Which band was the subject of the 'More Cowbell' sketch?

The “More Cowbell” sketch was about Blue Öyster Cult, whose song “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” supplied the fictional recording session at its center. The sketch imagines the band recording the 1976 hit while an enthusiastic cowbell player overwhelms everyone else in the studio.

Written by Will Ferrell, the sketch aired on April 8, 2000. Ferrell played the fictional musician Gene Frenkle, while Christopher Walken played producer Bruce Dickinson, whose repeated demand for “more cowbell” became the sketch’s catchphrase. The rest of the lineup included Chris Parnell as Eric Bloom, Jimmy Fallon as Bobby Rondinelli, Chris Kattan as Buck Dharma, and Horatio Sanz as Joe Bouchard.

The comedy exaggerates the real session. The song was recorded at New York’s Record Plant in late 1975 or early 1976, not at the fictional Sunshine Studios. The real producer was David Lucas, and the song’s lead vocal was performed by Buck Dharma, not Eric Bloom. “More cowbell” later became a widely recognized pop-culture expression.