"Veteran of the Psychic Wars" is a song by the American hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

 band Blue Öyster Cult

Blue Öyster Cult

Blue Öyster Cult, often abbreviated BÖC, is an American rock band, most of whose members first came together in Long Island, NY in 1967 as the band Soft White Underbelly...

, written by Eric Bloom

Eric Bloom

Eric Bloom is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as the main vocalist, and "stunt guitar" for the long-running band Blue Öyster Cult, with work on over 20 albums...

 (band vocal) and Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock

Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....

 (British author, creator of Elric of Melniboné

Elric of Melniboné

Elric of Melniboné is a fictional character created by Michael Moorcock, and the antihero of a series of sword and sorcery stories centering in an alternate Earth. The proper name and title of the character is Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné...

, Dorian Hawkmoon and the Eternal Champion

Eternal Champion

The Eternal Champion is a fictional creation of the author Michael Moorcock and is a recurrent feature in many of his novels.-About the Eternal Champion:...

). The song first appeared on the album Fire of Unknown Origin

Fire of Unknown Origin

Fire of Unknown Origin is the eighth album by Blue Öyster Cult, released in 1981. It was produced by Martin Birch.The album, which included the top 40 hit "Burnin' for You" represented a resurgence of the group's commercial standing after two albums with disappointing sales...

. The song also appears on the soundtrack of the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal (film)

Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian fantasy-animated film directed by Gerald Potterton and produced by Ivan Reitman and Leonard Mogel, who also was the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine....

. An extended version of the song appears on the album Extraterrestrial Live

Extraterrestrial Live

Extraterrestrial Live is a Blue Öyster Cult live album released in 1982. It documents their 1981 tour in support of Fire of Unknown Origin. Midway through the tour, the band fired drummer and founding member Albert Bouchard, replacing him with roadie Rick Downey...

.

The phrase "...veteran of a Thousand Psychic Wars" is from the Hawkwind

Hawkwind

Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....

 song "Standing at the Edge," from the album Warrior on the Edge of Time

Warrior on the Edge of Time

Warrior on the Edge of Time is Hawkwind's fifth studio album. It reached #13 on the UK album charts and was their third and last album to make the US Billboard chart, where it peaked at #150...

, which also dealt with the myth of the Eternal Champion, and contained lyrics written by Moorcock.

The song has been covered by the Finnish metal band Tarot

Tarot (band)

Tarot is a heavy metal band from Finland. They are most famous for the song “Wings of Darkness” from the 1986 album Spell of Iron. While having enjoyed a broad underground popularity in Finland, the band has never been very famous elsewhere until gaining new success in the recent years when their...

, and by Metallica

Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...

 at the Bridge School Benefit

Bridge School Benefit

The Bridge School Benefit is an annual non-profit charity concert held in Mountain View, California, every October at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. The concerts are all organized by musician Neil Young and his wife, Pegi....

on October 28, 2007.