Don’t Fear The Reaper: Blue Öyster Cult Producer Sandy Pearlman Dead At 72
Even if you don’t recognize his name, you’re probably acquainted with the bands that Sandy Pearlman managed. The visionary producer who oversaw the early career of Blue Öyster Cult and produced such bands as Black Sabbath, The Dictators, Dream Syndicate, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Romeo Void, and The Clash passed away peacefully in Marin County, California, just after midnight last night.
While the Summer of Love was blossoming in San Francisco in 1967, Sandy Pearlman was a continent away on Long Island, putting together a band to perform musical interpretations of poetry he’d written while attending Brandeis University. It did not take long for Pearlman to convince Donald Rosier aka Buck Dharma, drummer Albert Bouchard, keyboardist Allen Lanier, bassist Andrew Winters, and singer Les Braunstein to come together under the name Soft White Underbelly. Pearlman provided lyrics along with Richard Meltzer, and Eric Bloom acted as the band’s acoustic engineer. By 1971, Braunstein was out, Bloom joined the band as a musician, and they changed their name to Blue Öyster Cult. According to the BÖC website, it was guitarist Alan Lanier who suggested the umlaut.
Blue Öyster Cult’s best-selling and most widely recognized song, “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” was produced by Sandy Pearlman and quickly climbed the rock music charts in 1976.
In a now-famous Saturday Night Live sketch, actor Christopher Walken parodied Sandy Pearlman with the hilarious exclamation, “I got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell!”
Pearlman was an early rock critic whose essays often appeared in Crawdaddy! magazine. Billboard magazine called Sandy Pearlman “the Hunter Thompson of rock, a gonzo producer of searing intellect and vast vision.”
Samuel Clarke Pearlman was born on August 8, 1943, and raised in Rockaway, New York. In addition to a number of noteworthy accomplishments in the music industry, Pearlman served as a professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. There he taught a variety of courses, including intellectual property and copyright law as well as a course entitled “The Philosophy and Esthetics of Record Production,” according to producer management outfit Breathing Protection. The forward-thinking record producer also held a seat on the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress where he helped to create policies regarding the restoration and preservation of both musical and spoken word recordings.
Pearlman produced one of the very first punk rock albums, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy, in 1975. He reprised his role as punk produced with The Clash’s second LP, Give ‘Em Enough Rope, three years later, according to the New York Times. The Times also noted
In 1989, Sandy Pearlman purchased San Francisco synthpop/punk record label 415 Records from former Bill Graham Presents employee Queenie Taylor. He changed the company name to Popular Metaphysics, and it was under that label that Pearlman co-branded a number of local acts, including World Entertainment War, Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom, and Love Club with MCA Records. The Popular Metaphysics label is now defunct.
Pearlman presented a symposium titled “The Future of Audio in the 21st Century” at the Mill Valley Film Festival, the Montreal Pop Festival, SXSW, Canadian Music Week, and the Los Angeles Film Festival, and he lectured at the University of California at Monterey Film School and other California universities.
Last December, Sandy Pearlman endured a devastating cerebral hemorrhage. In the wake of this disaster, his personal friend, Robert Duncan, started a GoFundMe page to help pay for Sandy’s monumental medical costs. The page, which announced Pearlman’s death earlier today, is still active for anyone who wishes to contribute. Duncan notes that any funds that remain after paying for Pearlman’s final expenses will be donated to the MusiCares foundation.
Our hearts go out to the family of producer #SandyPearlman who passed away today at the age of 72. https://t.co/N0H4Aeq8Zf #RIP
— Sweet Relief Musicians Fund (@SweetRelief) July 26, 2016
Goodnight, Sandy Pearlman 1943-2016
https://youtu.be/7xXEtO3bEe0
[Photo via TDC Photography/Shutterstock]
