History Music / Imaginos

''Imaginos'' is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band Music/BlueOysterCult. It is a RockOpera telling part of the story of [[ProtagonistTitle Imaginos]], or [[FaceHeelTurn Desdi]][[PunnyName nova]], a HumanoidAbomination that becomes an agent of chaos and evil for a group of extraterrestrial deities called “Les Invisibles”.

->He goes to Gil Blanco County in Texas and catches a disease of some sort (“''Gil Blanco County''”), then travels to New Orleans to plan a journey for the jungles of Mexico to seek the Magna of Illusion that he has seen in his visions (“''Del Rio’s Song''”). The ship sails into a storm in the Gulf of Mexico that Imaginos’ visions did not warn him of. Most of the crew drowns, and Imaginos is left on a beach to die by the only other two survivors. At the moment of his death, he is approached by the “Oyster Boys” who come out of the bay and offer him a deal- he can die, or he can pledge his servitude to Les Invisibles and be resurrected as their servant (“''Blue Öyster Cult''”). He agrees, and is raised from the dead as the much more villainous Desdinova, [[LightIsNotGood “the Eternal Light”]] (“''Astronomy''”). Desdinova is commanded to [[ShapeshiftingTrickster shapeshift into various guises and manipulate]] politicians, nobility, and other people of influence, mostly in Europe, to further Les Invisibles’ ends (“''I Am the One You Warned Me Of''”).


->At some point he falls in love with a woman who he hides his powers from to some degree (“''The Girl Who Love Made Blind''”), and also develops the ability to travel through time and take different personas throughout history, greatly expanding the reach of his influence. One of these personas is Baron von Frankenstein, who may or may not be the same character from Literature/{{Frankenstein}} by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein is distributing a drug called “world-without-end” which has mysterious and possibly cosmic effects (“''The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein’s Castle at Weisseria''”). With his great cosmic powers, Desdinova amasses huge amounts of power, money, and influence, and collects occult tomes and artifacts (“''In the Presence of Another World''”).

->In 1892- a mirror of his first voyage in 1829- Desdinova sets out on his "charmed and armed" ship ''Plutonia'' on another voyage to retrieve the Magna of Illusion, and- [[HeWhoFightsMonsters much like a conquistador]]- ends up slaughtering anyone in the Yucatan who stands in the way of him trying to take it. He brings it back to Cornwall, England, where he now lives part of the time, and gives it to his granddaughter as a birthday present ("''Magna of Illusion''"). By “planting” the Magna of Illusion in Britain, Desdinova spreads the influence of Les Invisibles directly into the minds of the powers of Europe. The dark cosmic gods’ hatred and [[SinsOfOurFathers desire for vengeance]] influence the chain of events that lead to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI- in Sandy Pearlman’s words, “a disease with a long incubation”.

* AlchemyIsMagic: Sandy Pearlman was fascinated with alchemy, and incorporated many references to it in the lyrics. Baron von Frankenstein seems to be an alchemist, and creates [[FantasticDrug world-without-end]], while in ''Re-Imaginos'' Desdinova describes his own experiments with alchemy and astronomy in the added song "''Black Telescope''".

* AncientConspiracy: Les Invisibles are described as manipulating human history through the ages, using Desdinova as their primary agent.

* CameBackWrong: Imaginos was always a HumanoidAbomination, but there’s no indication he’s ever evil until he dies and is resurrected as Desdinova.
* TheChessmaster: Desdinova, and (by extension) Les Invisibles.
* CoolBoat: ''Plutonia'' is "charmed and armed" and used by Desdinova to sail around the world.

* DarkMessiah: Desdinova can be seen as one (see SinsOfOurFathers below), including having MessianicArchetype features like being a vessel for the power of gods, and being killed and resurrected.

* EtTuBrute: Two of Imaginos’ close friends abandon him as he lays dying on the beach. Shortly afterward, he agrees to become Les Invisibles’ agent manipulating humanity, and rejects his own humanity in the process. Even more explicit in Bouchard's continuity, where he is actually killed by his friends rather than just being left to die.
* {{Expy}}: Desdinova is rather similar to [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Nyarlathotep]], being shapeshifting, chaos-causing emissaries of cosmic deities, and both being conduits of "starry wisdom" (a direct reference according to Pearlman).
* EvilGloating: "''I Am The One You Warned Me Of''" is five minutes of Desdinova being completely gleeful about his own evil accomplishments.

* FrameStory: "''Astronomy''" [[MindScrew may]] be Desdinova talking to Suzy on a beach and metaphorically describing his death and transformation from Imaginos earlier in the narrative.
* {{Familiar}}: Desdinova has a dog from the stars as a familiar, accompanying him on his travels.
* [[GenderBlenderName Gender Blender Title]]: One of Desdinova's epithets is "the Queenly Flux".

* LargeHam: [[EvilIsHammy Desdinova]] in the spoken part of “''Magna of Illusion''”. "''I’ve come a long way from Lost Christabel this night… to BLAST your RAFTERS with my surprise!''" He’s somewhat more subdued in the demo tape, though.
* LightIsNotGood: Desdinova calls himself “the Eternal Light”.

