STEPPENWOLF
BORN TO BE WILD!
Steppenwolf is a rock band that started in 1967 and is best known for the hits "Born to Be Wild", "Magic Carpet Ride" and "The Pusher". Due to the German background of the band's leader John Kay, they were named after the novel Steppenwolf by author Hermann Hesse. They have currently sold more than 25 million albums worldwide.
Background
At the age of 4, John Kay and his mother, after escaping from East Prussia,
fled from Soviet occupied East Germany to West Germany (an event recounted
in the song "Renegade" on the album Steppenwolf Seven and "The
Wall" on the album Rise and Shine), before moving to Canada in 1958.
Steppenwolf had its origins in a Toronto blues band called The Sparrows, which was formed in 1964 and played coffeehouses in Yorkville. By 1967 they had settled in San Francisco, playing a high energy mix of blues rock, psychedelia and folk music. Producer Gabriel Mekler of the label Dunhill Records in Los Angeles suggested the band introduce more aggressive beats. With music that helped pioneer hard rock and heavy metal, they became Steppenwolf. This band's original members were:
John Kay, vocals, guitar, harmonica
Jerry Edmonton, drums
Michael Monarch, lead guitar
Goldy McJohn, keyboards
Rushton Moreve, bass
Success
Steppenwolf rocketed to world-wide fame after their third single, "Born
To Be Wild" as well as their cover of Hoyt Axton's "The Pusher"
were used in the cult film Easy Rider (both titles originally were released
on the band's debut album). "Born To Be Wild" was written by Jerry
Edmonton's elder brother Dennis, who was lead guitarist of The Sparrows and
early Steppenwolf. He left them to perform solo using the name Mars Bonfire.
"Born To Be Wild" reached number 2 on the charts. The song introduced
to rock lyrics the signature term "heavy metal" (in fact, not about
a kind of music, but about a bike: "I like smoke and lightning, heavy
metal thunder, racin' with the wind...").
This was followed by several more hits, including "Magic Carpet Ride" (which reached #3) from Steppenwolf The Second and "Rock Me" (which reached #10) from At Your Birthday Party. Many fans consider their double album Steppenwolf Live (an extended single album in the UK) the best of Steppenwolf's releases, though John Kay expressed a personal dislike for the album in his autobiography, Magic Carpet Ride.
Monster, which criticized US policy of the Nixon-era, and Steppenwolf 7 were the band's most political albums, and are still fondly remembered by fans as two of the best rock & roll snapshots of the attitudes of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Breakup and reformation
The band broke up in 1971 following the release of another political concept
album, For Ladies Only, and Kay went on to a successful though inconsistent
solo career, scoring a minor solo hit in 1972 with "I'm Movin' On"
from his album Forgotten Songs and Unsung Heroes. Steppenwolf reformed in
1974 with the album Slow Flux, which produced the minor hit "Straight
Shooting Woman," then disbanded again in 1976. From 1977 until 1980 Steppenwolf
reformed for touring, this time with various former members but without Kay
himself. A new studio album, Night Of The Wolf was recorded in 1979 but never
released. The new Steppenwolf, according to Kay's autobiography, turned out
to be a shell of the original band, and caused the reputation of the band
to deteriorate. Lawsuits were fought. To protect the name, John Kay formed
a new version of Steppenwolf in the early 1980s and went on tour as "John
Kay and Steppenwolf", as well as releasing a solo album in 2001.
The band still tours on a regular basis and enjoys world-wide popularity, and is especially popular in Canada and Ontario, where John Kay began his musical career. The latest newsletter from John Kay's Wolfpack fanclub states the following: "As you are probably aware, 2007 marks our 40th anniversary and 2007 will also be the last year of touring for John Kay & Steppenwolf .... 1967-2007-ONE HELLUVA RIDE!" There will be also some remastering of the band's classic albums throughout this year 2007.
