Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf was formed by guitarist and singer John Kay (real
name, Joachim Fritz Krauledat) in 1967, playing a mixture of rock
and blues heavily influenced by Chuck Berry (Kay wrote a song
entitled Berry Rides Again).
The hog-loving macho rockers came to prominence in 1969
when their recording of Born To Be Wild was featured
extensively in the box-office smash Easy Rider and became
a big US hit.
They followed up with several more US hit singles: The
Pusher, Magic Carpet Ride, Rock Me, Monster
and Don't Step On The Grass. They also clocked up
eight US Gold albums.
Steppenwolf split in 1972 after a series of line-up changes,
with Kay going solo, and Edmonton and McJohn forming their own
group, called Manbeast. Yet two years later they re-formed for a
series of concerts before going their own separate ways once
again.
John Kay re-formed the group again in 1980 after huge publicity
in America found several bogus groups exploiting the name
Steppenwolf.
He explained the situation to a journalist at the
time: "Various people who had been fired from the band
over the years and were unable to make ends meet on their own
talents, thought it was a good idea to use the name Steppenwolf -
at one time there were three Steppenwolf's touring the States at
once - all cashing in on our success. So, I decided to re-form the
original band to put them all out of business once and for
all."
How can anyone take a band seriously who has song-titles like Earschplittenloudenboomer
and Hippo Stomp??
Drummer Jerry Edmonton was killed in a motor accident on 28
November 1993.
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