* ProtagonistTitle: A half-example, since for most of the album he is going by "Desdinova".

* ShapeshiftingTrickster: Desdinova is a particularly dark example, shapeshifting to take different personas and imitate important figures for the goal of causing chaos and ruin.

* SinsOfOurFathers: It is implied that on some level Desdinova’s actions destabilizing Europe (particularly Spain) are in revenge for European colonialism and genocide of indigenous Americans.

* StealthPun/ HurricaneOfPuns: A lot of the more cryptic lyrics are actually puns on some level. For example, “''these gravely digs of mine will surely prove a sight/and don’t forget my dog, fixed and consequent''”. Desdinova is a shapeshifter who has just come back from the dead, and is referring to his new form as “gravely digs” (digs being slang for clothes). The dog is the star Sirius, which is a “fixed” (non-moving) star in astrology.

* TheProphecy: Desdinova’s granddaughter finds a cryptic prophecy written on the oldest scroll in Desdinova’s house, which declares “when the riddle begins, the story will end”.
* TimeTravel: Desdinova has the ability to travel through time and takes different personas across history. The mechanics of this are never specified.
* VillainProtagonist: Desdinova's goals are to cause chaos, war and death.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Imaginos is an advanced shapeshifter, with examples given of him copying other humans as well as turning into a buzzard, a pony, and a [[{{Objectshifting}} pinwheel]].

The Imaginos character, plotline, and concepts were created by the band’s producer Sandy Pearlman in the 1960s, who incorporated them into many of the band’s lyrics. It was not told in a specific order until the ''Imaginos'' album itself was released in 1988, leading to many scattered, cryptic references to the plot across the band’s discography. ''Imaginos'' itself, which covers the years of 1808 up to 1893, is only Act I of III of the storyline. Two other double albums were planned which would follow Imaginos’ story up until the modern day. These were to be called ''Act II: Germany Minus Zero and Counting'' and ''Act III: The Mutant Reformation''. The full title of the entire narrative was, according to Pearlman, [[LongTitle ''The Soft Doctrines of Imaginos: A Bedtime Story for the Children of the Damned'']].

Albert Bouchard, who has taken over the storyline and mythos after Sandy Pearlman’s death, has [[RetCon retconned]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUaeGVdqa0c a few points]] on his ''Re-Imaginos'' album, released in 2019. In Bouchard’s current continuity, Imaginos went to Europe before Texas, where he met “Frankenstein” and took “world-without-end”, which seemingly unlocked his shapeshifting powers. Also, instead of the entire ship being wrecked, Imaginos is thrown overboard by his friends who learn of the “sickness” he caught during “''Gil Blanco County''”. Bouchard is currently continuing the ''Imaginos'' saga, with ''Imaginos II: Bombs Over Germany (minus zero and counting)'' released in October 2021.

* BroadStrokes: There have been a number of large plot changes across the decades of the storyline's development, with ''Re-Imaginos'' contradicting several plot points established on the original ''Imaginos''. This might come with the territory of such a deliberately ambiguous narrative- after all, "the doctrines are soft".

Albert Bouchard, who has taken over the storyline and mythos after Sandy Pearlman’s death, has [[RetCon retconned]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUaeGVdqa0c a few points]] on his ''Re-Imaginos'' album, released in 2019. In Bouchard’s current continuity, Imaginos went to Europe before Texas, where he met “Frankenstein” and took “world-without-end”, which seemingly unlocked his shapeshifting powers. Also, instead of the entire ship being wrecked, Imaginos is thrown overboard by his friends who learn of the “sickness” he caught during “''Gil Blanco County''”. Bouchard is also planning to continue the ''Imaginos'' saga, with ''Bombs Over Germany'' set to release in October 2021.

* FantasticDrug: "World-without-end", the effects of which are never exactly specified, but in Bouchard's continuity appear to unlock some of Imaginos' latent powers.

-->''[[Music/BlueOysterCult "Don't you give up, my young, young friends!]]''
-->''[[Music/BlueOysterCult Here's a story I think will please..."]]''

* DoubleMeaning: The lyrics are crammed with wordplay and double (and even ''triple'') entendre phrases, [[PungeonMaster common to Sandy Pearlman's writing]]. For example, "''the tears of God flow as I bleed''".

* DoubleMeaning: The lyrics are crammed with wordplay and double (and even ''triple'') entendre phrases, common to [[PungeonMaster Sandy Pearlman]]'s writing. For example, "''the tears of God flow as I bleed''".

* AlchemyIsMagic: Sandy Pearlman was fascinated with alchemy, and incorporated many references to it in the lyrics. Baron Von Frankenstein seems to be an alchemist, and creates [[FantasticDrug world-without-end]], while in ''Re-Imaginos'' Desdinova describes his own experiments with alchemy and astronomy in the added song "''Black Telescope''".

