<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A lot of folks say they became fans of Steppenwolf after hearing <\/span>Born To Be Wild<\/span><\/i> in the movie <\/span>Easy Rider<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 The movie was released in the United States in July of 1969.\u00a0 By then, I had already been playing their eponymous debut album for a year (and thus <\/span>Born To Be Wild<\/span><\/i>) as part of my \u2018learning to play the drums\u2019 album rotation.\u00a0 Said album was released in the summer of 1968 and I had the good fortune to hear <\/span>BTBW<\/span><\/i> performed live by a local band at one of that summer\u2019s teen dances held at the Bishop Baraga High School gym.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t understand the band\u2019s Neru jacket and love beads style (sorry, I do not remember the band\u2019s name) until I ran out and bought the <\/span>Steppenwolf <\/span><\/i>album.\u00a0 The band photo on the jacket solved the wardrobe mystery.\u00a0 Playing along with drummer Jerry Edmonton really upped my drum playing learning curve and I got my first real dose of Hammond B3 organ courtesy of Goldie McJohn.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Oddly enough, the entire Hollywood journey for <\/span>Born to be Wild<\/span><\/i> actually began in Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n It was there in 1964 that brothers Dennis and Jerry McCrohan joined the Sparrows, a Toronto, Ontario based band.\u00a0 Earlier in the 1960s, Dennis\u2019s dad took him to see a concert by Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks.\u00a0 In an interview with <\/span>Louder<\/span><\/i>\u2019s Fraser Lewey, Dennis recalled, \u201cI had just got my first electric guitar.\u00a0 As soon as they launched into <\/span>Hey<\/span><\/i> Bo Diddley<\/span><\/i>, with Robbie Robertson using a pick between his thumb and first finger and steel finger picks on the next two, playing a Telecaster run through an amp with distortion, I knew I\u2019d heard the guitar sound of my dreams.\u201d\u00a0 Robertson and the rest of The Hawks would eventually spin off into a different group, The Band.\u00a0 It would take a few years for young Dennis to start his own musical journey with The Sparrows.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The leader of The Sparrows was Jack London (an English expat), so the brothers McCrohan changed their surname to Edmonton to sound like they, too, had roots in the British Isles.\u00a0 Rumour has it that Neil Young may or may not have been one of the many musicians who cycled through the band early on.\u00a0 They landed on the winning bet in this game of \u2018band member roulette\u2019 when they fired one singer and brought in John Kay to replace him.\u00a0 When the band relocated to California, Dennis changed his name again (this time to \u2018Mars Bonfire\u2019) before he departed for a solo career.\u00a0 Jerry (who retained \u2018Edmonton\u2019 for his last name) and The Sparrows then became Steppenwolf.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mars Bonfire may have left the band, but he didn\u2019t burn any bridges.\u00a0 He worked up a demo for <\/span>Born To Be Wild <\/span><\/i>but it was turned down by several publishers.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t in any final form when Mars offered it to his old band to see what they could do with it.\u00a0 According to the interview with <\/span>Louder, <\/span><\/i>Bonfire said, \u201cI had been kicked out of my previous apartment for playing my guitar amplified, and had already got complaints in my new apartment.\u00a0 I did the demo singing quietly and using an unamplified Telecaster.\u00a0 Luckily, when Steppenwolf agreed to do it, their guitar player Michael Wilk* gave it the big guitar sound that I was dreaming of.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0(*editor\u2019s note:\u00a0 I am not sure if this is an unintentional slip by the author (or Bonfire) or if it is another example of A.I. not getting the facts exactly right.\u00a0 Michael Wilk is a keyboard player and producer who joined a later version of Steppenwolf.\u00a0 Wilk\u2019s contributions to Steppenwolf are\u00a0 prominently featured from their 25th Anniversary album on.\u00a0 The guitarist in the 1967-68 Steppenwolf lineup was Michael Monarch.\u00a0 The article published by <\/span>Louder<\/span><\/i> was based on an interview originally done by Lewry for <\/span>Classic Rock Magazine – <\/span><\/i>Issue # 254 in September of\u00a0 2018, hence, a hint that this reprint was probably brought forward to the present after being worked over by A.I.