“Born to Be Wild” – Single by Steppenwolf from the album Steppenwolf
B-side “Everybody’s Next One”
Released May 9, 1968
Label Dunhill/RCA
Songwriter Mars Bonfire
Producer Gabriel Mekler
Charted No.2 in US; No.18 in UK; No.1 in Canada; No.20 in Austria; No.16 in Belgium; No.20 in West Germany
“Born to Be Wild” was Steppenwolf’s third single off their self-titled debut album, and became their signature song, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts. It was kept from the number-one spot by “People Got to Be Free” by the Rascals.
With the line “heavy metal thunder,” this became the first popular song to use the phrase “heavy metal,” which became a term for hard rock. William Burroughs is credited with coining the phrase; he used it in his 1961 novel The Soft Machine to describe his character Uranian Willy as “the Heavy Metal Kid.” Burroughs told The Paris Review: “I felt that heavy metal was sort of the ultimate expression of addiction, that there’s something actually metallic in addiction, that the final stage reached is not so much vegetable as mineral.”
“Born To Be Wild” was famously used in the 1969 movie Easy Rider, a counterculture classic starring Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda as bikers who ride from Los Angeles to New Orleans. Another Steppenwolf song, “The Pusher,” is also used in the film.
When the movie was in production, the song was simply a placeholder, since Fonda wanted Crosby, Stills and Nash to do the soundtrack. But it became clear that “Born To Be Wild” belonged in the movie, and it stayed. Partly because of it’s use in Easy Rider, this has become the song most associated with motorcycles.
Original lineup
John Kay – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica (1967–1972, 1974–1976, 1980–2018)
Michael Monarch – lead guitar, backing vocals (1967–1969)
Rushton Moreve – bass guitar, lead & backing vocals (1968–1969)
Jerry Edmonton – drums, backing vocals (1967–1972, 1974–1976; died 1993)
Goldy McJohn – keyboards, backing vocals (1967–1972, 1974; died 2017)
