Don't Fear The Cowbell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This list was part of the Wikipedia article on the SNL sketch "More Cowbell".
It has been removed from the article to make it less bloated.
If you find any mistakes or if you'd like to add to the list, contact me at cowbell at keth dot de.

References in popular culture

• Musician/Comedian Stephen Lynch's first album, A Little Bit Special, released in 2000, features a Christopher Walken impersonator (comedian Jay Mohr, who was famous for impersonating Walken while on Saturday Night Live) commenting about Lynch's songs and whether or not they contain any/enough cowbell.

• "More cowbell!" has become a popular catch phrase used in bars and other music venues, spawning the creation of t-shirts, mugs, and other items bearing words and images referring to the sketch.^[1] While many items are only available online, some brick-and-mortar outlets such as Urban Outfitters and Hot Topic have carried shirts bearing the tagline as well. The catch-phrase is also, naturally, often heard at Blue Öyster Cult's live concerts, and some fans have been known to bring cowbells from home and play along with the band. On some occasions, a roadie will join the group onstage playing the cowbell.^[4]

• A number of websites have used the phrase: Sports columnist Bill Simmons uses it as a title for his blog. The name is also used by a Twin Cities-based website that catalogs the tour schedules of musical groups.

• In the 2005 Broadway musical Spamalot, the main Knight Who Says Ni quotes the line.

• Phish's last festival, Coventry, included an airing of a mixed version of the skit called "Cowbell Jam 2005"^[5] on the Bunny FM, a radio station set up during the concert.

• Audio Adrenaline has done the cowbell routine in concert, including one member saying he has a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell.

• As an April Fool's joke in 2006, GameSpot announced a fake sequel to the video game Guitar Hero entitled Cowbell Hero^[6], based on the skit.

• On Dream Theater's Live at Budokan DVD, the Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci quote the sketch during documentary of the band rehearsing. Petrucci tells Portnoy that they "need more cowbell," to which Portnoy replies (in an imitation of Christopher Walken) "I have a fever...and the only prescription is more cowbell"

• The MMORPG Guild Wars Factions features a quest entitled "More Cowbell" in which you must search a bed of Blue Oysters for an enchanted cowbell.

• In the new expansion pack 'The Burning Crusade' for the MMORPG World of Warcraft, a quest was added with the name "Needs More Cowbell". No other parts or names in the quest seem to have any more references, other than the title.

• One of the fake loading messages in the MMORPG Auto Assault is "Adding More Cowbell".

• When the band Wilco covered "Don't Fear the Reaper" at Madison Square Garden on New Years Eve 2004, they had at least three cowbell players onstage.

• The Tampa Bay Devil Rays use "More Cowbell" as a rally cry during their ballgames, including playing the SNL clip and having fans ring cowbells.^[7] The stadium scoreboard graphics crew have a pre-built graphic that says "More Cowbell!!"

• Colorado State University students and football fans have borrowed the phrase, "More Cowbell", as a reference to star runningback Kyle Bell and as a way to rally their team.

• The Colorado Mammoth, a National Lacrosse League team, show clips from the sketch during breaks in games. Some Mammoth fans bring cowbells to use as noisemakers.

• In Crash Tag Team Racing, N.gin says "Don't fear the Reaper, I need more cowbell.I DON'T HAVE A COWBELL!!!"

• Hip hop group Jurassic 5 performed a song live in their 2006 tour in which the rappers demand more cowbell, which is promptly added to the backing beat.

• In concert, Louisiana rock band Better Than Ezra often play a snippet of "Don't Fear The Reaper" during the bridge section of their song "In The Blood". During many recent concerts, the band brings an audience member onstage to play the important cowbell part.

• Shai Hulud has a hidden cowbell-filled track and a sample from the sketch follows it.

• In December of 2004, radmonkeycowbells.com is registered by "Cowbell Fever." Subsequently an entire hoax site is launched promoting the VLC800 Digital Modeling Cowbell whose "onboard DSP accurately models 12 of the world's most sought after cowbells."

• The Hexstatic flash animation music video "Chase me"^[8] directed by Jonti "Weebl" Picking features a large road sign that says "MORE COWBELL" due to the song containing a recurring cowbell sample. Click the sign to open a page with another flash video with a song about the "More Cowbell" phrase.

• The iTunes Store contains a "My Groove" playlist named "More Cowbell!". It not only contains Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", but also a variety of other songs on the iTunes Store containing a rather noticeable amount of cowbell, including "Honky Tonk Women" by The Rolling Stones.

• bash.org has a popular (1100+) quote telling someone bemoaning her lost cow that she needs more cowbell.

• On the latest Elton John release (The Captain & The Kid, September 2006) at the very end of the song "Just Like Noah's Ark" you can hear Elton and others in the studio make reference to "More Cowbell" and laughing.

• In an episode of "The Daily Buzz", Mitch English danced to the song "Don't Fear the Reaper" and mentioned how he needed "more cowbell."

• The South Dakota State University Jackrabbits use "More Cowbell" during their ballgames, including playing the SNL clip and having fans ring cowbells. This occurred when rival University of South Dakota thought of them as a hick school so to ridicule them they would ring the bells like farmers, SDSU now uses this tactic against their opponents.

• Gmail added a cowbell emoticon to their Google Talk app.

• The Opie and Anthony message board FBA includes a smilie of Will Ferrell playing the cowbell in the sketch.

• The song "Johnny Funk Up" by the Dregs (http://www.the-dregs.net/) includes several samples from the SNL skit.

References and footnotes