\u00a0 Hmmm, A.I. makes mistakes?).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The spark never really caught on to ignite Bonfire\u2019s solo career but he did find work as a staff writer for Universal Music.\u00a0 As he told Lewry, \u201cI had a regular income and could afford to buy my first car.\u00a0 I drove out to the beach, then I drove out to the desert, and up to the mountains.\u00a0 I had a sudden realisation that the area around Los Angeles was really stunning.\u00a0 It\u2019s very dramatic.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what caused me to come up with the \u2018<\/span>Get your motor running, head out on the highway\u2019 <\/span><\/i>lyric.\u00a0 At one point I was in the mountains during a thunderstorm.\u00a0 It was so heavy I had to pull aside and park.\u00a0 And that\u2019s when the phrase \u2018<\/span>heavy metal thunder\u2019<\/span><\/i> came to me.\u201d\u00a0 Some claim that the lyric also spawned the use of the terms \u2018heavy metal\u2019 and \u2018metal\u2019 to describe a music genre that are still around today.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How important was <\/span>BTBW<\/span><\/i> for Steppenwolf?\u00a0 It propelled their eponymous first LP to No. 2 on the U.S. <\/span>Billboard <\/span><\/i>chart and it would eventually become a generational anthem.\u00a0 It was also important to Bonfire as he notes, \u201cIf it weren\u2019t for the incredible good fortune I\u2019ve had with <\/span>Born To Be Wild<\/span><\/i>, I\u2019d probably be back on the production line at General Motors of Canada in Oshawa, Ontario.\u00a0 That was the only job I had been trained for.\u201d\u00a0 Indeed, Mars\u2019 comfortable lifestyle stems from the royalties he has earned from the song.\u00a0 <\/span>BTBW <\/span><\/i>has been covered by bands like Blue Oyster Cult, used in countless advertising campaigns, and even been lampooned in various comedic contexts – all streams of revenue for the songwriter.\u00a0 The song was one of the first six inductees into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame\u2019s new \u2018Singles\u2019 category even though Steppenwolf themselves have never been inducted into the R\u2019n\u2019R Hall of Fame.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While <\/span>Born To Be Wild<\/span><\/i> became the ultimate anthem for road warriors of all kinds, it doesn\u2019t reflect Bonfire\u2019s low-key, off-road lifestyle:\u00a0 \u201cIts success has allowed me to pursue my lifelong interests in hiking, snowshoeing, weightlifting, and target practice.\u00a0 All I ever really need are a pair of running shoes and some old clothes.\u201d\u00a0 So Mars Bonfire gets a good share of the credit for turning Steppenwolf\u2019s first album into a big seller in the summer of 1968, but would that have been enough to elevate it to the rarified air as \u2018one of the greatest hits of all time\u2019?\u00a0 Maybe, maybe not.\u00a0 It would take off into the stratosphere thanks to the pioneering use of popular music for more than just a backdrop prop in a movie.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At a screening of the movie <\/span>Easy Rider<\/span><\/i>, Bonfire realized the song was going to be more than \u2018just a hit record\u2019:\u00a0 \u201cI went into the restroom,\u201d he recalled, \u2018and there was a guy standing at the urinal singing <\/span>BornTo Be Wild<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 He\u2019d only heard it once in the movie and it had already connected with him.\u201d\u00a0 I will add that this may or may not also be totally true.\u00a0 When I saw <\/span>Easy Rider<\/span><\/i>, I poked my buddy and said, \u201cYeah, what a great use for the song!\u201d because I had been playing the drums and singing along with it for more than a year at that point.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Just as the 1968 cinematic blockbuster <\/span>The Graduate<\/span><\/i>, used music as a soundtrack for the whole film and not just for background music, <\/span>Easy Rider<\/span><\/i> followed a similar formula.\u00a0 The shot of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper motoring down Route 66 on their choppers was one of many iconic moments in the film, but it almost didn\u2019t happen.\u00a0 As Hopper and Fonda were getting near the end of the production, they were running out of money.\u00a0 The cash they needed to license music for the soundtrack was running short so they had to think outside of the box.