One of my fav. bands in the late 60th-early 70th. Just great Rock music. beside "Born to be wild" there are so great songs like "Sookie Sookie!, The pusher, Magic carpet Ride, Rock me, Monster, and so on...

I never saw them live. Anybody of you saw a gig of Steppenwolf?

Had a 8 track from them when i was 17 and loved them...
I had a 1967 Dodge van all pimped out and would cruise around blasting them..haha.
My 2nd fav band..Stones #1..

Never saw them live..But they could really rock!

Und now for an earschplittenloudenboomer!

Thanks to the film Easy Rider "1969" I got to know Steppenwolfs music at the time being;
The Pusher-Steppenwolf
Born To Be Wild-Steppenwolf
The Film and all the Soundtracks from this film are great.

More of my Steppenwolf -Vinyl;
Monster
The Best of Steppenwolf

Before I first saw Steppenwolf, I didn't know John Kay was German (Prussian), so when he spoke in between songs it took me by surprise.

Heavy metal thunder...

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

oh yeah for sure - way back to the canadian connection

john kay was in yorkville (toronto) in the mid 60s gigging around with the sparrow, who became steppenwolf

jack london was the first front guy, but he split and kay took over in the sparrow

dennis edmonton (guitar) was from toronto area (oshawa i think) and was a hell of a player and songwriter, and wrote 'born to be wild' the big steppenwolf hit

these guys were no amatuers, they all could play the sh*t out of their instruments

one of the sparrow was bass player bruce palmer, who drove to LA in a hearse with neil young - and was in the original buffalo springfield, too, until he got busted for pot and deported back to canada

his replacement in the sparrow was nick st. nicholas, who became the sparrow and later steppenwolf bass player

interestingly (to me anyway) before that st. nicholas was in the mynah birds in toronto with..neil young and rick 'super freak' james...who then was the 'black mick jagger.'

they were backed by one of the eaton clan - of the eaton department stores; eaton center fame etc

they went to record in detroit at motown where 'super freak' rick james (who was from Buffalo NY) was busted and hauled out of the studio for draft evasion..and the mynah birds flew no more



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-03-28 20:29 by pinkfloydthebarber.

America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

Great song

Yes, always liked them. Ironically, they are most well-known for "Born to Be Wild" but actually had many other songs that were much better, in my opinion.

First saw them when I was walking in to the Newport '69 Festival, at Devonshire Downs in Northridge, California. They were on stage at the time, playing "Don't Step on the Grass, Sam". They had a number called "The Pusher", which I believe they recorded when they were Sparrow. When I was 19, I had my mother (God bless her: had to put up with a lot of crap but still going strong) come in to the living room where our stereo was and I said, "Listen to this song, you'll love it". Then I played "The Pusher", which starts off with "You know I smoked a lot of grass, O lord, I popped a lot of pills . . ." and eventually goes to "God damn the pusher man". I did it for the shock value and I thought she was going to have a heart attack. When she composed herself, we both laughed until we had tears streaming out! 40+ years later, we still laugh about that!

In September of '69 I went to see them at The Forum. Supporting them were the Grass Roots and Three Dog Night. Have to say, Three Dog Night stole the show. In fact, that show became their "Three Dog Night Captured Live at the Forum" LP.

i have a great 2 cd hits collection that starts with a few songs by sparrow and then covers steppenwolf and john kay until like 1990

Saw them over 30 years ago and even then John Kay was the only remaining original member.

Apparently I saw these guys when I was around 10 years old but have absolutely no recollection of it. This was one heluva band! Gotta find Draft Resistor!




Jupiters Child

CBII

Draft Resister

CBII

Damn good Rock band man.




Foggy Mental Breakdown

CBII

Saw John Kay by himself about 30 years ago at the Pier Hotel, Frankston, Down Under. Dressed in black leather, black fender-style guitar, very impressive. Played all the old Steppenwolf faves

John Kay had a great voice...they were right-in-time back in 1967 and for some years..but now?

2 1 2 0

Hey Lawdy Momma.

[www.youtube.com]

CBII

Saw them at the Fillmore East in 1971. Ten Wheel Drive and Luther Allison were the openers. They were great and the light show (which sometimes gave me a migraine) complimented their music nicely. If I recall correctly, Kay played a Dan Armstrong plexiglass at that show.

