The Classics: 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 film Easy Rider. It is sometimes described as the first heavy metal song, and the second verse lyric “heavy metal thunder” marks the first use of this term in rock music (although not as a description of a musical style but rather a motorcycle).

“Born to Be Wild” was written by Mars Bonfire as a ballad. Bonfire was previously a member of the Sparrows, the predecessor band to Steppenwolf, and his brother was Steppenwolf’s drummer. Although he initially offered the song to other bands — The Human Expression, for one — “Born to Be Wild” was first recorded by Steppenwolf in a sped-up and rearranged version that AllMusic’s Hal Horowitz described as “a roaring anthem of turbo-charged riff rock” and “a timeless radio classic as well as a slice of ’60s revolt that at once defines Steppenwolf’s sound and provided them with their shot at AM immortality.”

“I like smoke and lightnin’
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”

“Born to Be Wild” was the band’s third single off their 1968 debut album Steppenwolf, and became their most successful single, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts. It was kept from the No. 1 spot by “People Got to Be Free” by the Rascals. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed “Born to Be Wild” at No. 129 on the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. Also in 2004, it finished at No. 29 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. In 2009, it was named the 53rd best hard rock song of all time by VH1. In 2018, the song was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a new category for singles.

Listen to the iconic song here.

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