albert bouchard played the cowbell on don't fear the reaper.
albert bouchard played the cowbell on don't fear the reaper.
who played the cowbell on don't fear the reaper?
albert bouchard
the song features prominent use of the cowbell percussion instrument, overdubbed on the original recording. bassist joe bouchard remembered the producer requesting his brother, drummer albert bouchard, play the cowbell: "albert thought he was crazy. but he put all this tape around a cowbell and played it. it really pulled the track together." however, producer david lucas says that he played it, a claim supported by bandmember eric bloom.









































section::::reception.
(don't fear) the reaper
the song was memorialized in the april 2000 "saturday night live" comedy sketch "more cowbell". the six-minute sketch presents a fictionalized version of the recording of "(don't fear) the reaper" on an episode of vh1's "behind the music." will ferrell wrote the sketch and played gene frenkle, an overweight cowbell player. "legendary" producer bruce dickinson, played by christopher walken, asked frenkle to "really explore the studio space" and up the ante on his cowbell playing. the rest of the band are visibly annoyed by frenkle, but dickinson tells everyone, "i got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!" buck dharma said that the sketch was fantastic and he never gets tired of it but also lamented that it made the song lose its 'creepy' vibe for some time.
(don't fear) the reaper