asking yourself why the band The Cult and their album "Ceremony" is suddenly floating around in your brain]

The Live Gospel...unleashed in the temples of rock and roll...It's live. It's scripture. It's Blue Oyster Cult. - promotional ad

While we're mocking Christianity [or whatever religion they might be VAGUELY referring to], let's go ahead and throw some S&M bondage themes into the mix! Let our "pastor" don a leather gimp mask, whip in hand, preaching from the podium - which has the BOC logo etched into the front of it!

As far as "occult symbolism and themes" within the artwork, this is not one of BOC's more cryptic examples. Their marketing strategy was essentially the same as Black Sabbath's at the time: blasphemy and sensationalism, delivered with enough humor for plausible deniability, but enough mystery/ambiguity to make some fans wonder if they really mean it or not.

Don't forget, this was 1976. Judas Priest and Kiss were just starting out and Iron Maiden wouldn't release their first LP for another 4 years. The standard was being set here mostly by Sandy Pearlman and the think tank behind bands like BOC, Black Sabbath, and a few others. The 'Cult didn't have any hits yet, and clearly weren't primed to be the next "big thing," but that didn't stop Pearlman and his associates off in the shadows from whipping the public into submission in order to accept this new rock and roll gospel of heavy metal!

AGENTS OF FORTUNE

BOC's 4th studio album is known as the one containing their first, and probably biggest hit, "Don't Fear the Reaper." Without delving too deeply into that song's lyrics, the title seems to say it all. Come on baby, don't fear death! Something about Buck Dharma's soft vocal delivery provides a decidedly ghostly atmosphere to the whole thing, as opposed to the stereotypically "brutal" heavy metal approach established by songs like Sabbath's "Iron Man" or even Judas Priests' "The Ripper." No, this is something more subtly sinister and eccentric, more reminiscent of darker prog rock from the early 1970s...

The Grim Reaper is traditionally depicted carrying the scythe, a tool which is allocated to the Roman god Saturn, god of harvest, time, life, and death. I don't think it's a coincidence that the BOC logo is also presumed to be a version of the astrological symbol for Saturn, but I'm just shooting in the dark here...

A.O.F. more or less INSTRUCTS you to try and decode the deeper occult meanings contained within the art work. The individual on the front becons you, holding Tarot cards in one hand, pointing to the cryptic BOC logo with his other, tempting you to find the connection I suppose. For many years I had no idea who this individual was supposed to be specifically. He appears to be some sort of croupier [card dealer], but what card game are we playing here? I don't think you'll find any Tarot decks at the dealer's table in Las vegas!

Turns out the individual depicted on the cover is Belgian magician Servais Le Roy (4 May 1865 – 2 June 1953) He is known as the inventor of the classic levitation illusion Asrah the Floating Princess. At one point, his troupe was billed as The Comedians de Mephisto Co.

Although anyone who calls him/herself a "magician" will always be presumed to flirt with dark occult forces, Servais would seem to be of the Houdini/Copperfield carnival variety, as opposed to the sort of "Magick" Aleister Crowley practiced, which was rooted more in the solitary ritualistic, spirit conjuring, alchemical tradition. And yet, the image depicts Servais holding Crowley's Thoth tarot cards, portraying him as he probably was not. Sure, he may have had a Rider-Waite deck laying around somewhere, but the Thoth tarot wasn't published until 1969, well after Servais died.

So what exactly is an "Agent of Fortune?" Despite how well it rolls off of the tongue, it doesn't seem to be a common phrase. However, the phrase "Soldier of Fortune" is.

A soldier of fortune is a mercenary who fights for money, profit, or personal adventure rather than for loyalty to a specific country or political cause - Google A.I.

I assume A.O.F. is a play on the above phrase. And so based upon that assumption, we now need to swap the word "soldier" for the word "agent."

