Steppenwolf – A Great Canadian-American Classic Rock Band

Victor Rouă0 comment

Steppenwolf was a great Canadian-American classic rock and heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in in 1967. Steppenwolf were initially active between 1967 and 1972 and then once more between 1974 and 1976 before performing again from 1980 up until 2018 (known as John Kay & Steppenwolf). The group has been fronted by vocalist and rhythm guitarist John Kay. The original/founding line-up of the band also included Goldy McJohn on keyboards and Jerry Edmonton on drums. John Kay, Goldy McJohn, and Jerry Edmonton previously performed together in a Canadian rock band called The Sparrows before forming Steppenwolf. The line-up was completed by Michael Monarch on guitar and Rushton Moreve on bass, the two musicians being recruited in Los Angeles. Their music was mixture of hard rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock, acid rock, garage rock, and heavy metal (which, once again, they co-pioneered, so to put it).

Steppenwolf performing live in 1970. Photo credits: ABC / Dunhill Records. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

They were one of the pioneers of heavy metal, with one line from the lyrics of their well known hit song ‘Born to be Wild’ (released in 1968), more specifically ‘heavy metal thunder’, starting the whole story of the genre if you will (this one along with Iron Butterfly’s ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ coupled, that is, with the early stuff by Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath as well). This song represented a turning point in the history of music as it was for the first time that the term ‘heavy metal’ was named and sung. A lesser known (but very interesting) aspect or fact about this iconic and legendary classic rock and classic heavy metal song is the fact that it is actually a cover and that the original version was actually a ballad written by Canadian rock artist Dennis Edmonton (the brother of drummer Jerry Edmonton), known by his stage name Mars Bonfire. Steppenwolf accepted to cover it and turned into into a rock and roll and heavy metal anthem (in point of fact, I dare say they did not only cover it, but also recorded a remake of it).

The band is well known for their hit singles Born to be Wild (released in 1968), Magic Carpet Ride (released in 1968 and partly inspired by his relationship with his wife Jutta Maue, according to an interview by him from 2016), and Rock Me (released in 1969), all three top 10 hit singles. The band went on to achieve global stardom between the late 1960s and early 1970s, but, due to internal problems, the original line-up broke up in 1972. Throughout their lengthy career, the band released 13 studio albums, 5 live albums, 9 compilation albums, and 21 singles. Below you can listen to Born to Be Wild and Magic Carpet Ride, my two all time most favourite songs from their discography. I’m quite sure many of you reading this brief article already known them as well, but they are always well worth re-listening to, being legendary staples of classic rock. All the best, take care, stay safe, and rock on!

Documentation sources and external links:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *