Talk:(Don't Fear) The Reaper/Archive 1

Red Vs. Blue

I think it should be added in the cultural reference section that an episode of the popular web series Red Vs. Blue is titled Don't Phear The Reaper, after this song. --98.214.64.139 (talk) 11:35, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

not about suicide?

That blew my mind (no pun). I always thought "40,000 men and women everyday" was an implied estimate on suicide rate. So if it's not really about suicide, what does the number refer to? — FREAK OF NUR_xTURE (TALK) 14:07, August 25, 2005 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure it just means 40,000 people die every day. I doubt 40,000 people kill themselves every day. --Richy 09:42, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

As stated in the article, the song is about eternal love. The second voice gives the answer perhaps:

40,000 men and women evrywhere (redefine happiness)

That is what these 80,000 people do, redefining happiness.

BK

This statistic and lyric can be in the article. Must be more than 40,000 though.Book M 09:50, 8 November 2006 (UTC) I read somewere that buck dhurma just liked the way it sounded cbsavage_99@yahoo.com

Well he did say it isn't about PROMOTING suicide - which I certainly agree with. I also agree that this song is about love... but that's not saying it ISN'T about suicide as well. The guy didn't want to get sued; who can blame him? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.171.66.72 (talk) 16:59, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Look up wikt:reap vs. wikt:rape. Note that both evolved by duplication and divergence from wikt:rapere. There comes a point in many lives when the fertile field is harvested first by the act of love, last by the act of death; but it makes more sense to split the former into 40,000 men and 40,000 women every day as they do not usually leave in pairs. Thus the song speaks of defloration foremost. Wnt (talk) 05:40, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

Actually i've always thought it was about a cult in the late 70s, I saw something on the history channel..(i wanna say about Jim Jones and Jonestown) He referred to himself as "Romeo" and his 'people' as Juliet. He talked openly about death and had the motto "Don't Fear the Reaper" There were several other lyrics that syncs up to this cult. Its pretty interesting. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.21.243.227 (talk) 19:18, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Note that the 1978 suicide made use of the 1976 song, but (presumably) didn't inspire it - though it's hard to paw through the blogosphere to find a RS to put in the article to cover the issue. Wnt (talk) 11:50, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Another cover of that song

I hope it might fall in consideration since it's adding another cover version of that Song by The Mutton Bird featured in the Motion Picture "The Frighteners".

"Don't Fear The Reaper"
Written by Donald Roeser
Performed by The Mutton Birds
Courtesy of Virgin Records Australasia

- found at the internet movie data base - imdb.com if I may mention this source?

Single?

This url from Allmusic seems to indicate that DFTR was not released as a single. That being the case I was thinking about changing it to this. — FREAK OF NUR_xTURE (TALK) 23:11, Jan. 10, 2006

Allmusic doesn't know what it is talking about. The BÖC FAQ does. All hail the BÖC FAQ! 203.49.247.77 05:06, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

It certainly was released as a single in the UK. The single doesn't have the guitar break in the middle. Candy 08:33, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

13 note count?

What is a 13 note count? I didn't find any reference.

I couldn't either. Let's hope this {{fact}} wil do its job.SoothingR 06:45, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I think this is indicating that the song is written in 13/4 time signature. If this is what it is referencing, that is an incorrect piece of information. I believe the song is written in 8/4 time or 4/4 time. Listening to it and counting will make it apparent that it is not written in 13/4 time.

I think the confusion comes from the guitar solo interlude, which is generally 4/4 too but has a surplus half bar inserted at some point (in the middle IIRC).37.81.23.104 (talk) 17:02, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

Clean up the covers

What's with the hanging Oingo Boingo ref? Did they do a cover? I'm gussing it was something they might have played in concert at some point, not a studio recording? (Although I'm quite familiar with Oingo Boingo, I'm probably not expert enough to fix this.) The same with The Goo Goo Dolls: where is the cover, so readers can find it?

Along those lines, Wilco also covered it. According to Wilcobase.com ([1]), they played it live 14 times overall: 9 times in 2004 (October 31, November 10, November 11, November 14, November 15, November 19, November 20, November 22, December 31) and 5 times in 2005 (February 08, February 15, February 24, March 19, June 30.) If I can find more information on any of other the covers, I'll post it here. - Square pear 05:11, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

There is a version floating around P2P networks claiming to be "Oingo Boingo". Doesn't sound anything like them, and is not live.--193.195.185.254 00:42, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Also, there seems to be a great deal of confusion regarding the cover by HIM (His Infernal Majesty). The "Nick Cave and Enya" version seems to be the HIM track renamed. Probably by someone confused and unfamiliar with the band. 68.39.205.67 04:49, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

I removed the reference to Nick Cave doing a cover of this, as he hasn't; as said above, it's a renamed version of the HIM cover. Burnage13 20:41, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

The Stand

An instrumental version was used in the opening sequence of the mini-series adaption of Stephen King's The Stand

I'm pretty sure the version in The Stand has lyrics.

I am too. In fact, the book quotes part of the lyrics at the beginning of one of the chapters, which, I'm sure is a big reason why they chose that song for the movie.Super_C 21:09, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

The Stand actually misqouted the lyrics in the preface.Aapold 14:03, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

What's the Deal With the Cowbell

Okay, I know everyone likes the SNL skit but there's way too much reference to cowbell in this article. It seems like it should be mentioned once in reference to the skit. For instance, saying that the original demo recording didn't have any cowbell in it is almost entirely irrelevant. --Animatorgeek 20:41, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

So... LESS cowbell?? ;-) Super_C 21:11, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Guys, you're gunna want that cowbell in there!216.234.58.18 20:02, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Explore the article with the cowbell. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.67.104.4 (talk) 16:57, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

15:08 UTC Started listening to song. 15:09 Stopped song to listen to SNL sketch. 15:16 Sketch was over, started listening to song again. 15:20 Came to the Wikipedia. Now, why did I do that? I needed to know about the cowbell! That sketch may have ruined the song for awhile, but while it's fresh in memory, you gotta have the cowbell. Listmeister (talk) 15:27, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

Needs a clean up

This article really needs a clean up. It reads like a fan wrote it using their own interpretation of the song. It needs more references and sound information.

I added the fact that the version on the album is not the same as the one released as a single (at least not in the UK). I removed the reference:

Although not a cover version, the 1979 hit "Message in a Bottle" by The Police bears a definite similarity to "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", most notably in the main guitar riff and in some of the solo guitar parts. But it has no cowbell.

This is tenuous at best (the chord structure is certainly different to DFTR as is the chorus as well). As a musician who has played both live many times I wouldn't have even considered them "similar" songs. Candy 14:43, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Brilliance

"Altough he mightof claimed this because of worrys at the time about links between songs and suisides."

Wikipedia at its best. This truly shows that it is a "serious project." 64.252.160.114 20:49, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

It certainly is. In fact, it's even got worse than when I made a comment to this effect above. Now, the article is 90% trivia, 5% speculation and <5% fact. The artcile needs a lot of fluff blown away and some serious research made. Where was it recorded? What does the writer claim it means (if anything)? Who engineered it? Differences between single and album versions. Producer, engineer, musicians ... Live performances, Song structure etc. In addition, moist of the trivia can be condensed to a couple of lines and the rest blown away. If no objections within a few days I will do the hack job myself. Candy 10:20, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

History Channel

During a documentary which was about the 70's, the History Channel played "Don't Fear The Reaper" in its' entirety while going over the Jonestown incident, that should be mentioned in the section about TV shows featuring the song

Yeah, I saw that to. However, I don't beleive this is that important to place. HOWEVER, Jim Jones did say over the loudspeaker "Don't fear the Reaper!" during the mass-suicide/mass-murder. I think this should have a minor subnote.Oldking5 (talk) 03:49, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

This is probably going to sound completely chaotic and moronic but if you opened your mind; the rif of the guitar and the almost chant-like quality of their song is seems almost medieval. The lyrics don't seem to suggest suicide but "forever eternity". Don't laugh but it almost seems .......well (haha) vampiric. Yes, that sounds completely idiotic I am aware, but it is a discussion, and that's what the lyrics and the music seemed to be reminiscent of. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.157.187.99 (talk) 17:44, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, if you listen to the lyrics of "I Love The Night", "Nosferatu" and such (I've heard another one, forgot the title) I can see how you got the idea...--83.6.65.106 (talk) 19:32, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

half acoustic version?

anyone know about the half acoustic version i hear on the radio

it sounds studio (the same vox layed over the acoustic part) the normal version comes in in the interlude in the middle of the song

i cant find anything on youtube or google, but its gotta be there somewhere —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.59.34.100 (talk) 01:23, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

talked to the radio station

"That's actually a version that was recorded in our studio, for 95X. So you wouldn't be able to find it online. The only thing I can tell you is to listen for it and tape. It's never be released. Sorry about that." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.59.34.100 (talk) 21:43, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

The talk page of an article is about discussing how to improve the article, not discussion of the article's topic, so please do not post this kind of thing here. Wikipedia is not a discussion forum, and you can't include original research in the article. Sorry.  :-) leevclarke (talk) 00:42, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Forget the SNL sketch it's meaningless