\u00a0 To get the licensing for the songs they would use, they invited various musicians to private screenings.\u00a0 Each screening made use of their songs and then Hopper and Fonda invited them to negotiate a deal.\u00a0 If a song came in over budget and the artist wouldn\u2019t come to terms they could afford, they moved on.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The music fit the flow of the film so well, people got the mistaken idea that Hopper shot the movie so it fit the songs.\u00a0 Hopper said it was just the opposite:\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t cut the film to the music.\u00a0 But later, when I put <\/span>Born To Be Wild<\/span><\/i> on there, it just worked, man.\u201d\u00a0 The soundtrack came together in a rather unusual manner.\u00a0 Film cutter Donn Cambern used a lot of music from his own collection to make it more interesting as he previewed over 80 hours of film of Hopper and Fonda biking down the road.\u00a0 A lot of this music fit nicely and was used as the music budget eventually rose close to one million dollars (and ended up as money well spent).\u00a0 The budget for the rest of the film came in at only $400,000 (most of which was funded by profits from the TV show <\/span>The Monkees<\/span><\/i>)<\/span>.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 The original idea was to have Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young write the whole soundtrack, but Hopper secretly dismissed them.\u00a0 He told them, \u201cYou guys are really good musicians, but honestly, anybody who rides around in a limo can\u2019t comprehend my movie, so I am going to say \u2018no\u2019 to this.\u00a0 If you guys try to get into the studio again, I may have to cause you some bodily harm.\u201d\u00a0 The dismissal took place behind Fonda\u2019s back and proved to be another\u00a0 one of the things that caused Hopper and Fonda to have a strained relationship in later years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bob Dylan was asked if <\/span>Rider<\/span><\/i> could use him singing <\/span>It\u2019s Alright Ma (I Only Bleeding)<\/span><\/i>, but for some reason he was reluctant.\u00a0 Instead, he scribbled out some lyrics on a napkin and gave them to the producers:\u00a0 \u201cGive this to McGuinn – he will know what to do with it.\u201d\u00a0 Roger McGuinn turned the lyric into <\/span>The Ballad of Easy Rider<\/span><\/i> which The Byrds contributed to the soundtrack.<\/span><\/p>\n They also performed <\/span>It\u2019s Alright Ma<\/span><\/i> in the film.\u00a0 Joining The Byrds and Steppenwolf on the movie soundtrack were The Smiths (who covered The Band\u2019s song <\/span>The Weight<\/span><\/i> for contractual reasons) and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.\u00a0 Hendrix would later pen his own <\/span>Easy Rider <\/span><\/i>tribute song entitled <\/span>Ezy Ryder.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 <\/span>Easy Rider<\/span><\/i> would bring in $60 million world wide and open the door for a new era of low cost independent films that would follow.\u00a0 Steppenwolf\u2019s second track in the movie was Hoyt Axton\u2019s <\/span>The Pusher<\/span><\/i> which my band The Twig learned and played in certain venues.\u00a0 My mother didn\u2019t like the swearing in the chorus so we stopped rehearsing it in our basement and (naturally) would not play it at school dances.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As far as Steppenwolf, their first album and the hit single of <\/span>Born To Be Wild<\/span><\/i> set the bar pretty high.\u00a0 Often, a strong opening album like this will lead to the dreaded \u2018sophomore jinx\u2019 – a term applied to a second album that does not enjoy the massive success of a debut record.\u00a0 <\/span>Magic Carpet Ride <\/span><\/i>was the lead single off of <\/span>Second <\/span><\/i>and when it rose to No. 2 on the charts, Steppenwolf avoided a second album slump.\u00a0 The one thing the band couldn\u2019t stave off was the another thing that plagues many bands – membership roulette.\u00a0 After two albums, bassist Rushton Moreve was replaced by The Sparrows original bass player Nick St. Nicholas (Moreve had failed to show up for a few shows).\u00a0 Lead guitarist Michael Monarch was next one out with Larry Byrom taking his place during the recording of their third LP, <\/span>Monster.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 When St. Nicolas left in April of 1970, George Biondo stepped in.\u00a0 Byrom\u2019s spot was taken over by Kent Henry in time to record 1971\u2019s <\/span>For Ladies Only.