Saturday Night Live feels like a roller coaster ride.
Some seasons are great and other season’s are downright awful.
But the 25th season of Saturday Night Live was a strong year in our humble opinions.
You had a great cast at the time with Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Anna Gastayer, Molly
Shannon, Chris Parnell,Chris Kattan, Horatio Sanz and Jimmy Fallon to name a few.
It was during an April 2000 episode with host Christopher Walken that a sketch that was
relegated to be the last of the show would unexpectedly became one of the most memorable
in the show’s history.
That’s what we’re going to explore in today’s video.
Hailing from New York City, Blue Oyster Cult took nearly a decade to get their big break..
Their first three records were full of overimaginative lyrics about drugs, and halloween monsters.
Referred to as a thinking man’s band by the press, The rock press hailed the band
as being the future of rock.
Cream magazine referred to them having and i quote““all the equipment necessary to
become the best band in America,” while some critics went even further with Mike Saunders
of Phonograph Record saying they had and i quote “the potential to match the recorded
work of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.”
The only problem was the band didn’t have the hits to backup that claim, at least not
yet.
In 1976 the band would release their fourth record Agents of Fortune that gave the band
their first platinum record.
One of the contributing factors to the album’s success was the song ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper.’
The song would be written and sung by guitarist Buck Dharma.
But not everybody was on-board with the song as vocalist Eric Bloom had reservations about
the track with Dharma telling GQ “Eric Bloom didn’t think it was right for Blue Öyster
Cult.
The band was formed around Eric as the high-energy, menacing lead singer.
He didn’t think it was the way the band should go.”
Despite his objections the band recorded the song with the lyrical content being partially
inspired by Dharma’s real life telling GQ
"I had an idea that I wanted to write a love story about transcending death.
I was 22, and I had a heart arrhythmia, which developed in my late teens.
I thought I might not live much longer.
A cardiologist said, ‘It’s not something that’s gonna kill you.’
But dying had been on my mind.”
Some accused the band of promoting suicide with the reference to ‘Romeo and Juliet’
being together in eternity, but this wasn’t the angle the band was going for.
The song would peak at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in America.
The impact of the song and album’s success was felt immediately with drummer Albert Bouchard
telling GQ
Suddenly there was some recognition for the band.
And we had a lot more money.
I bought a house, paid cash.
I bought two cars.
Three years later, the house is gone, the cars are gone.
One was stolen, the other I lost in the divorce.
It all came out to nothing [laughs].
Even before Saturday Night Live did the infamous cowbell skit, the song was already part of
popular culture as it appeared in the 1978 horror film Halloween and even author Stephen
King referenced it.
It also appeared in some B movies and TV-shows in the 90’s.
Let's talk about the SNL Skit.
In April of 2000 an episode that saw Christopher Walken host the show would see a skit called
‘More Cowbell’ centered around the recording of the song in the style of VH1’s popular
program behind the music.
The idea for the skit came to SNL cast member and writer Will Ferrell who told Rolling Stone.
“Every time I heard [the song], I would hear the faint cowbell in the background and
wonder, ‘What is that guy’s life like?'”
That guy Ferrell was wondering about was either producer David Lucas and frontman Eric Bloom
as both have disputed who played the cowbell on the track.
where did the cowbell come in oh that was ironically it was similar to what happened
in the skit.
We had put on a bunch of overdubs on the song and one of them was randy breaker put a frugal
horn part on it or trumpet or something in the middle part the that part so and we didn't
like it nobody in the group liked it and so erase that track and so he said hey I want
to do a triangle in that part that's what I want.
I hear a triangle that's what I want I hear a triangle my head and one of the producers
there was 3 there was Sandy Pearlman, Murray Krugman and David Lucas.
David Lucas was a jingle producer and he said ok you can put the triangle on but try a cowbell
I just want to hear a cowbell and I said why you think is the tempo not steady enough?
And he said no the tempo is fine it's I just want to hear that sound I said ok so I play
it and it's like nah it's not working and he's like oh well put some tape around it
so I put some tape around it and he's like yeah yeah that's it and I said I don't know
let me try a beater so it's like timpani mallet and everybody's like yes that's it!
that's it, so
The skit was written around November of 1999 and was initially pitched for an episode that
former castmate Norm McDonald hosted, but was rejected.
It was allegedly pitched for an episode Alec Baldwin later hosted, but was turned down
again.
It wasn’t until Christopher Walken hosted the show that the skit got the greenlight..
. Cast member Chris Katan would reveal to GQ that Walken’s table read was so good
that it convinced Producer Lorne Michaels to give the skit airtime.
But despite getting the green light there wasn’t a lot of hope that the skit would
make much of an impact.
It was relegated to the last skit of the night.
Typically the last half hour of the show is where the worst skits of the show go and where
a lot of viewers tune out.
Chris Kattan would tell GQ : If they think a sketch is going to be huge, they make it
the first sketch of the night.
It was also in a corner of the studio they call the Death Corner, because the studio
audience can see it only on the TV monitors.
It’s not an easy place to get laughs.
The skit wasn't an accurate representation of how the song was recorded.
First off the song was recorded in 1975, not in 1976 like the skit references.
Will Farrell would play a fictional character named Gene Frankle who plays the cowbell on
the song, while Walken would play producer Bruce Dickinson.
Chris Parnell would play frontman Eric Bloom and pretend to sing the song in the skit,
despite the fact he doesn’t sing on the actual recording.
Jimmy Fallon would play drummer Bobby Rondinelli, despite the fact that Albert Bouchard performed
on the song, Chris Kattan would play Buck Dharma and Horatio Sanz as Joe Bouchard.
Both Farrell and Walken’s characters were not part of the actual recording of the song.
While some may think the name Bruce Dickinson was in reference to Iron Maiden’s frontman
it wasn’t.
It was an SNL intern who was asked to go to a local record store to get Agents of Fortune
album.
Instead the intern got a hits compilation CD and Bruce Dickinson was listed as the reissue
producer in the liner notes and worked at the band's label Columbia Records as a mid-level
manager.
The cast members would credit Walken and Will Ferrell’s performance with making the skit
a classic.
Chris Kattan would tell GQ how they made one adjustment to the skit during rehearsals recalling
to GQ “After dress rehearsal, Will came up to me and said, “Hey Kattan, when you
say your line ‘Don’t blow this for us, Gene,’ I want you to push me really hard.”
I have some strength, even though I have the appearance of an ant.
I pushed him hard enough to fall backwards, and that’s when his belly fell out of the
shirt even further.
Jimmy [Fallon] laughed, and that’s when the dominoes of character breaking happened.
Walken never broke.
He’s visiting from another planet, so he doesn’t understand.
The band would admit that they had no idea the skit was coming but found it hilarious.
Even after the skit aired the band would be introduced at shows using the cowbell sketch.
Some fans even would come up to the band to express their condolences over Gene’s death
as the skit ends with an in-memorium photo of Gene.
Will Ferrell would appear on Jimmy Fallon’s tonight show and admit the skit jokingly ruined
Walken’s life as a lot of people ask him for more cowbell or attend his play performances
and bring cowbells.
In the years that followed the skit’s Farrell has dressed up as Gene in numerous appearances.
GQ magazine would report on the song in 2020 the song saw 50,000 plays on satellite and
terrestrial radio and the same year the song earned $637,000 in revenue not including album
sales.
That does it for today's video guys.
Thanks for watching and be sure to hit the like button and subscribe and we'll see you
later.