Heavy Metal Thunder

Can anyone recall what classic rock song the title is from? Even though I’ve heard the song hundreds of times, I confess that I didn’t know. I guess I’ve never listened closely enough to the second verse:

I like smoke and lightning
Heavy metal thunder
Racin’ with the wind
And the feelin’ that I’m under
Yeah Darlin’ go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

Like a true nature’s child
We were born, born to be wild

That’s it, Born to be Wild, from Steppenwolf’s first album, and probably their greatest hit. The song was actually written by drummer Jerry Edmonton’s brother Dennis, who was then going by the name Mars Bonfire (go figure). Besides the first appearance of the term “heavy metal” in a song, it was perhaps the first actual “heavy metal” rock song, although it probably wouldn’t qualify by today’s standards. The term actually referred to motorcycles, which of course is why it appeared in the movie, Easy Rider.

Steppenwolf was a very unique band, not easily fitting in other musical categories, showing influences of blues, country, folk and even jazz. While Steppenwolf’s music gives the impression of being heavy (almost plodding) and raw, they were surprisingly sophisticated and at times, almost delicate. I think what we most remember about Steppenwolf is John Kay’s raw, dark, growling, and primitive vocals that so dominated their music. John Kay himself described their music as primitive, and that is perhaps the best adjective to describe their overall sound.

One thing that is surprising about Steppenwolf is their background. They could almost be considered a “Canadian invasion” band, in that the band grew out of two very important (but largely unknown) Canadian bands, although they became Steppenwolf after relocating to the States. The Mynah Birds were a Toronto band in the 60’s that at various times included Neil Young & Bruce Palmer, who both went on to join Buffalo Springfield, funk-rocker Rick James, and Bruce Cockburn, as well as Steppenwolf members Goldy McJohn and Nick St. Nicholas. Neil Young once attributed his guitar style to John Kay. Again, go figure.

Nick St. Nicholas had come from another Toronto band, Jack London and the Sparrows, which Bruce Palmer joined, essentially exchanging bassists between the 2 bands. Also originally in this band were the Edmonton brothers (one of whom became “Mars Bonfire” after he left the band) and Michael Monarch. When Jack London left, John Kay replaced him as lead vocalist, Goldy McJohn joined as keyboardist, and the band became simply The Sparrows. The Sparrows split in 1967, and then reformed as Steppenwolf.

For whatever reasons, everybody in the band except for Michael Monarch went by assumed names. Both Nick St. Nicholas (Klaus Karl Kassbaum) and John Kay (Joachim Friedrich Krauledat) were born in Germany, which I’m sure had a lot to do with their name changes. John Kay was technically born in East Prussia, and fled with his mother in 1948 (he was 4) when the Soviets occupied East Germany, settling in West Germany before relocating to Canada some years later. The song Renegade on Steppenwolf 7 (one of my favorite cuts) was inspired by that history.

Besides being one of the heavier bands of the period, Steppenwolf was also one of the more political, most obviously so in the song Monster (another of my favorites – the live version is very good). John Kay was very influenced by folk music and the power that music has to convey messages, and it’s often evident in his writing; and, while critical of the War and the Administration, was very pro-America. If I recall correctly, he had even run for some local political office at one point.

Steppenwolf also – in contrast to many other band of the day – had an anti-drug message, recording songs like The Pusher and Snowblind Friend, both written by country singer/actor Hoyt Axton, who also wrote Joy To The World for Three Dog Night. Besides that, there were tons of love songs like Hey, Lawdy Mama and Magic Carpet Ride …

While the band reformed in 1974 and has recorded albums as late as 2004, the band really seemed to end in 1971, with John Kay not appearing on some of the tracks of their 8th album, For Ladies Only, which I never cared for. In my opinion, Live and 7, both released in 1970, were their 2 best albums, although I confess that I have only heard choice cuts from their earlier albums. Early songs like Rock Me and Sookie Sookie failed to grab me, so I was never that curious about anything that I hadn’t heard from those albums.

However, Steppenwolf 7 was a great album overall. While there were a couple of “throw-away” cuts, I think that this album contains some of their best songs, such as Foggy Mental Breakdown, Hippo Stomp (the titles don’t do the songs justice), Earschplittenloudenboomer (a jazz-influenced instrumental with a surprise ending), and the afore-mentioned Snowblind Friend and Renegade.  Clicking on the image below takes you to Amazon if you’d like to listen to a few clips.

Well, for me it’s time to get my motor runnin’, head out on the highway …

~ by Alden on February 13, 2008.