The song title “Godzilla” might lead some to expect lyrics that use the title as a metaphor for some sort of destructive element. Blue Öyster Cult didn’t have anything of the sort in mind. Instead, the band were indeed paying tribute to the famously destructive movie monster.
Videos by American Songwriter
Give credit to the band for finding a way to both represent the chaos and carnage the big lizard left in its wake and make us root for the beast. Among songs about gigantic, fire-breathing forces of nature, an admittedly concise genre, “Godzilla” stands pretty tall.
A Growing Cult
For a while, Blue Öyster Cult seemed destined to be, well, a cult band. The New York-based outfit carved out a niche among their loyal fandom for combining some of the more ambitious qualities of prog rock with the irreverence and potency of heavy metal. Their pyrotechnic-filled stage show also stood out in the early ‘70s.
Then a little song called “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” came along in 1976, and suddenly BOC became something of a household name. The stop-and-start, cowbell-infused meditation on death enchanted pop audiences and gave the band their first ever Top-10 single. (To give you an idea of the leap they took: Up to that point, they hadn’t even scored a Top-100 hit from their first three records).
After “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” helped push the album Agents of Fortune to Platinum status, the band had a lot more ears on them for the 1977 follow-up Spectres. No big hit singles would be forthcoming this time around. But in “Godzilla, Blue Öyster Cult delivered a track that would eventually become a hard rock standard of sorts.
Of Monsters and Men
Blue Öyster Cult possessed a knack for song topics other artists never would have considered. The band’s Buck Dharma didn’t set out to write a song about “Godzilla.” Luckily for him, some guitar chords pushed him in that direction. He explained this to the blog Sparks & Shadows:
“The story of the tune was, I just came up with the parallel fifths guitar riff in a hotel room in Dallas, Texas, back in the day, probably about 1975. And it immediately made me think of Godzilla, like the plodding, you know, guy-in-a-suit monster. And I started writing the lyrics from what happened in the movie. Like, the high-tension wires are a big part of that movie.”
But instead of simply creating a song of terror, Dharma was inspired to take a somewhat insightful view of the monster as something to be pitied as much as feared. The fresh outlook, combined with the crunching music, makes “Godzilla” a track worth revisiting, just as if you’d watch one of the monster’s movies again and again.
Behind the Lyrics of “Godzilla”
Dharma quickly establishes himself as someone who knows this monster’s M.O.: With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound / He pulls the splitting high-tension wires down. Other scenes pulled straight from the films: People trapped in a subway and buses thrown around by the monster like they were wiffle balls.
But Dharma explains the creature is only fulfilling the destiny humanity laid out for him: History shows again and again / How nature points out the folly of men. There goes Tokyo, Dharma sings, and he then cheers on the monster: Go go, Godzilla.
Blue Öyster Cult didn’t make their way to the mainstream all that much through the years. But when they did, they certainly did so with unforgettably iconic songs. “Godzilla,” a portrait of a monster both unsparing and sympathetic, certainly fits the bill.
Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.