Editing Blue Öyster Cult (section)

===Early years as Soft White Underbelly (1967–1971)===
Blue Öyster Cult was formed in 1967 as Soft White Underbelly (a name the group would occasionally use in the 1970s and 1980s to play small club gigs around the United States and UK)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://theticketmeister.co.uk/soft-white-underbelly-the-venue-1981 |title=Soft White Underbelly, the Venue, 1981 – the Ticket Meister |access-date=September 24, 2017 |archive-date=September 26, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926214430/http://theticketmeister.co.uk/soft-white-underbelly-the-venue-1981 |url-status=dead }}</ref> in a communal house at Stony Brook University on [[Long Island]] when rock critic Sandy Pearlman overheard a jam session consisting of fellow Stony Brook classmate Donald Roeser and his friends.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Blue Öyster Cult: Burnin' for four decades|url=https://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/blue-oyster-cult-burnin-for-four-decades-1.9481286|access-date=July 21, 2020|website=Newsday|language=en|archive-date=April 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401020548/http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/blue-oyster-cult-burnin-for-four-decades-1.9481286|url-status=dead}}</ref> Pearlman offered to become the band's manager and creative partner, to which the band agreed.<ref name=":1" /> The band's original lineup consisted of guitarist Roeser, drummer Albert Bouchard, keyboardist Allen Lanier, Les Braunstein and bassist Andrew Winters.<ref name="ecfjhn">{{cite book |last=Berelian |first=Essi |title=The Rough Guide to Heavy Metal |publisher=Rough Guides |isbn=1-84353-415-0 |page=41|year=2005 }}</ref>

In October 1967, the band made its debut performance as Steve Noonan's backing band at the [[Pritchard Gymnasium|Stony Brook University Gymnasium]], a gig booked by Pearlman.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=July 25, 2015|author=Max Bell|title=The acid-dazed days of the band that became Blue Oyster Cult|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-acid-dazed-days-of-the-band-that-became-blue-oyster-cult|access-date=July 21, 2020|website=Classic Rock Magazine|language=en}}</ref> The band's name came from [[Winston Churchill]]'s description of [[Allied invasion of Italy#Background|Italy]] as "the soft underbelly of the [[Axis powers|Axis]]."<ref name=":2" />

Pearlman was important to the band&nbsp;– he was able to get them [[concert|gigs]] and recording contracts with [[Elektra Records|Elektra]] and [[Columbia Records|Columbia]], and he provided them with his poetry for use as lyrics for many of their songs, including "Astronomy." Writer Richard Meltzer, also a Stony Brook University student,  provided the band with lyrics from their early days up through their most recent studio album. In 1968, the band moved in together at their first house in the [[Thomaston, New York|Thomaston]] area of [[Great Neck, New York]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 26, 2012|first=Steve|last=Knopper|title=Blue Oyster Cult's 40th anniversary CD|url=https://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/blue-oyster-cult-s-40th-anniversary-cd-1.4147975|access-date=January 25, 2020|website=Newsday|archive-date=January 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125050516/https://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/blue-oyster-cult-s-40th-anniversary-cd-1.4147975|url-status=dead}}</ref> The band recorded an album's worth of material for Elektra Records in 1968.

Braunstein played his final show as Soft White Underbelly's lead singer in the spring of 1969.<ref name=":2" /> His departure led Elektra to shelve the album recorded with him on vocals.

Eric Bloom was hired by the band as their [[acoustical engineering|acoustic engineer]]. He eventually replaced Braunstein as lead singer through a series of unlikely coincidences, one being Lanier deciding to join Bloom on a drive to an [[upstate New York|upstate]] gig, where he spent the night with Bloom's old college bandmates and got to hear old tapes of Bloom's talent as lead vocalist.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR1NpyxowP4 "Three Strokes of Fate"], Living Legends Music interview (posted to YouTube on November 4, 2008) where Bloom explains three highly unlikely events that led to his joining the band and becoming their lead singer:<br />1) Being their amp salesperson at Sam Ash,<br />2) Telling one person where he was staying in NYC and getting the soundboard job offer, and<br />3) An upstate roadtrip which Lanier decided to join and got to hear Bloom's old band tapes as lead vocalist.</ref> Because of this, Bloom was offered the job of lead singer for Soft White Underbelly.

However, a bad review of a 1969 Fillmore East show caused Pearlman to change the name of the band&nbsp;– first to Oaxaca, then to the Stalk-Forrest Group. Pearlman also gave stage names to each of the band members (Jesse Python for Eric Bloom, Buck Dharma for Donald Roeser, Andy Panda for Andy Winters, Prince Omega for Albert Bouchard, La Verne for Allen Lanier) but only Buck Dharma kept his.<ref>{{cite book|last=Popoff|first=Martin|title=Blue Oyster Cult, Secrets Revealed!|publisher=Metal Blade Records, Inc.|year=2004|isbn=0-9752807-0-8|page=9}}</ref> The band recorded yet another album's worth of material for Elektra, but only one single ("What Is Quicksand?" [[b/w]] "Arthur Comics") was released (and only in a promo edition of 300 copies) on Elektra Records (this album was eventually released, with additional outtakes, by Rhino Handmade Records as ''[[St. Cecilia: The Elektra Recordings]]'' in 2001). The album featured Bloom as their main lead singer, but Roeser also sang lead on a few songs, a pattern of sharing lead vocals that has continued throughout the band's career. With Bloom, Soft White Underbelly/Stalk-Forrest Group became one of Stony Brook University's "house bands," popular on campus.<ref>{{Cite web|date=August 25, 2016|title=Alumni Rock Out With Blue Öyster Cult {{!}}|url=https://news.stonybrook.edu/alumni/alumni-rock-out-with-blue-oyster-cult/|access-date=July 21, 2020|website=SBU News|language=en-US}}</ref>

After a few more temporary band names, including the Santos Sisters, the band settled on Blue Öyster Cult in 1971 (see [[#Band name and logo|below]] for its origin).

New York City producer/composer and jingle writer [[David Lucas (composer)|David Lucas]] saw the band perform and took them into his Warehouse Recording Studio and produced four demos, with which Pearlman was able to get the renamed band another audition with Columbia Records. [[Clive Davis]] liked what he heard, and signed the band to the label. The first album was subsequently produced and recorded by Lucas on eight-track at Lucas' studio.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blueoystercult.com/Studio/SWbios.html#Lucas |title='David Lucas' in band-relations bio page|publisher=Official BÖC website |access-date=March 5, 2011}}</ref> Winters would leave the band and be replaced by Bouchard's brother, Joe Bouchard.