That “Godzilla” song—How many cover versions are there?

Mar 6

“History shows again and again / How nature points out the folly of men / Godzilla!”

In the 1970s, rock band Blue Oyster Cult released their light-hearted tribute to Japan’s legendary giant monster. In the years since, the MANY cover versions have included rock music, folk, bluegrass, rap, and more.

About the original version of “Godzilla” by Blue Öyster Cult

In the 1970s, rock band Blue Oyster Cult released their cult classic song “Godzilla,” a light-hearted tribute to Japan’s legendary giant monster. The song, written by BOC member Buck Dharma AKA Donald Roeser, first appeared on the 1977 album Spectres, before being released as a single in 1978.

“I’m a huge fan of the original ‘Godzilla’ movie and all of the Toho monster movies,” Dharma told California’s San Gabriel Valley Tribune. “Everything that came out of Japan through the ’60s and up to the ’70s.”

Writing the song, he spontaneously wrote the guitar lick in a Dallas hotel room—which made him think of Godzilla.

“The rest was just trying to get enough words to talk about the subject.”

In the years since the song first came out, “Godzilla” has become one of the band’s best-remembered songs—alongside their rock classics “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and “Burnin’ for You.”

Dharma told the paper how it’s too bad that there wasn’t “some ironic usage” of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla” single that could have been done for that movie or a credit roll.

“But that’s the way it goes.”

While a cover version did eventually show up in a Godzilla movie—more on that below—BOC’s version of “Godzilla” has reportedly been heard in other media, like commercials, video games, and in other movies.

The song has also been covered a number of times. Below, we have playlist for you that includes cover versions in a number of different musical styles.

The BOC Godzilla cover playlist (30 videos—and counting)

In the years since the original song was released, there have been MANY cover versions in a number of music styles—including rock music, folk, bluegrass, rap, and more. In case you just want to click “play” and let all the songs play through, right here is the actual YouTube playlist from the Monster Complex® channel. Or you can jump to the list on our channel here.

IF YOU’RE ON YOUR PHONE: YouTube might not be showing you how to choose from the whole playlist. If so, the you can find the playlist when you CLICK HERE!

That BOC parody of their own song

When the first U.S. movie with Godzilla got made in 1998, the band kind of hoped their classic song would be used as part of that. When that Godzilla soundtrack came out without the BOC song, a couple band members wrote their complaint with a parody titled “NoZilla.” That song was released directly to radio stations. (You can listen to that version below.)

**When the song finally was in a Godzilla movie**

Eventually, a cover version of the BOC song was used during the closing credits 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters. On his website, movie composer Bear McCreary talked about that experience:

“Instantly, an idea struck me: this film could give me an opportunity to produce a new version of my favorite Blue Öyster Cult song, ‘Godzilla.’ Moreover, I could realize it with some of my favorite musicians from the rock and metal community, including Serj Tankian from System of a Down and the rhythm section of the metal band Dethklok.”

(We have the video of that version of the song below.)

McCreary also talked with Dharma about writing the original song:

BEAR: “How did you come up with this song?”
BUCK: “The story of the tune was, I just came up with the parallel fifths guitar riff in a hotel room in Dallas, Texas back in the day, probably about 1975. And it immediately made me think of Godzilla, like the plodding, you know, guy-in-a-suit monster. And I started writing the lyrics from what happened in the movie. Like, the high-tension wires are a big part of that movie.”
BEAR: “The imagery in the lyrics are one of the things that makes the song work so well.”
BUCK: “Well, the moral of the story is that humans basically unleashed Godzilla, but that Godzilla, as destructive as he was, was also heroic.”
BEAR: “Absolutely. And, in the chorus, the way you set the words, ‘Go, Go Godzilla!’ I can’t even say it, Buck, without a smile on my face. It’s so wonderful!”
BUCK: “Well, it’s kind of goofy, but it’s heartfelt!”
BEAR: “And did the rest of the band have any questions about doing a song about a Japanese monster movie franchise? What was their reaction?”
BUCK: “No, they really liked it. We were all fans of movies of that type. We were very much into sci-fi movies and literature. So yeah, we were all about it.”

Listen to that cover version of the song here:

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