By the release of the latter the band’s popularity began to wane slightly, although they would retain a large and loyal fan base. 1970 saw the band release two albums, the double LP “Steppenwolf Live” and “Steppenwolf 7”. The band’s next studio album, “Monster”, was issued in November 1969 and dealt with America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The July 1969 release “Early Steppenwolf” featured live recordings made at The Matrix in San Francisco in May 1967 and featured a 20-minute version of “The Pusher”. In March ‘69 “At Your Birthday Party” was released to further success and was their first record to feature Nick St Nicholas on bass and their last to feature Michael Monarch. “The Second” was released in October ‘68 and featured the hit single “Magic Carpet Ride” (another US #2 hit). The band were propelled to success with their classic single “Born To Be Wild” (a #2 hit in the USA) and became even wider known when the track was featured, along with their version of “The Pusher” in the classic 1969 counterculture film “Easy Rider”. The band signed to Dunhill/ABC the same year and with producer Gabriel Mekler they recorded their self-titled debut album. They were joined by Michael Monarch (lead guitar) and Rushton Moreve (bass). The track has since risen above its inauspicious first celluloid outing to appear in a number of hip films – either as a shortcut to conjuring up a bygone era, or, in one particular case, recontextualized against the backdrop of a gritty indie gangster flick.Steppenwolf was formed in 1967 in LA by John Kay (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Goldy McJohn (organ, piano) and Jerry Edmonton (drums) who were previously members of the Canadian band The Sparrows. The lines “I like to dream/Yes, yes/Right between my sound machine” reportedly came to Kay after he took a demo of the song home to listen to. “Magic Carpet Ride” was built around a riff conjured by Steppenwolf bassist Rushton Moreve, and with lyrics inspired by the stereo system that frontman John Kay had bought with the royalties from the band’s self-titled debut album. The song was the product of a particularly fertile period for Steppenwolf, appearing on their second album of that year, The Second, and also finding its way onto the soundtrack of the lesser-known Marlon Brando sexcapade, Candy, in December 1968. Eventually flying to No.3 in the US charts, it became the group’s second (and last) Top 5 entry in the US, and their longest-charting single, staying on the survey for 16 weeks. “Magic Carpet Ride,” issued in September 1968, just three months after “Born To Be Wild,“ entered the US Hot 100 on October 5. Yet, despite the song’s ubiquitous use as the go-to theme tune for youthful rebellion the world over, a subsequent Steppenwolf single has had plenty of longevity of its own. Released in 1969, the picture almost single-handedly sent the film industry in a new direction for the coming decade. Their second single, the ever robust “Born To Be Wild,” became an anthem for a generation thanks to its prominent use in the groundbreaking countercultural movie Easy Rider. Steppenwolf had a habit of capturing the zeitgeist.
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