As my old teacher used to say: "If you wish to converse with me, first define your terms." To be honest, I didn't ever particularly want to converse with him, but he always used to say it anyway...

So - what exactly is this the "50th Anniversary" of...?

Adherents to the "official" BOC party line all confirm the same thing. It is the 50th anniversary of when you could officially first buy a copy of Blue Oyster Cult's debut album in a record shop.

And if that highly specific qualification is what we're talking about, then they'd probably be correct - ish... (more on this a bit later)...

But where I take issue is that they don't stipulate its the 50th anniversary of "when the general public could first buy a copy of Blue Oyster Cult's debut album in a record shop"... they say it's BOC's 50th Anniversary, and that is patently incorrect.

The problem is - people seem to be confusing the anniversary of the release of the first album with the anniversary of the band itself...

They are very different things...

So just when did Blue Oyster Cult actually come into being? As far as we can tell, BOC got their audition in front of Clive Davis in early July 1971.

There's a lot of confusion over just when exactly Sandy Pearlman dropped the BOC name on top of them, but most people seem to think they performed their 5-song Columbia audition as "Blue Oyster Cult".

Their "Stalk Forrest" demos had been refused previously, thanks to Murray Krugman, so submitting their May 1971 demos under the name "Blue Oyster Cult" made sense because that way they could appear to be an obviously very different band...

I've seen the date on the letter that accompanied the contracts, and that was 28 Jul 1971, and I'd contend that this date obviously makes the most sense to use when computing an official start date for the band.

So - they actually became Blue Oyster Cult at the end of July 1971, but people tell me that 1971 doesn't count because they weren't "established" until the following year, when their record "officially" came out...

OK, let's look at whether 1971 counts or not, and see if maybe all those "Est. 1972" T-shirts need to be recalled and amended to "1971"...

There are two major aspects to a band - recording and playing live... let's look at the recording aspect first, as far as 1971 goes...

The 28 Aug 1971 issue of "Cashbox" announced Murray Krugman's promotion to "Product Manager of Pop albums" and provided this bit of info:

Note the use of the present continuous tense: "is currently producing the Blue Oyster Cult LP". This would indicate that work on the album had already begun by August 1971!!

Possibly the "Recorded at the Warehouse, October 1971" note on the back of the album cover referred to the end of the mixing etc, the date when it was all finished...

A piece on the Warehouse in the 27 Nov 1971 issue of "Billboard" mentioned that the LP was all finished at that stage and they thought it was a bit of an odd choice:

The gigging aspect in 1971 was slightly different. Although they were now getting some publicity and mentions in the press as "BOC", they continued to gig solidly for the next few months as "Stalk Forrest" eg there was a run of gigs at the "Colonel's Garter" in Edwardsville PA, the "Cabaret" in Scranton PA etc.

It might seem counter-intuitive for them to do this - why not use their new name and attendent publicity when gigging during this period?

As far as I can tell, this was because these gigs had already been booked and advertised as "Stalk Forrest" gigs, and it probably would have been too confusing if they started saying "Actually, we're not called that anymore..."

The first gig as "Blue Oyster Cult" seems to have been a private party for journalists and friends at the band house.

Here's how Lillian Roxon described it in the Sunday 17 Oct 1971 edition of the "Daily News" in her "The Top of Pop" column:

As far as I can estimate, the gig would have been on the previous weekend - Friday (8 Oct) or Saturday (9 Oct) - but it's possible that it could have taken place the weekend immediately prior to her column... Friday (15 Oct) or Saturday (16 Oct)...

So, there you have BOC's debutante ball, if you like, their big announcement to the press in October 1971.

BOC's next gig as "Blue Oyster Cult" has a more definite date, 30 Oct 1971, in Uniontown PA, and, apart from a couple more outstanding "Stalky" gigs, from that point on, all their gigs were played as "Blue Oyster Cult."

During November-December 1971, BOC were bundled as part of a package of Columbia artists to tour a number of NE colleges/universities, along with Mahavishnu and The Byrds. Albert says the band all wore matching sweaters to mark the occasion. All I can say is, I'd love to see photos!!

The tour ended fittingly enough at Stony Brook on 11 Dec 1971, and adverts for the gig in the 10 Dec 1971 edition of Newsday featured an album showcase section for the 3 different Columbia artists on the bill, and there, pictured at the bottom, was the BOC LP complete with catalogue number and review quote from the New York Herald.

