''Steppenwolf'' is the debut album by Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf, released in January 1968 on ABC Dunhill Records. The album was a successful debut for the band, featuring the songs "

Born to Be Wild "Born to Be Wild" is a song written by Mars Bonfire and first performed by the band Steppenwolf. The song is often invoked in both popular and counter culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude. It is most notably featured in the 1969 ...

", as well as "

The Pusher "The Pusher" is a rock song written by Hoyt Axton, made popular by the 1969 movie ''Easy Rider'' which used Steppenwolf's version to accompany the opening scenes showing drug trafficking. The lyrics of the song distinguish between a ''dealer ...

", both of which were used in the 1969 film ''

Easy Rider ''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American independent drug culture road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American ...

''. "Berry Rides Again" is a tribute to guitarist

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

. The spelling of track #4 on the vinyl is "Hootchie Kootchie Man". The album credits say it was recorded at American Recording Company in Studio City, California; however, the actual name of the studio was American Recorders. The background color of the original ABC LP cover was a silver "foil", in contrast to later (

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wi ...

) LP issues and the modern CD sleeve in which it is replaced by off white. It is the only album by the band to have been released in both stereo and mono configurations. Although most of the latter is simply a 'fold down' of the stereo mix, it is sought after as a collector's item. Early editions of the "silver foil background" version credit "Mars Bonfire" with writing "Born to be Wild" on both the LP label and the back of the LP cover. Following the success of "Born to Be Wild", later releases had a black box on the cover with the wording: "Including The Hit: Born to Be Wild". The earliest 1968 versions of the album did not have this.

Track listing

Personnel

Steppenwolf * John Kay – lead vocals, guitars, harmonica * Michael Monarch – guitars, backing vocals * Goldy McJohn –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated ...

, piano,

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptua ...

* Rushton Moreve – bass guitar, backing vocals *

Jerry Edmonton Gerald Michael Edmonton (born Gerald McCrohan, October 24, 1946 – November 28, 1993) was a Canadian-American musician who was the drummer, and secondary lead vocalist for the rock band Steppenwolf. Early life and career Edmonton was born in ...

– drums, backing vocals, percussion Technical *

Gabriel Mekler Gabriel Mekler (2 December 1942 – 4 September 1977) was an American songwriter, musician, and record producer who attained fame in the 1960s, helming albums for Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night, and Janis Joplin. He also collaborated with R&B sin ...

– producer * Bill Cooper –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the lim ...

Richard Podolor Richard Allen Podolor (January 7, 1936 – March 9, 2022) was an American musician, record producer and songwriter. His career started as a session musician in the 1950s, and he was best known as the producer of Three Dog Night. Life and career ...

– engineer * Gary Burden – art direction, cover design * Tom Gundelfinger –

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed i ...

Henry Diltz Henry Stanford Diltz (born September 6, 1938, in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American folk musician and photographer who has been active since the 1960s. Career Among the bands Diltz played with was the Modern Folk Quartet. While a member of ...

– photography

Charts

Album -

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

(United States) Singles - Billboard (United States)

References

1968 debut albums Steppenwolf (band) albums ABC Records albums Albums produced by Gabriel Mekler Dunhill Records albums {{1960s-rock-album-stub