Quote
bleedingman
Saw them at the Fillmore East in 1971. Ten Wheel Drive and Luther Allison were the openers. They were great and the light show (which sometimes gave me a migraine) complimented their music nicely. If I recall correctly, Kay played a Dan Armstrong plexiglass at that show.

He might have been the only remaining original member even then.

Quote
tatters

Quote
bleedingman
Saw them at the Fillmore East in 1971. Ten Wheel Drive and Luther Allison were the openers. They were great and the light show (which sometimes gave me a migraine) complimented their music nicely. If I recall correctly, Kay played a Dan Armstrong plexiglass at that show.

He might have been the only remaining original member even then.

Nope. I looked it up. Jerry on drums and Goldy on keyboards would still have been there, but they would have already been on their third bass player and their second or third lead guitarist.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-03-28 14:48 by tatters.

Quote
runaway
Thanks to the film Easy Rider "1969" I got to know Steppenwolfs music at the time being;
The Pusher-Steppenwolf
Born To Be Wild-Steppenwolf
The Film and all the Soundtracks from this film are great.

More of my Steppenwolf -Vinyl;
Monster
The Best of Steppenwolf

Heard 'em all the time on the radio but Easy Rider really heightened their hits!

The songs hold up well...used to hear them all the time in LA clubs...

"Keep your motor running.." still works as a good motto for life.

Quote
stonesrule

"Keep your motor running.." still works as a good motto for life.

"Fire all of your guns at once and explode into space" .... not so much.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-03-30 14:46 by tatters.

Quote
owlbynite

Quote
runaway
Thanks to the film Easy Rider "1969" I got to know Steppenwolfs music at the time being;
The Pusher-Steppenwolf
Born To Be Wild-Steppenwolf
The Film and all the Soundtracks from this film are great.

More of my Steppenwolf -Vinyl;
Monster
The Best of Steppenwolf

Heard 'em all the time on the radio but Easy Rider really heightened their hits!

The film's music consisted of such 1968 rock radio favorites as Steppenwolf's "The Pusher" and "Born to Be Wild," the Band's "The Weight," the Byrds' "Wasn't Born to Follow," and the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "If Six Was Nine," with such humorous changes of pace as the Holy Modal Rounders' cosmic folk song "If You Want to Be a Bird" and Fraternity of Man's marijuana-smoking behavior guide "Don't Bogart Me." Hopper had little trouble persuading various record labels to grant the screen rights to these songs at a time when re-used rock wasn't heard much in movies.
In 2001 I went to the Dennis Hopper Expo opening in the Modern Art Museum in Amsterdam to have a look at his art and to shake his hand

They had a very clever sound that bridged credibility and AM radio pop. And yes, I did see them live, in early 1970 at the Fairgrounds Coliseum in Indianapolis, Indiana. And yes, the bass player had a translucent guitar.
Rock Me all night long:

[www.youtube.com]

just watched easy rider the other night. i still don't like the ending.

Quote
GRNRBITW
just watched easy rider the other night. i still don't like the ending.

Yeah, but doesn't Dennis Hopper play the dickish hippie ala David Crosby to the hilt? You know, man?

Quote
24FPS

Quote
GRNRBITW
just watched easy rider the other night. i still don't like the ending.

Yeah, but doesn't Dennis Hopper play the dickish hippie ala David Crosby to the hilt? You know, man?

yeah, but he didn't deserve THAT!

Quote
GRNRBITW

Quote
24FPS

Quote
GRNRBITW
just watched easy rider the other night. i still don't like the ending.

Yeah, but doesn't Dennis Hopper play the dickish hippie ala David Crosby to the hilt? You know, man?

yeah, but he didn't deserve THAT!

...and then the poor guy gets reincarnated in to Colonel Kurtz's personal photographer, talk about some rough existences.

December 6th 1968 Philadelphia Spectrum The stage was a revolving stage set where center ice would be for hockey.The show was opened by Al Kooper Playing organ with philadelphia's The American Dream (produced by Todd Rundgren) They did an awesome "Season of the Witch". Next up was the Grateful Dead excellent set. I remember being really surprised to see two drummers. Then Sly and The Family Stone. They were a mess! I just remember chaos on the stage and Sly"s crushed velvet pink pants. Then it was In A Gadda Da Vida time with The Iron Butterfly...loved it and the the headliners Steppenwolf closed the night out with an awesome set playing all the songs mentioned in this thread.