Oh please, let's not exchange the sublime for the 'tarded. The SNL sketch has nothing to do with this song. Mentioning it in this article is as appropriate as mentioning the SNL sketches of George Bush in the article on George Bush. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.1.54.138 (talk • contribs) 00:18, 2 October 2008

I agree that the SNL skit should not feature prominently, but completely ignoring it misses important reasons for its popularity among generations born after the 1970s. For instance, "The song's popularity has proven to be long-lasting; as of 2010 it had sold approximately 922,000 digital copies in the United States," almost certainly owes something to the skit. It seems reasonable to mention the skit and refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_cowbell, even if it's only in a "See Also" section. 76.103.244.140 (talk) 18:52, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Agreed, if there are third-party sources available that discuss all this. Otherwise, it's original research. Doniago (talk) 19:01, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

I would love to know more about the music theory aspects of this song, i.e. what makes it one of the best rock songs of all times? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.1.54.138 (talk • contribs) 00:19, 2 October 2008

Andromeda Strain???

How can a 1971 movie refer to a 1976 song? robotwisdom (talk) 09:52, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

List-Mania

Do we really need/want to include lists that basically just mention every time DFtR is referenced without any analysis, sourcing or discussion of notability? If nothing else I'd think this is trivia. I'm hesitant to make such a large removal without consensus. Doniago (talk) 15:42, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Date conflicts?

The article states that the song was released in 1976. It also says it was used in "The Andromeda Strain (1971) - Post Prologue Intro." How could this be? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.191.134.37 (talk) 01:06, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

Obviously it's incorrect, but perhaps it's the remake of Andromeda Strain which features the song. In which case, the date could simply be corrected. Being familiar with the original film only, I'm not sure what would be an appropriate fix.drone5 (talk) 19:25, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

It is in the show Nip/tuck but my contribution is repeatedly removed. sorry for trying to improve the article.

It is featured in the show nip/tuck in season 6 episode 10 "wesley clovis". I have put this on here but for some reason it has been removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.187.157.59 (talk) 06:02, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

Dead link

During several automated bot runs the following external link was found to be unavailable. Please check if the link is in fact down and fix or remove it in that case!

• http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6596242/dont_fear_the_reaper
  • In (Don't Fear) The Reaper on 2011-05-20 21:19:33, 404 Not Found
  • In (Don't Fear) The Reaper on 2011-05-31 04:19:04, 404 Not Found

--JeffGBot (talk) 04:19, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:(Don't Fear) The Reaper/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Bruce Campbell (talk · contribs) 04:03, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Bruce Campbell (talk) 04:03, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Lead

Billboard Hot 100 -> Billboard Hot 100

Done. Thanks for the quick review, by the way. ~EDDY ^{(talk/contribs)}~ 14:35, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

It was used in the 1978 film Halloween -> Change to something like "It has been featured in several films, most notably Halloween"

Reworded. ~EDDY ^{(talk/contribs)}~ 14:47, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Release and reception

"PopMatters's James Mann remarked that "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was a "landmark, genre-defining masterpiece" of hard rock that was "as grand and emotional as American rock and roll ever got." " -> Please use reference 14 to reference this to as it's a direct quote.

Done. ~EDDY ^{(talk/contribs)}~ 14:47, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

References

Only reference the firs instance of a link, no need to link to Allmusic or Rovi Corporation every time, that's overlinking.

Argh, done. ~EDDY ^{(talk/contribs)}~ 16:16, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

There are nearly 40 references, try implementing 2 rows for the references.

Done.~EDDY ^{(talk/contribs)}~ 16:21, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

A few slight concerns and the article will be passed. Bruce Campbell (talk) 06:23, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Caesars

i think the band Caesars should be added to the lists of other bands who have made other versions of the song. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.76.183.138 (talk) 22:30, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Suicide; this song is about suicide

The song is about suicide. It's about killing yourself. Hence the reference to Romeo and Juliet, and the 40,000 men and women every day. It's a brilliant song, and opens a subject that most people don't want to face head on. It's pointless discussing the song if you don't see that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.29.164.78 (talk) 22:53, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

MTV video

I use to watch MTV all the time in the '80s. They showed the "Don't Fear the Reaper" video a lot. Some people demanded it be banned from TV because the ending implied suicide. I can only find audio versions of the MTV video. It would be great if this video could be found and added. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.85.218.121 (talk) 03:13, 2 June 2014 (UTC)

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I really don't think the usage of that song in Agent Shield is important, but maybe someone can convince me. ~EDDY ^{(talk/contribs)}~ 12:27, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

