When people think of October, they tend to think of the beginning of fall or Halloween, but it’s also Fire Prevention Month. Fire safety is obviously a huge part of workplace safety. In honor of that (and next week being Fire Prevention Week), the Song of the Week returns with a hard rock classic from Blue Oyster Cult, “Burnin’ for You.”
By 1981, BOC was well-established as a major arena rock act, with FM favorites like “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and “Godzilla” in their repertoire. “Burnin’ for You” was the lead single off the band’s eighth album Fire of Unknown Origin. The song was co-written by guitarist Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser and rock critic and BOC collaborator Richard Meltzer.
Roeser was originally planning to keep the song for his forthcoming solo album, but BOC manager Sandy Pearlman convinced him to put it on the band’s album instead. It was a good decision, because the catchy but rocking song was all over rock radio and the fledgling video station MTV.
The song hit #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and is one of the band’s signature tracks. Now 57 years into their career, Blue Oyster Cult released their 16th studio album earlier this year and continues to tour.