Editing Blue Öyster Cult (section)

== Band name and logo ==
[[File:Hook-and-cross white.svg|thumb|upright=0.5|The hook-and-cross logo]]
[[File:Saturn symbol.svg|thumb|upright=0.5|One variant of the [[lead]] symbol in [[alchemy]], also used to represent the planet [[Planets in astrology|Saturn]] in [[astrology]]]]
The name "Blue Öyster Cult" also came from Pearlman's ''Imaginos'' cycle, explored most extensively on the 1988 [[Imaginos|album of the same name]]. Pearlman had also come up with the band's earlier name, "Soft White Underbelly", from a phrase used by Winston Churchill in describing Italy during World War II. In Pearlman's poetry, the "Blue Oyster Cult" is a group of aliens who had assembled secretly to guide Earth's history. "Initially, the band was not happy with the name, but settled for it, and went to work preparing to record their first release..."<ref name="blueoystercult.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.blueoystercult.com/History/history3.html |title=The History of BÖC |publisher=Blueoystercult.com |access-date=September 23, 2010}}</ref>

In a 1976 interview published in the U.K. music magazine ''[[ZigZag (magazine)|ZigZag]]'', Pearlman claimed the origin of the band's name was as an anagram of "Cully Stout Beer".

The addition of an [[Metal umlaut|umlaut]] was suggested by Allen Lanier, but Richard Meltzer claims to have suggested it just after Pearlman came up with the name, reportedly "because of the [[Wagnerian rock|Wagnerian]] aspect of Metal".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rateyourmusic.com/lists/list_view?list_id=35734&show=25&start=25 |title=Why are they called Duran Duran? A guide to band name etymologies |publisher=Rate Your Music | access-date=June 30, 2013}}</ref>{{deprecated source|certain=y|date=November 2024}} Other bands later copied [[Metal umlaut|the practice of using umlauts or diacritic marks]] in their own band names, such as [[Motörhead]], [[Mötley Crüe]], [[Queensrÿche]] and parodied by [[Spinal Tap (band)|Spın̈al Tap]].<ref name="faq">{{cite web|url=http://members.aol.com/bocfaqman/boc_faq.html|title=BOC FAQ|date=December 10, 2001|author=John Swartz|access-date=November 24, 2007}}</ref>

The hook-and-cross logo was designed by fellow Stony Brook student Bill Gawlik for his master's thesis<ref name="ecfjhn"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-08-03 |title=On the Record: Album Cover Show Tracks SBU Music History {{!}} |url=https://news.stonybrook.edu/oncampus/on-the-record-album-cover-show-tracks-sbu-music-history/ |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=SBU News |language=en-US}}</ref> in January 1972,<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=http://www.blueoystercult.com/History/history4.html |title=The History of BÖC |publisher=Blueoystercult.com |access-date=September 23, 2010}}</ref> and appears on all of the band's albums.<ref name=faq/> In Greek mythology, "... the hook-and-cross symbol is that of [[Cronus|Kronos (Cronus)]], the king of the Titans and father of Zeus ... and is the [[alchemical symbol]] for [[lead]] (a [[Heavy metals|heavy metal]]), one of the heaviest of metals."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dinesh.com/history_of_logos/rock_band_logos/blue_oyster_cult_logo_-_design_and_history.html |title=Blue Oyster Cult Logo – Design and History |publisher=Dinesh.com |date=August 25, 2010 |access-date=September 23, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100731020016/http://www.dinesh.com/history_of_logos/rock_band_logos/blue_oyster_cult_logo_-_design_and_history.html |archive-date=July 31, 2010 }}</ref> Sandy Pearlman considered this, along with the "heavy" distorted guitar sound of the band, meant that the description "[[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]]"<ref>The term "heavy metal" was first used by [[Metal Mike Saunders]] in 1970</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/albumofthemonth/1430 |title=Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage &#124; Unsung &#124; Album of the Month &#124; Blue Oyster Cult - in Your Dreams or in My Hole |access-date=December 21, 2009 |archive-date=June 8, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608053253/http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/albumofthemonth/1430 |url-status=dead }}</ref> would be apt for the band's sound. The hook-and-cross symbol also resembled the [[astrological symbol]] for [[Planets in astrology|Saturn]], the Roman god of agriculture,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.loggia.com/myth/saturn.html |title=Mythography &#124; The Roman god Saturn in Myth and Art |publisher=Loggia.com |access-date=September 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101209084719/http://www.loggia.com/myth/saturn.html |archive-date=December 9, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the [[sickle]], which is associated with both Kronos (Cronus) and Saturn (both the planet and the Roman god).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wordsources.info/saturn.html |title=Saturn, Roman god of the harvest and a planet |website=Wordsources.info |access-date=September 23, 2010}}</ref> The symbol also closely resembles the astrological symbol for [[Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres]], which is also a sickle. The logo's "... metaphysical, alchemical and mythological connotations, combined with its similarity to some religious symbols gave it a flair of decadence and mystery ..."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

The band was billed, for the only time, as "''The'' Blue Öyster Cult" on the cover and label of their second album, ''Tyranny and Mutation''.