* DoubleMeaning: The lyrics are crammed with non-sexual double (and even ''triple'') entendre phrases, common to Sandy Pearlman's writing. For example, "''the tears of God flow as I bleed''".

* LargeHam: [[EvilIsHammy Desdinova]] in the spoken part of “Magna of Illusion”. "''I’ve come a long way from Lost Christabel this night… to BLAST your RAFTERS with my surprise!''" He’s somewhat more subdued in the demo tape, though.

* TheProphecy: Desdinova’s granddaughter finds a cryptic prophecy written on the oldest scroll in Desdinova’s house, which declares “when the riddle begins, the story will end”.

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

%%* CosmicHorror

%%* VillainProtagonist

* CosmicHorror

* VillainProtagonist

%%* EpicRocking

* AncientConspiracy

* BeenThereShapedHistory

* ShapeshiftingTrickster

* TimeTravel: The mechanics of which are never specified.

%%* AncientConspiracy

%%* BeenThereShapedHistory

%%* CosmicHorror

%%* LightIsNotGood: Desdinova calls himself “the Eternal Light”.

%%* ShapeshiftingTrickster

%%* TimeTravel: The mechanics of which are never specified.

%%* VillainProtagonist

* AncientConspiracy

* BeenThereShapedHistory

* CosmicHorror

* EpicRocking

* InMediasRes / ColdOpen: The narrative opens with "''I Am The One You Warned Me Of''", with Desdinova already in the middle of corrupting the world, before switching to a chronological telling of the narrative starting with "''Imaginos''". According to Albert Bouchard, this is because "every story starts in the middle".

* LightIsNotGood: Desdinova calls himself “the Eternal Light”.

* ShapeshiftingTrickster

* TimeTravel: The mechanics of which are never specified.

* VillainProtagonist

* MysteryCult: The Blue Öyster Cult, who live beneath a bay and worship Les Invisibles.

* StockSoundEffects: The demo version of "Les Invisibles" has a stock "boing" sound effect before the second verse and first chorus for some reason.

-->''[[Music/BlueOysterCult "Don't give up, my young, young friends!]]''

-->''[[Music/BlueOysterCult "Goblins of surcease, villains of wise,]]''
-->''[[Music/BlueOysterCult They pranced his brain on through the long, long night..."]]''

* WordSaladLyrics: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], the lyrics that seem to be Word Salad on the surface were usually encoded by Sandy Pearlman with specific symbolism.

The Imaginos character, plotline, and concepts were created by the band’s producer Sandy Pearlman in the 1960s, who incorporated them into many of the band’s lyrics. It was not told in a specific order until the ''Imaginos'' album itself was released in 1988, leading to many scattered, cryptic references to the plot across the band’s discography. ''Imaginos'' itself, which covers the years of 1804 up to 1893, is only Act I of III of the storyline. Two other double albums were planned which would follow Imaginos’ story up until the modern day. These were to be called ''Act II: Germany Minus Zero and Counting'' and ''Act III: The Mutant Reformation''. The full title of the entire narrative was, according to Pearlman, [[LongTitle ''The Soft Doctrines of Imaginos: A Bedtime Story for the Children of the Damned'']].

->Imaginos is a “modified child” born in New Hampshire in 1804 (beyond this, his exact nature is vague). He was born during an auspicious astronomical event where the Sirius star was especially bright and prominent. This star is somehow connected to the powers of ''Les Invisibles'', a group of seven extraterrestrial deities who were worshipped in [[{{Mayincatec}} pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and Haiti]]. The worshippers of Les Invisibles were massacred by the conquistadors, who also stole one of the two magical obsidian mirrors that acted as gateways to the beings’ realm and conduits of their power (“''Les Invisibles''”). This mirror ([[https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/john-dees-spirit-mirror a real-life artifact]]) eventually made its way into the possession of John Dee, influencing Britain to crush Spain’s naval might. The other mirror, the [[ArtifactOfDoom Magna of Illusion]], remained sealed in a chamber of jade.

Known to me, the starry wisdom!"''

[[BadassBoast Just call me Desdinova, I'm sure to be the lucky one\\
When destiny assigns wisdom]]\\

* MagicalNativeAmerican: Imaginos mentions an "[[Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer Indian Joe]]" who "knows all there is to know" in "''Gil Blanco County''", though the line could [[WildMassGuessing possibly]] be Imaginos sardonically referring to himself.

* WordSaladLyrics: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], the lyrics that seem to be Word Salad on the surface were usually carefully encoded by Sandy Pearlman with specific symbolism.

Due to the cryptic nature of the lyrics, which originated as poetry and are often veiled in multiple layers of metaphor, the exact plot of ''Imaginos'' and the ''Soft Doctrines'' in general is hard to deduce in much detail. However, the general plot points are mostly agreed upon and backed up by comments by the band, the album’s liner notes, and less ambiguous lyrical passages.

* WildMassGuessing: Any attempt to decipher to lyrics beyond the (somewhat vague and cryptic) liner notes ends up being this.