Blue Oyster Cult

You know you've made it as a classic rock band when you're part of multiple “Guitar Hero” video games, still have some original band members left in the lineup and continue to tour after 43 years as a band. That's right, 43 years. That dates Blue Öyster Cult back to the late '60s, minus the Summer of Lovecall it instead the Season of Heavy Metal. While Blue Öyster Cult found new audiences in the '70s with their monster hit “(Don't Fear) the Reaper,” along with “Godzilla” and “Burnin' for You,” the boomers among us remember the “real” guitar distortions of “7 Screaming Diz-Busters,” “Hot Rails to Hell” and “Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll,” among other gems. Hard to believe that these tough-looking, tougher-sounding guys from New York started out as Soft White Underbelly. Fortunately the name changed.