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) 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. Pearlman offered to become the band’s manager and creative partner, to which the band agreed. The band’s original lineup consisted of guitarist Roeser, drummer Albert Bouchard – following the departure of original drummer Joe Dick, keyboardist Allen Lanier, Les Braunstein and bassist Andrew Winters.
formed in 1967 as Soft White Underbelly
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