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 The eventual outcome of the shuffle was the February 1972 disbanding of Steppenwolf.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The 1974 reformation of the band added Bobby Cochran to the original core members of Kay, Biondo, Edmonton and keyboardist Goldie McJohn.\u00a0 More personnel shuffling would take place before the band splintered again in 1976.\u00a0 After a four year hiatus, John Kay and Steppenwolf would re-emerge in 1980 with the Palmer brothers (Michael on guitar and Steve on drums) along with new bass and keyboard players.\u00a0 By the time <\/span>Live in London<\/span><\/i> was recorded in 1981, Chad Peery and Brett Tuggle had taken over on bass and keys. \u00a0 A couple of more bass players came and went but it was the addition of the aforementioned Michael Wilk for the <\/span>Wolftracks<\/span><\/i> album that laid the foundation for the rest of the band\u2019s career.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With the addition of Rocket Ritchotte (lead guitar) and Ron Hurst (on drums), keyboardist Wilk moved over to bass for the <\/span>Rock and Roll Rebels<\/span><\/i> LP in 1987.\u00a0 It was the band\u2019s first iteration as a four-piece but one last piece was changed when Ritchotte left in 1989 to join David Lee Roth\u2019s band.\u00a0 Short term sub Les Dudek came in for a year, followed by Steve Fister.\u00a0 The lead guitar position was finally stabilized when Danny Johnson came on board in 1996.\u00a0 This was the final line-up that played together through Steppenwolf\u2019s 50th Anniversary Tour in 2018.\u00a0 At the conclusion of the anniversary tour, Kay announced the band had been officially retired.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Kay shared his thoughts about <\/span>Born To Be Wild<\/span><\/i>\u2019s meaning and legacy, saying, \u201cThe song wasn\u2019t just about riding motorcycles, but also about the independent, rebellious spirit of teenagers hitting the highway.\u201d\u00a0 He also commented that it was impossible to NOT play the song live during their shows.\u00a0 Kay had mixed feelings about <\/span>BTBW<\/span><\/i> being used in <\/span>Easy Rider:\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>\u201cInitially, I thought, well, wait a minute, it\u2019s about motorcycles.\u00a0 The last thing I know Peter Fonda did was something called <\/span>The Wild Angels, <\/span><\/i>and that was a bit of a turkey, so you know, what\u2019s this going to be like?\u201d\u00a0 The band walked into a private screening during the opening scene when Fonda and Hopper are making a drug deal to the strains of <\/span>The Pusher.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Kay continues, \u201cAnd then the ending came, and there was just complete silence in the room.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My lasting memory of <\/span>Born To Be Wild<\/span><\/i> is tied to a Cream song called <\/span>Toad.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 <\/span>Toad<\/span><\/i> was an instrumental riff used to set up Ginger Baker\u2019s drum solo.\u00a0 When The Twig played <\/span>Toad<\/span><\/i>, it always ended kind of flat.\u00a0 I can not remember if it was Mike Kesti (bassist) or Gene Betts (guitarist) who suggested we do the big finish for <\/span>Toad<\/span><\/i> by doing the short middle drum break from <\/span>Born to be Wild<\/span><\/i> to take us straight into <\/span>Born To Be Wild. <\/span><\/i>\u00a0We tried it, it worked, and thus became one of our show piece songs during our 1969 to 1971 run as a band.\u00a0 Thank you Mars Bonfire and Steppenwolf for a great, great classic rock song and many albums worth of memorable tunes – truly you all were <\/span>Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Rebels<\/span><\/i>!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0\u00a0Rock and Roll Rebels –\u00a0<\/em>Still rocking in 2005 – and this is well after he ‘retired’…BTW – that IS Michael Wilk playing keys, not guitar on the first Steppenwolf album as the AI version of the original\u00a0Classic Rock Magazine<\/em> article stated . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A lot of folks say they became fans of Steppenwolf after hearing Born To Be Wild in the movie Easy Rider.\u00a0 The movie was released in the United States in July of 1969.\u00a0 By then, I had already been playing their eponymous debut album for a year (and thus Born To Be Wild) as 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