An agent is a person, entity, or substance authorized or having the power to act on behalf of another, produce a specific effect, or execute tasks

So is Servais trying to tell us that he is some sort of representative for the opportunistic endeavors of BOC? At this point, it's probably useful to take a brief look at the lyrics to E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), since it contains the title of the album in it:

Dead leaves always give up motion
Well, I no longer feel emotion
When prophecy fails the falling notion
Yes, don't report this
Agents of fortune

In Sandy Pearlman's Imaginos lore, the "Blue Öyster Cult" is a secret society of human servants or a group of aliens who have been covertly guiding and altering human history for centuries. The "Agents of Fortune" mentioned in the song are the enforcers of this conspiracy. They act on behalf of "Les Invisibles" (alien, Lovecraftian sky-gods) to manipulate global events, politics, and wars.

Although Pearlman's Imaginos writings seem to have influenced much of BOC's first 3 albums, "Agents of Fortune" is where the band seems to pair it down to just the one song: "ETI", despite essentially referencing the mythos directly in the album title. The band's apparent choice to shift in and out of using Pearlman's mythos throughout the years clearly provides a great deal of the "mystique" we get from BOC, as they themselves probably couldn't tell you exactly where it all begins and ends at any given point in time!

Continuing along with this theme of a croupier and gambling, the inner vinyl LP sleeve reveals BOC all dressed up and playing Roullette...on the moon! Now I must digress for a moment because there is something surprisingly random about this image, beyond what is plainly obvious already...

You see how the roullette table is sitting directly upon the moon's surface? That's a pretty creative [or odd] depiction when you think about it! For starters, where are their feet? Are they just floating solidly upon the blackness of space or perhaps a lower lunar level we can't see beyong the outer visible summit? And yet somehow it all looks strangely plausible! I believe we are looking at an attempt to mimick [or mock] the Front Projection Effect, a technique allegedly used in images and film associated with the Apollo 11 moon landing.

[this late 1960s image is one of many you can find that are all purported to be genuine pictures taken from the moon]

Maybe the artist who put this all together on AOF was just having fun with it? Or maybe different layers of potential conspiracy are just being piled on gratuitously to constantly "up the ante". I mean, if you're gonna try and top something like "Tyranny and Mutation" or "Secret Treaties," you gotta get creative!

A closer look reveals that the croupier here is actually a woman, holding the "chip rake" or cropier stick. At the very least, we are talking about gambling which, as the saying goes, is "the devil's road to poverty." And of course "Russian Roullette" is a game where 2 people put a single bullet randomly into their respective 6 chamber gun and take turns pulling the trigger while holding it to their own head. So there's some death on the table here I'd wager [pun intended]. I suppose on one level, this could be depicting the band's own deal[s] with the devil.

There is also another possible level here, relating to the Imaginos mythos - which basically frames the members of the band as the "agents of fortune" working on behalf of the E.T.I., which is probably code for an actual 3 letter agency [such as the C.I.A. or the F.B.I.]. Is BOC subtly telling you who they really work for and what's really at stake here in the larger scheme of things? Are "the Extraterrestrials" and this "conspiracy to covertly guide mankind" really just paper thin metaphors telling you exactly who THEY really are and what their literal purpose is? That's enough to put a big shit eating grin on your face isn't it?

The back cover depicts a pyramid with Saturn floating on top, a new [or waning] moon in the sky. The pyramid/Saturn juxtaposition slightly echos the "Tyranny and Mutation" cover which features a sort of pyramid motif and the BOC logo [Saturn] floating above the top point.

I assume the artist, Lynn Curlee [who also painted the album cover for Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell"], was likely instructed on what to paint to a degree [although in an interview found at black-sabbath.com, he claims he chose to paint the magician holding the cards]. The signifficance of Saturn, or the BOC logo above the pyramid points towards, I believe in some way, the occult forces behind the band. This is related to the Columbia Records "all seeing eye" iconography and/or the "illuminati" if you prefer. The ones BOC would have presumably gambled away their souls to.