I'll be convinced if an independent source discusses its usage in the show, and not merely in the format of a recap. In any case the editor who most recently added the information has been edit-warring about it. I've left a notice at their Talk page; hopefully they'll present their opinion here. DonIago (talk) 13:24, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Any usage of a song in any cultural means may be considered as significant by different people, whereas others like you may see otherwise. As far as I am aware, there is no policy against the website used, otherwise it would be blacklisted by now - thus it seems Wikipedia's policies allow recaps as a verified credible source of information. The edit of the song being used in a TV show shows that the song is still highly regarded many years after it was originally recorded, thus explains cultural significance. In addition, the episode scenes used match the lyrics of the song, where the agents are facing destruction from within, and have to continue their path knowing they could die. Furthermore it is enough to accuse one person of being in an edit war, but this actually involves you as an active warring member Doniago, not only me - placing you also possibly in breach of policies considering it took you so long to talk about it. Grez868 (talk) 14:21, 30 April 2014 (UTC)grez868

The very fact that anyone might consider any usage of a song in culture to be significant is precisely why we use third party reliable sources mentioning the reference as an indicator of significance. A recap doesn't work for this purpose because a recap can reasonably be expected to mention what happens during the episode regardless of whether it would be considered significant in a broader context. Whether the site itself is allowable as a reference in a more general case isn't relevant to this scenario; we're not disputing the fact of the song being used, we're disputing that it's important that the song was used in some manner. The Simpsons has used hundreds of songs in its time on television, but I would strongly dispute that the mere usage of a song in that show establishes that it has any significant cultural significance. DonIago (talk) 15:01, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

I understand your reservations about the usage of the song within a TV show, but the significance for me is in the way it was used. It was used as a comedic way of adding a message, most likely along the line that death should not be feared, even though doom is certainly impending. This ties in with why it is significant - through the message that the original song release gave out - and how it is thought of and interpreted in modern society. Another significance is that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., unlike The Simpsons, really don't use external music often to make a point, however in this dramatic segment of the show, they felt it was warranted.Grez868 (talk) 21:32, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

I'm impressed by the points you make...but for the purposes of adding the information to the article we need them to be made by a reliable source, not one of us. DonIago (talk) 12:47, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

What about this website? [[2]] - it seems to provide a lot more insight into the episode and even how it ties in with the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Specifically the section as follows:
Turn, Turn, Turn immediately feels different thanks to the Blue Oyster Cult musical cue at the start, and the guitar lick of “Don’t Fear The Reaper” sets the tone for an episode that is just plain cool. Agent Garrett (Bill Paxton) is listening to the song when two S.H.I.E.L.D. drones ambush his plane, and when the music is cut off, the aerial action begins. This episode definitely pushes the limits of this show’s CGI budget with the two dogfight sequences, and director Vincent Masiano does very strong work creating a sense of big screen spectacle on network TV. (I’m not sure how much input a TV director has on CG sequences, but I’ll assume Masiono had some part because the overall direction is better this week.)Grez868 (talk) 18:07, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

I think I'm going to have to defer to other editors on this. A.V. Club is, I believe, a good source, but I'm not sure whether it demonstrates significance in terms of the song itself, especially as the article is still essentially a recap. Sorry I can't provide a more favorable opinion. What would work really well would be a source noting the use of the music in the episode that isn't a recap of some sort, or at least is a source not typically given to providing recaps. Cheers. DonIago (talk) 18:56, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

40,000 men and women everywhere?

This is just something I'm curious about...the lyrics say '40,000 men and women everywhere'. What does this mean? I'm guessing that there a statistic that 40k people die per day, but that's just a guess. Does anybody know the answer to this?

Thanks, --Ericcjensen 02:32, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

I wondered that myself. "40,000 men and women every day". My guess is that 40,000 men and women every day commit suicide ("like Romeo and Juliet"). That fits with the general meaning of the song: don't fear "the reaper"/death and according to Suicide 10 to 20 million people attempt suicide each year, that works out at about 27,000 to 55,000, so the figures fit. I'd like to know for sure though (and maybe add something to the article?). Alex9788 20:19, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

40,000

In an interview (don't have cite, but I think it was a cover story in a record collector magazine, article was called "then came the last days of may" I think) Donald Roeser said the "40,000" was just a guess on how many people die every day. It wasn't based on anything other than a completely random guess.Aapold 14:03, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

According to SAVE: Suicide Facts http://www.save.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=705D5DF4-055B-F1EC-3F66462866FCB4E6 40,000 people commit suicide every year...____ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.231.128.231 (talk) 23:08, 19 October 2014 (UTC)

odd phrase

"...while a four-track tape machine amplified them on the recording" - what does this even mean? Esszet (talk) 19:55, 1 February 2016 (UTC)