Editing Blue Öyster Cult (section)

===Declining popularity (1982–1989)===
After leaving the band, Albert Bouchard spent five years working on a solo album based on Sandy Pearlman's poem "Imaginos". Blue Öyster Cult also released their third live album, ''[[Extraterrestrial Live]]'', in 1982.

The band then went to the studio for the next album, ''[[The Revölution by Night]]'' (1983), with [[Bruce Fairbairn]] as producer. After two albums of a return to a harder rocking sound, the band adopted a more radio-friendly, [[Album-oriented rock|AOR]]-oriented sound with Fairbairn providing a 1980s-style production. This approach met with some success, especially on its highest-charting single, Roeser's "[[Shooting Shark]]", co-written by Patti Smith and featuring [[Randy Jackson]] on bass, which reached number 83 on the charts. Bloom's "[[Take Me Away (Blue Öyster Cult song)|Take Me Away]]" achieved some FM radio play. However, the album didn't match sales of its predecessor, failed to achieve gold status, and marked the beginning of the band's second commercial decline. After touring for ''Revölution'', Rick Downey left, leaving Blue Öyster Cult without a drummer.

Blue Öyster Cult re-united with Albert Bouchard for a California tour in February 1985, infamously known as the 'Albert Returns' Tour. This arrangement was only temporary and caused more tensions between the band and Bouchard, since he had thought he would be staying on permanently, which was not the case. The band had intended to use him only as a fill-in until another drummer could come on board, which resulted in Bouchard's leaving after the tour. Allen Lanier also quit the band shortly thereafter, leaving them without a keyboardist and with only three remaining original members. This incarnation of the band would sometimes be referred to as '3ÖC' by fans, which is a pun on the number of original members left.

Blue Öyster Cult hired drummer Jimmy Wilcox and keyboardist Tommy Zvoncheck to finish the album ''[[Club Ninja]]'', which was poorly received, with only "[[Dancin' in the Ruins]]," one of several songs on the record written entirely by outside songwriters, enjoying minimal success on radio and [[MTV]]. The best-known original on the album is "Perfect Water" written by Dharma and [[Jim Carroll]] (noted author of ''[[The Basketball Diaries (book)|The Basketball Diaries]]''). While the band members have generally been disparaging about the album in retrospect, Joe Bouchard has stated that "Perfect Water" is "perfect genius".<ref>{{cite book|title=Blue Öyster Cult: Secrets Revealed!|last1=Popoff|first1=Martin|date=March 2009|publisher=Power Chord Press|isbn=978-0-9752807-0-6|edition=2|location=[[Toronto]], Ontario, Canada|page=218|chapter=Club Ninja|author-link1=Martin Popoff}}<!--| access-date = March 17, 2012 --></ref>

The band toured in Germany, after which bassist Bouchard left, leaving only two members of the classic lineup: Eric Bloom and Donald Roeser. Some people referred to the band as "Two Öyster Cult" during this period. Jon Rogers was hired to replace Joe and this version of the band finished out the 1986 tour. After it wound up that year, the band took a temporary break from recording and touring. When Blue Öyster Cult received an offer to tour in Greece in the early summer of 1987, the band reformed. Wilcox quit while Zvoncheck was fired for making excessive financial demands. Allen Lanier then was offered to rejoin and agreed, so the new line-up now featured three founding members, along with Jon Rogers returning on bass and Ron Riddle as their newest drummer.

Columbia Records was not interested in releasing the ''[[Imaginos]]'' project as an Albert Bouchard solo album so it was arranged for the record to be released in 1988 by Columbia as a Blue Öyster Cult album, with some new lead vocal overdubs from Bloom and Roeser and lead guitar overdubs from Roeser. These replaced most of Albert Bouchard's lead vocals, as well as many lead guitar parts that had been recorded by session musicians. Joe Bouchard and Allen Lanier had earlier contributed some minor keyboard and backing vocal parts to the album, allowing all five original members to be credited. The album did not sell well (despite a positive review in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine) and although the then-current Blue Öyster Cult lineup (minus both Bouchard brothers) toured to promote ''Imaginos'', promotion by the label was virtually non-existent. Most songs from the album have not been performed live by the band since at least 1989.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Blue Öyster Cult Tour Statistics |url=https://www.setlist.fm/stats/blue-oyster-cult-3bd6b814.html |website=setlist.fm |access-date=April 20, 2024}}</ref> When Columbia Records' parent company CBS Records was purchased by [[Sony]] and became [[Sony Music Entertainment]], Blue Öyster Cult were dropped from the label.