SPECTRES

BOC's 5th studio album features another one of their biggest hits, "Godzilla." I just spoke with someone the other day who said they didn't know any Blue Oyster Cult songs. Then I sang a couple lines from "Godzilla," and they went "oh yeah, I know that song!" The band was big-time at this point, and so was their mission to freak their fans out!

The group is gathered in an old-school study, dressed as if they are gangsters plotting their next move during the prohibition era. The clock reads 12 [midnight, I presume] and a scary looking cat statue is placed conspicuously on top of the bookshelf. Laser lights jump around the room and a disembodied hand seems to be reaching in from a sort of mirror or gateway into another world. There is also a crystal ball on the lower left, which is hard to make out, but has the BOC logo imprinted upon it.

A spectre (spelled specter in American English) is a ghost, phantom, or a frightening future threat that causes worry. - Google A.I.

First off, why is BOC spelling SPECTRE in the British way, rather than the American? BOC is an American band, after all. I found an interesting explanation for this within Ian Flemming's fictional James Bond world, where the global criminal syndicate led by Ernst Stavro Blofeld is an acronym for SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion or S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Flemming was known to be a former British Intelligence agent, and the James Bond stories are presumed to contain at least some truth derived from his own experiences. And so again we have this recurring theme of shadowy intelligence figures from 3 letter agencies, such as MI5, operating within the BOC narrative.

The crystal ball and mirror symbols recall Sandy Pearlman's Imaginos mythos, by way of John Dee and his tools used to communicate with otherworldly entities. This all gets a bit confusing if you haven't read part 1, but it's worth noting here that John Dee used to sign some of his letters with a "tubal cane" or 007. That is also what James Bond's code name was in Flemming's series - so the connection doesn't seem random here. Did you think I was exagerrating when I mentioned earlier that the band was on a mission to freak their fans out?

The lasers played a prominent role in BOC's concerts during the "AOF" tour and on through the "Spectres" era. Apparently, BOC was somewhat of a pioneer in this area, and laser lights at concerts became popular around this time, as well as at other places such as Studio 54 in New York. But then OSHA took notice of the potential risk of concert goers being blinded by the powerful lasers, should they get one directly in the eye. And so the impressive display provided by David Infante's Laser Physics Inc was somewhat short lived. I don't know that the potential to get fatally "zapped" by Eric Bloom's reflective wrist band at a BOC show was some sort of psy-op, but it certainly created a palpable moment of controversy for the band, which is well documented if you wanna look into it.

The back cover of the album hones in on this laser concept and seems to integrate it into the otherworldy gateway concept which we noted on the front cover. Apparently the band had a few somewhat choreographed sections of their show where members reflected lasers off of their wrist bans and guitars and then onto the crowd, in some kind of suggestive display.

For some reason I'm reminded of Judas Priests' album "Stained Class," released within months of "Spectres" and also on CBS records. The cover art for that album seems to integrate a similar sensibility with lasers, as well as a similar color scheme. The metallic head plays along with the theme of reflection and refraction, while seeming to absorb the stylised "laser beam." [bonus points if you go out and listen to the intro to the song "Invader" and tell me it doesn't sound like the sonic version of a laser slowly pearcing you through the brain!]

This album was the subject of a controversal 1985 incident where 2 American teens decided to enter into a suicide pact, inspired by what they believed to be messages delivered to them by Judas Priest. The song "Better By You, Better than Me" from Stained Class in particular was singled out in the court proceedings. I did an entire blog about this, which I will link below.

I grabbed the above image online somewhere showing how the lasers are potentially tracing out the band's ubiquitous symbol. Somebody clearly thought these newly utilized laser effects were the next level in heavy metal entertainment, culminating ultimately into the aforementioned "laser light controversy", which feels more and more like some sort of psyop the more I think about it. But I'll have to come back to that if/when some sort of revalation presents itself to me.

PART 1

RELATED:

IMAGINOS MYTHOS EXPLAINED

JUDAS PRIEST TRIALS REVISITED

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