That suggests at least a limited amount of the album was available for purchase to take advantage of the interest generated by the tour, as the advert shows the completed artwork etc - it wasn't just a white label job.

I actually have jpegs of the accompanying promo bumpf that came with the initial white label Test Pressings, and all those are hand-drawn on the label etc. They clearly preceded this version.

And, by the way, all the songs on the test pressings are designated as being published by "B. O'Cult Songs, Inc (ASCAP) 1971..."

The actual, and here's my favourite word, "official" release date for the album is still up in the air, curiously enough. If you believe the band's wiki page, it was released on a Sunday (16 Jan 1972), and if you do believe that, then I have a rather large bridge I'd like to sell you...

But the actual date is a bit fuzzy round the edges. We know that albums at this time were released on a Monday ("Mondays at Midnight") which I've always thought basically meant very early on Tuesdays, to be honest, so you might guess that the logical, actual, release date would have been Mon 17 Jan 1972...

That is, apart from one niggling little fly in my date ointment. In Lillian Roxon's review of the album, published on Sunday, February 6, 1972, she mentioned this:

So, if we're to take "this week" as Gospel, then, winding back from that Sunday to the preceding Monday, it would seem that the album was actually released on 31 Jan 1972...

But what we don't know is just when did Lillian write the review? The obvious assumption is that it was written sometime approximate to the publication date, otherwise it's old news, but I just wish I knew for sure...

Anyhoo, the above is all the evidence I have and I will now weigh it up in order to reach a conclusion...

OK, imagine you've got kitchen weighing scales with two pans on it, one labelled "1971", the other "1972. Let's tot up and add all the points for each year and see how they balance up:

In 1971, the band:

• Auditioned for Columbia as "Blue Oyster Cult"
• Signed a Recording Contract as "Blue Oyster Cult"
• Had articles and features written about them in the press as "Blue Oyster Cult"
• Recorded an LP for Columbia as "Blue Oyster Cult"
• Had a massive press party to introduce themselves to the music press as "Blue Oyster Cult"
• Played individual gigs as "Blue Oyster Cult"
• Had their first major photo promo shoot (the famous 'Standing in the Rubble' session) as "Blue Oyster Cult"
• Went on their first big tour as "Blue Oyster Cult" with the Mahavishnus and The Byrds
• Had test pressings and Advance copies of their album made available by December, maybe even earlier
• Had their songs all "officially" published in that year - check it out

In 1972:

• Their album finally - officially - hit the shops on a wider basis

So... are you telling me that all those items I've listed under 1971 are so insignificant that they are not worthy of being counted towards the band's start date simply because the album wasn't distributed to record shops until a couple of weeks or so later...?

Does a band not exist until some spotty Herbert wanders into his local record shop and buys a copy of their album for the first time? And then, and only then, does BOC become a band and you are allowed to start the clock...?

That, my friends, is frankly ridiculous. Blue Oyster Cult became "Blue Oyster Cult" in July 1971, and so that is when they started.

Look, if you want to celebrate the anniversary of "Blue Oyster Cult" the album, then that's one thing, but don't confuse it with the anniversary of "Blue Oyster Cult" the band, because that's another.

Sadly, though, even if BOC Inc. reviewed all the above info and decided that they now, rather late in the day, did appreciate the distinction I've drawn between band and album commemoration, they obviously wouldn't change it.

The fact is, they are too far down the "Est. 1972" path for that. All their "official" merch to date has borne that erroneous suffix. It's the commercial bed they've made, and now they're lying in it... in more ways than one...

I've also been told that it's "absurd" to contradict members of BOC if they say that it's their 50th anniversary... they'd know better than anyone else, wouldn't they...?

My reply to this contention is quite simple: "Bollocks to that..."

BOC band members frequently get dates and facts wrong or mixed up - there are all kinds of examples I could quote to support this. And, of course, there's nuffin wrong with that: it's perfectly understandable - they're fallible human beings, they put their pants on just like the rest of us, one leg at a time... but, yes, when those pants are on, they make gold records...

But when I see something I disagree with, I do tend to point it out (as if you hadn't guessed already)...

It's not a hard equation, folks, but if you can count up to 51, you can safely ignore anyone else who tries to tell you different...