Steppenwolf

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Bill Price, and in this episode of Rock and Roll Flashback, we’ll look back at the history of Steppenwolf, one of the psychedelic bands of the late 1960's.

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Transcript

In this episode of Rock and Roll Flashback, we’ll look back at the history of
Steppenwolf, one of the psychedelic bands of the late 1960's.

John Kay was born on April 12th, 1944 in East Germany. His birth name was Joachim Krauledat. After the family fled post war East Germany, he listened to Armed Forces Radio. Inspired by Little Richard and Chuck Berry, he decided to focus on music. By the age of 14, the family then relocated to Toronto, Canada. In school his teachers had difficulty in pronouncing his birth name, so he was referred to as John K and the name stuck. He learned English by listening to local disc jockeys and with the help from other local artists. John eventually began to perform on local amateur radio programs. After graduating from high school, the family then moved to buffalo, New York and became US citizens. John eventually traveled the American continent, performing in bars and coffee houses. In the early 1960s John performed at the Troubadour club in Los Angeles, however any success eluded him.

In 1965, John hitchhiked back to Canada and joined the group known as The Sparrows, which was a popular Canadian band. Goldy McJohn soon also joined as the band‘s keyboardist. While in Canada the group did enjoy some success. Eventually the band relocated to New York and then to San Francisco, eventually becoming an integral part of the Bay area psychedelic music scene. Then in 1967, the Sparrows broke up. While in Los Angeles, Gabriel Mekler encouraged John to re form the Sparrows but change the band’s name to Steppenwolf. The band’s lineup now consisted of Kay, Jerry Edmonton, Goldy McJohn, Michael Monarch and Rushton Moreve. The new band’s name was inspired by Hermann Hesse’s novel titled Steppenwolf.

In 1967, the band’s first two single releases on the Dunhill label were “A Girl I Knew”
and “Sookie Sookie”. Neither single managed to enter the US charts. However by 1968, two releases would propel Steppenwolf to worldwide fame with the number two hit “Born to be Wild”, which sold over a million copies and earned a gold record. “Magic Carpet Ride” also became a top ten hit reaching the number three position. Also released in 1968 was a cover of Hoyt Axton’s “The Pusher”. Both “Born to be Wild” and “The Pusher” were used in the 1969 film “ Easy Rider”, which further increased Steppenwolf’s popularity. Interestingly in the lyrics of “Born to be Wild”, the term “heavy metal” was mentioned, although it did not refer to a Rock style. The lyric reads “ I like smoke and lightning, heavy metal thunder, racin’ with the wind.”

In 1968 Steppenwolf performed at the Fillmore East, in one of the band’s biggest shows. In November, they appeared at the Baltimore, Maryland Civic Center along with the Iron Butterfly. Steppenwolf also appeared at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, California. I attended the concert and happened to be with in 20 feet of keyboardist Goldy McJohn. In 1969 “Rock Me” climbed to number 10 in the US and featured a bridge lasting one minute and six seconds. Between 1969 and 1981 there were several releases, however only “Straight Shootin’ Woman” managed to reach the number 29 position. The band continued to tour and record additional material, which included the following top 100 releases, “Move Over”, “Monster”, “Hey Laudy Mama”, Screaming Night Hog”, “Who Needs YA”, “Snowblind Friend”, “Ride With Me”, and “For Ladies Only”. By the middle of 1970 the band’s lineup consisted of John Kay, Jerry Edmonton, Goldy McJohn, Larry Byrom and George Biondo. However due to personal issues between Byrom and McJohn, Byrom left the band in early 1971. Like so many other Rock bands, Steppenwolf also experienced several changes in personnel. In 1968 Rushton Moreve was dismissed from the band for missing performances. Rob Black served as the replacement until Nick St Nicholas, a former Sparrows bandmate, joined the group. 

In 1972 Kay made the decision to dissolve the band and concentrate on a solo career. His first solo release “I’m Moving On” from the album “Forgotten Songs and Unsung Heroes”, managed to reach the number 85 position. Then in 1974 Kay reformed Steppenwolf, which included new members as well as some of the original lineup. Steppenwolf then left Dunhill Records and signed with Mums Records. The first release under the new label was the LP titled “ Slow Flux”, which included the single “ Straight Shootin’ Woman”, that reached the number 29 position on The Billboard Top 40 in 1974. The following year, the next album release only managed to reach number 155. As a result Kay wanted to dissolve the band yet again. However, Epic Records absorbed Mums Records and the new label insisted on one more album release to comply with the band’s contract. The result was the album titled “Skullduggery” released in the fall of 1976, however it failed to enter the charts. From 1980 to 2018, the band went by the name of John Kay and Steppenwolf, with John the only original member.

Steppenwolf’s worldwide success from 1968 to 1972 includes selling over 25 million records worldwide, seven gold albums, one platinum album, seven top 40 singles and three top 10 singles. In Canada the band had four top 10 hits, 12 in the top 40 and 14 in the top 100. In 1994, John returned to the former East Germany to perform in several concerts, and also reuniting with relatives and friends he had not seen since the age of four. During this time David Pesnell met with John about producing a new album featuring on the A side new songs by the reformed band Three Dog Night and on the B side songs by Steppenwolf. Even though both bands liked the idea of the album, disagreements erupted as to which band would be on the A side and B-side. Apparently the project did not materialize.

In 2016, the band was nominated for induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
However not enough votes were cast to qualify for induction. In 2018 “Born to Be Wild” was as one of the first five records that influenced Rock and Roll, that were inducted in to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Then on November 22nd, 2019, John Kay announced that the band’s final concert would take place on October 14th, 2018. Original members who have passed away include: bass guitarist Rushton Moreve who died in 1981, drummer Jerry Edmonton died in 1993 and keyboardist Goldy McJohn died in 2017. Steppenwolf’s Discography includes 13 studio albums, 14 compilation albums, 5 live albums and 21 singles. Here is their iconic number two hit that propelled the band to international fame and success, “Born to be Wild”.

This has been a look back at one of the prominent psychedelic bands of the late 1960's, Steppenwolf on Rock and Roll Flashback. And until next time I’m your host Bill Price.